Abstract
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women. It originated during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century when women started to realize the importance of their own happiness. On this situation, literatures presenting feminism came into being. Many works with feminism drew great attention. Among all of these masterpieces, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, which was published in 1899, was one of the most influential works and brought great impact to the society. In the novel, Kate Chopin endeavored to reveal the realities of modern women’s aspiration and struggle which was symbolized by feminism.
 
This paper will focus on feminism presented in the novel The Awakening. It will analyze in detail the process of Edna’s awakening from feudalism and men’s domination over women by means of feminist theory and then reveal both the advantages and weakness of feminism at that time. The paper has four parts. The first part is the introductory part. It will introduce the background, structure and method of this paper and will also demonstrate the significance of this research. The second part of this paper is mainly about the previous research on Feminism and The Awakening. The third part, the main part of this paper will analyze the reason, realities and limitations of Edna’s awakening and the Feminism ideas presented in her awakening. And then, the last part, the conclusion of the paper, will focus on the conclusion and the limitations of this paper. All in all, on the one hand, this paper not only aims to demonstrate that heroine Edna bravely resists the unequal treatment to women under the large patriarchal society, but also shows us her great inspiration to the future generations. On the other hand, it also aims to point out the historical limitations and inevitable failure of feminism.
Key Word:   Feminism   the awakening   Edna   advantageous meaning    historical limitations

女权主义是指一个主要以女性经验为来源与动机的社会理论与政治运动。在对社会关系进行批判之外，许多女性主义的支持者也着重于性别不平等的分析以及推动妇女的权利、利益与议题。19世纪末及20世纪初，随着社会政治、经济和科技的发展，女权主义应运而生。伴随着女权主义精神的发展，带有女权主义色彩的文学作品也进入人们的视野中。这些作品中，凯特肖邦的作品《觉醒》称得上是最有影响力的，带有女权主义思想的文学名作之一。小说在当时一出版便引起了轩然大波，主要因为作品中批判了19世纪末限制女性自由追求梦想及自身独立的文化制度及社会思想。在此作品中，凯特肖邦致力于描述男性枷锁控制下追求自身幸福的女性角色，致力于表现女主人公埃德娜在追求个人幸福时的重重困难与痛苦。
此论文主要运用女权主义思想分析女主人公埃德娜觉醒的过程，及此过程中体现出的女权主义思想的进步意义及其历史局限性。论文主体将分为四个部分。第一部分将介绍此研究的背景，必要性及研究方法，并对论文的结构和研究意义进行阐述。第二部分将主要介绍中外学者对于女权主义及《觉醒》的研究成果。论文的第三部分为此研究的主体部分，着力分析女主人公埃德娜觉醒的原因，表现，局限性，及其中体现的女权主义思想。第四部分为结论部分，将主要总结此研究的主要发现及研究的局限性。总体来讲，一方面，此论文将分析女主人公埃德娜为抵抗不公平社会地位做出的反抗；另一方面，论文也将体现女性反抗在当时社会必然失败的可悲命运，即女权主义的历史局限性。
关键词:  女权主义   觉醒   埃德娜   进步意义   历史局限性