论《觉醒》中的意象与女性意识的“觉醒”.docx

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1、ContentsChinese Abstract1English Abstract21. Introduction31.1 Kate Chopin and Her Writings31.2 The Awakening41.3 Comments on The Awakening42. Images in The Awakening52.1 The Definition of Image52.2 The Function of Image52.3 Images in The Awakening63. Feminism Consciousness in The Awakening73.1 The D

2、efinition of Feminism73.2 The History of Feminism in America83.3 The Consciousness of Feminism in The Awakening94. Images and Heroines Feminism Awakening94.1 Bird in Cage: Before Awakening94.2 Piano String Vibration: Awakening114.3 Broken-Sing Bird: After Awakening115. Conclusion12References13论觉醒中的意

3、象与女性意识的“觉醒” 摘 要19世纪的美国著名女作家凯特肖邦的觉醒，讲述了勇敢并且具有女性意识的女主人公埃德娜的自我意识的觉醒的故事。肖邦在此篇小说中巧妙地运用了各种意象来突出小说女性意识逐渐觉醒的过程，觉醒后的一系列遭遇，以及女主人公埃德娜因觉醒所带来的凄惨结局。通过意象的衬托，她让主人公把自己的情感意识寄托于广阔无垠的大海，自由翱翔的鸟儿，愉悦的音乐，埃德娜憧憬着如鸟儿一般，拥有觉醒的翅膀，在浩瀚的大海以及美妙的音乐找寻自我，自由飞翔。关键词: 肖邦；意象；女性意识；觉醒Images and the “Awakening” of the Feminist Consciousness in

4、 The AwakeningAbstractThe Awakening is one of the representative novels of Kate Chopin, a noted American female writer in the 19th century. It tells the story of the self-conscious awakening of the brave and feminine heroine Edna. Various images are used skillfully by Chopin to highlight the process

5、 of female consciousness of independence and freedom gradually awakening, a series of encounters after awakening, and the tragic ending of Edna in the novel.Through the description of these images, Chopin let the heroine give her emotional consciousness to the vast sea, the free-flying birds, the be

6、autiful music. Edna looked forward to being a bird, with wings of awakening and looking for herself in the vast sea and wonderful music, flying freely.Key words: Chopin; image; the consciousness of feminism; The Awakening 1. Introduction 1.1 Kate Chopin and Her WritingsKate Chopins The Awakening, a

7、feminist novel under the realm of naturalism and realism, was ahead of time by using imagery of multiple visions, natural elements as symbols. By means of imagery writing, all symbols can be read as kinds of metaphor. Therefore, imagery has a specific and special relation to symbolism. Kate Chopin w

8、as one of the imagism movement in 19th century, she admired those strong-minded, talented and independent women who translated many Guy de Maupassants novels into English. Besides the melancholic, pessimistic undertone of human lives and destinies in his writings, what impressed Chopin most was Maup

9、assants writing skills and the individual consciousness he always emphasized: Chopin claimed to have felt that he spoke to her directly and intimately (Toth, 1985). She admired him most for the things that made him the writer that he was. She was intrigued by his escape from tradition and authority

10、and for having entered into himself and looked out upon life through his own being and with his own eyes (Skaggs, 1974). Eventually Maupassant replaced other writers as her primary influence and literary model (Toth, 1985). Chopin had such an interest in Maupassant that she herself also translated m

11、any of his stories from French to English (Toth, 1985). Because of the content their stories, these stories were never published. Maupassants ideas were looked as immoral and immature, dealing with ideas such as sex, loneliness, and depression. He was regarded by many people as an immoral person, be

12、cause he questioned the standards of the day. Of course, Kate Chopin was influenced very much by the literary trend of this period. Her novel The Awakening was written at the end of the nineteenth century, which is still a male-dominated Victorian era. At that time, society advocated sexual inhibiti

13、on, especially among middle and upper-class women. As a result, critics lashed out at The Awakening, causing a great disturbance at the time. Kate Chopins 1899 masterpiece, The Awakening, faced the same fate as Maupassant and was considered scandalous at the time of its initial publication, with its

14、 themes of female individuality and liberation virtually ending Chopins writing career. Now, more than 100 years after its first appearance, Chopins novel is widely esteemed as one of the first feminist literature. “It wasnt until the 1950s and 1960s that with the vigorous development of the America

15、n feminist movement, the book The Awakening received a fair evaluation from critics, believing it to be a good book with excellent ideological skills and artistic methods. A rare masterpiece in literature” (金莉，秦亚青, 1998：100). The book is also known as a pioneering work of American literary classics

16、and feminist movements, as well as a first-rate novel (梁亚平，2004). 1.2 TheAwakeningIn The Awakening, Chopin critiqued the society in which women, who stray from their duty as mothers or the expected married female behavior, are subject to harsh judgment and further disapproval from their husbands. In

17、 the novel, Edna, her husband, and her family went on a vacation to the beautiful island by the sea. At the seaside, with the help of Robert, Edna learned to swim, which she always wanted to learn ever since she was a child and she also swam to a place that she has never visited before. Robert could

18、nt bear the pressure of social judgement; he chose to flee. So,the relationship between Robert and Edna was inconclusive. However, the departure of Robert did not stop the consciousness of feminist awakening in Ednas mind. She would never be the same Edna who used to obey her husband. She started to

19、 love life and express her feelings boldly. Through learning to swim during the holidays, Edna began to search for their independence and freedom, which is the beginning of the transformation of Edna in The Awakening. The heroine Edna in The Awakening, a mother of two children, has very little perso

20、nal free space in her life as well as other traditional American women of her age. However, Edna has abandoned her responsibilities as a wife and mother in pursuit of extramarital sensory satisfaction. Once The Awakening published, the novel couldnt avoid harsh criticism from society, as people coul

21、dnt handle such radical and subversive feminist writing. 1.3 Comments on TheAwakening The Awakening, published in 1899, is the second novel by American female writer Kate Chopin and is a feminist novel under the realm of naturalism and realism, was ahead of time by using imagery of multiple visions,

22、 natural elements as symbols. By means of imagery writing, all symbols can be read as a kind of metaphor. Therefore, imagery has a specific and special relation to symbolism. The novel describes the self-conscious awakening process of married woman Edna. The works anti-traditional concept also broug

23、ht negative comments to its author. Even the post of St. Louis wrote that it was not suitable for women who abide by Morality and strongly suggested that the novel should be labeled as a poison (Killeen, 2003). Chopin also lost his original reputation. It wasnt until more than half a century later t

24、hat the victory of the second wave of womens liberation movement made The Awakening a new favorite of literary critics and a classic feminist work in the national literary world. Today, The Awakening has been recognized as a classic of American literature. From banned books to classics, it has taken

25、 a long and tortuous road. This complex experience also illustrates how social changes and the impact of social thoughts have affected peoples acceptance and judgment of a literary work. The Awakening, as the authoress last masterpiece, also sharing one fate with Hardys last one, was finally recogni

26、zed and even praised as “beautifully written” by Edmund Wilson, and “exquisite” and “sensitive” by Willa Cather. However, the praised didnt live as long as Hardy, who finally outlived the thrusts and cuts. 2. Images in The Awakening2.1 The Definition of ImageThe so-called imagery is an artistic imag

27、e created by the unique emotional activities of the creative subject. The word imagery is commonly used in literary criticism, and the meaning of image is roughly as follows: often refers to individual image, rather than the whole picture. Art or literature works use images to express meaning, whose

28、 primary goal is to form a concrete and perceptible image, so that readers can produce aesthetic association by virtue of the pictures depicted in words, and let the aesthetic experience or impressive things reappear its image luster in our mind.2.2 The Function of ImageImage was a poetic vogue that

29、 flourished in England, and even more vigorously in America, between the years 1912 and 1917. As a part of the modernist movement, away from the sentimentality and moralizing tone of 19th-century Victorian poetry, imagist poets looked to many sources to help them create a new poetic expression. A ty

30、pical imagist poem is written in free verse, a form that use a cadence that mimic natural speech rather than the accustomed rhythm of metrical feet or lines. Rules of rhyming were also considered nonessential. But rather, it highlights the impression of a visual object or scene and the term “image”

31、should not be taken to imply only a visual reproduction of the object which is referred to: “Imagery in literature usage include not only visual sense qualities, but also qualities that are auditory, technic (touch), thermal (heat and cold), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), and kinesthetic (sen

32、sations of movement)” (Abrams, 1999: 121). As the first leader of the imagism movement, American writer Ezra Pond is most famous for his two-line poem In a Station of the Metro: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough” (Pound, 1913(2): 12). It is often cited as one

33、of the purest of his imagist poems. Pound describes watching faces appear in a metro station as a “crowd”, meaning the station is quite busy. He compares these faces to “petals on a wet, black bough”, suggesting that on the dark subway platform, people look like flower petals stuck on a tree branch

34、after a rainy night. Though short, this poem is very sensory in nature; it allows the reader to imagine a scene while reading the lines. Through Pounds economical description of these faces as “petals on a wet, black bough”, he is able to invoke a transient tone. Kate Chopins The Awakening, a femini

35、st novel under the realm of naturalism and realism, was ahead of time by using imagery of multiple visions, natural elements as symbols. By means of imagery writing, all symbols can be read as a kind of metaphor. Therefore, imagery has a specific and special relation to symbolism. 2.3 Images in TheA

36、wakening This article focuses on the process in which Chopin used images to reflect the awakening of the heroines female consciousness. In The Awakening, we can see the diversity of images, for instance various images are used skillfully to represent several kind of our protagonist Edna in different

37、 period and the process of the consciousness of feminism from awaken to broken in the novel. All the uses of imagery portrayed are as follows. The first kind is the image of the protagonist of theme. The book described Edna from a traditional housewife to a self-conscious, modern women. In the novel

38、, Chopin boldly created a brand-new female image, Edna, who refused to perform traditional female duties. It represented womens longing for and pursuit of fanatical life, longing for their own liberation, and the realization of life value (Skaggs, 1974). Chopins feminist proposition is manifested by

39、 the continuous development and maturation of feminist consciousness in the image of the heroine Edna (李公昭, 2000). Edna is a perfect incarnation of the brave and feminine women, who gradually awakes the female consciousness of independence and freedom, through the description of the images of being

40、a bird, looking for herself in the vast sea and wonderful music, flying freely.The second kind are the image of places. There are three places in the novel: Grand Isle, Cheniere Caminada and New Orleans. They represent the different processes of Ednas psychological activity. The third kind is the im

41、age of the objects. The three houses that Edna once lived in and the clothes that Edna wore each have their own specific symbolic meanings. In addition, there are other images, such as colors and bird cages etc. The fourth kind is the image of the characters. Besides protagonist Edna, the author als

42、o portrays five other main characters. They represent the different parts of personality, that is: material and money ideal and love, desire and sexuality, responsibility and moral, self and passion. As to Edna, she is a combination of them all.The fifth kind is the image of behaviors. Sleeping is a

43、 way for Edna to escape society. Learning to swim symbolizes her rebirth, and the power to pursue freedom. Painting injects new vitality into her life, and suicide symbolizes the complete freedom and liberation of her soul. The last are the most important images in The Awakening. The first, the sea.

44、 Ednas awakening started at the seaside and ended east at the seaside. The sea symbolizes freedom and elusion at the same time. The sea can awaken Ednas inner pursuit and desire for freedom. Zhou Xina also pointed out clearly, “learning to swim in the sea is her way and means to the free ocean” (周熙娜

45、, 1988(1): 86). Beyond literary terms, water and the ocean are often symbols of purification. Ednas awakening was her realization of not being able to live a life that was not confined by societal boundaries and expectations. It can be inferred that her choice to commit suicide by drowning in the se

46、a was her way of cleansing herself of the boundaries, expectations and responsibilities that consumed her. The ocean gave her a chance to choose, and she was thrown into the embrace of the ocean. Being in the ocean is a world completely devoted to herself, because death is the complete relief (曾晓覃,

47、2004). In the final scene of the novel, by describing the voice of the sea as “seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude, to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation” (Chopin, 2003: 175), she is ready to take the in

48、vitation as her very last dive.The second, the bird and the winged bird. The bird is another key image that represent the free and comfortless Edna simultaneously. On Grand Island, she learned to swim and started her awakening, and on Cheniere caminada, she ate and slept like a baby. Coming back to

49、New Orleans, she begins to paint again and moves into the pigeon house. In the end , she found a kind of freedom and liberation in the sea. In The Awakening, the most representative image was the “the winged bird”, which means the awakening failed. The third, the music. The most representative image of this difficult period fo