从女性主义视角解读《了不起的盖茨比》中黛西形象.doc

1、ContentsAbstract(1)Introduction.(2)1. Brief Introduction of Feminism.(4)1.1 Definition of Feminism.(4)1.2 Features of Feminism.(5)2. Causes of the Formation of Daisys Images.(5)2.1 Social Background of America in the 1920s .(5)2.2 Development of Feminism.(7)2.3 Daisy Personal Factors.(8)3. Embodimen

2、ts of Daisys Feminist Images in The Great Gatsby.(9)3.1 Daisys Intelligence.(10)3.2 Daisys Fashionable Image(12)3.3 Daisys Money Worshipping.(14)Conclusion.(18)Bibliography.(19)Acknowledgements.(21)1Interpretation of Daisys Images inThe Great Gatsby from the Perspective of FeminismAbstract: F. Scott

3、 Fitzgerald, the famous American novelist in the 1920s, is known as the spokesman and laureate of the“Jazz Age”. The Great Gatsby, his masterpiece, is considered an American classic and is still the hot subject by the critics. However, One can readily acknowledge that in general the women characters

4、 are quite secondary to the males. There are even negative characterizations of women, especially Daisy. So this thesis attempts to re-interpret it from a feminist perspective to throw a new light on the study of the text. It first introduces the writer and the work and the aspects from which the th

5、esis explores. Then it gives a brief introduction of the definition and features of feminism, and next, this thesis explains the causes of the formation of Daisys images and makes a deep analysis of the Daisys images. The conclusion points out its significance and further research orientation of the

6、 thesis. The author is aimed to help the readers understand that only when women are brave enough to pursue what they want and challenge fate can they gain happiness and realize their own value.Key words: The Great Gatsby; feminism; Daisys images; fashionable从女性主义视角解读了不起的盖茨比中黛西形象摘要：弗.司各特.菲茨杰拉德，这位二十年

7、代美国著名的小说家，被誉为“爵士时代”的代言人和桂冠诗人。他的代表作了不起的盖茨比被认为是一部美国经典，而且还是评论界的热点。尽管如此，人们可以很明显地感受到小说中的女性人物都是依附于男性而存在，对女性都是负面的刻画，对黛西的刻画更是如此。本文尝试以女性主义为视角，用文本细读的方式重新解读了不起的盖茨比 ，以期对这部作品有一个全新的认识。引言首先介绍了作家和作品及本论文的研究方向，其次文章介绍了女性主义的定义和特征，重点分析了黛西形象形成的因素及其各种形象；结语指出了本文的意义与研究方向。作者旨在让读者明白女性只有勇于自己所想，挑战命运，才能获得幸福，实现自我价值。关键词：了不起的盖茨比；女性

8、主义；黛西形象; 时尚2IntroductionF. Scott Fitzgerald(1896-1940) is best known for his novels and short stories which chronicle the excesses of Americas Jazz Age during the 1920s. He so vividly captured the mood and manners of his age and successfully drew a portrait of the American twenties through his works

9、 that he is always remembered as the spokesman and laureate of the Jazz Age. Together with William and Eernest Hemingway, he was ranked one of the three prominent novelists in modern American literature. “no other novelists were, collectively, so influential in the development of modern American fic

10、tion as Gertude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Eernest Hemingway”(Eliott, 1988:873). Today Fitzgerald is regarded as one of the best writers in American literature, and his The Great Gatsby is a good illustration.The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, has been considered as a great masterpiece of Ame

11、rican fictions until now. It portrays the life style and spiritual affairs of American youths vividly after the First World War. The story tells us a young man, named Gatsby, who comes from the lower class struggles to fulfill his “ideal”to marry a beautiful and also rich lady of the upper class, Da

12、isy, but finally is abandoned by her. As matter of this book, the English famous poet and critic T.S Eliot ever commented that this novel was the first step that American fiction had taken since Henry James (Wilson, 1933:310). Its true that this fiction display profoundly an American social style in

13、 the Jazz Age and coins for a whole era of American history, which is presented as a corrupt, amoral and violent time. So this book has been popular with many readers and critics and considered as his finest works of all. Nowadays, more and more studies on Fitzgerald and his works have appeared and

14、they give us a great chance to read him, understand him and study him. However, although there are many studies on The Great Gatsby in China, the studies are incomplete and unequal, especially the studies from the perspective of feminism. Taking Daisy as an example, many studies are negative charact

15、erizations of Daisy. They hold that Daisy is a shallow, foolish, careless, unworthy woman. I feel unsatisfied because the assessment is not objective, and there are few systematic and detailed studies from the feminist perspective to study Daisys image.So in this thesis, I will attempt a detailed an

16、d systematic study of Daisys images from the feminist point of view and give Daisy an objective and equal assessment. At first, I will introduce the definition and features of feminism. Then Ill explain the causes of the formation 3of Daisys images and make a deep analysis of her changeable images f

17、rom her intelligence, fashion and money worshipping . From this thesis, we can be able to see that Daisy is not a stereotypical, dull but complicated, individual woman. 41. Brief Introduction of FeminismF. Scott Fitzgerald created the“Romance of Money”in The Great Gatsby, which confirms his eternal

18、contribution to American literature. However, One can readily acknowledge that in general the women characters are quite secondary to the males. There are even negative characterizations of women. In particular, Daisy seems poorly to be depicted as a negative character. As Fitzgerald himself says, t

19、he women are“emotionally passive” and the novel is“a mans book”. While, because of the strong growth of feminist criticism over the few decades, it is necessary and meaningful to reread the novel from a feminist perspective to throw a new light on the study of the text. We must take feminism at that

20、 time into consideration.1.1 Definition of FeminismAristotle declared that the female was female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities and St.Thomas Aquinas believed that a woman was an imperfect man. According to American Feminist Claire G. Moses, historian Nancy Cott has explored when the word

21、“feminism” was used for the first time. Nancy believed that the word “feminism” was first used in the 1880s, and was derived from a French wordfemme which means women in English and becomes feminism when the suffixism is added.The 2005 version of Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines fe

22、minism as “activity in support of the principal that women should have the same rights and chances as men”. In the Oxford dictionary, feminism is defined as “the belief and aim that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men; the struggle to achieve this aim”. As an “activity” or “ai

23、m”, the essence of feminism is to achieve the same chances or opportunities as men. However, in order to gain these goals, American women have had an extraordinary experience.In Websters Third New Unabridged International Dictionary of the English Language, feminism is defined as “the theory of poli

24、tical, economic, and social equality of the sexes; the organized activity on behalf of womens rights and interests specif: the nineteenth and twentieth century movement seeking to remove restrictions that discriminate against women”. However, feminist critic Ruth Robbins argues that “feminism is by

25、no means a single category with clear limits, fixed in a single semantic space. Her understanding of this word is that it is anti-totalizing and it does not have one catch-all, all-or nothing meaning, but many meanings which depend on contexts, subject position, language, the material works we inhab

26、it, and our own psychic apaces, 5all mixed up together”.(Wang Zheng,1995:2).No mater how feminism is defined, it unequivocally denounces the oppression that women suffer in the patriarchal society and, as Robbins suggests, feminism uncovers the symptomas of oppression, whatever their grounds, diagno

27、ses the problem, and offers alternative versions of livable realities.1.2 Features of Feminism Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women

28、s rights. Feminism is mainly focused on womens issues.In politics, activism focused primarily on gaining political power, particularly the right of womens suffrage. feminists called for granting women the right to vote.In economics, feminists have advocated for workplace rights, including equal pay

29、and opportunities for careers, to start businesses, maternity leave, and against other forms of gender-specific discrimination against women. and have the right to own property.In family, they believed that men should share the housework with women, and opposed domestic violence, sexual harassment a

30、nd sexual assault, also, they think women have the right to initiate divorce proceedings. Also, feminists enunciated a womans right to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term.Western women gained more reliable birth control, which enabled women to plan their adult lives, often making way for bot

31、h career and family.In education, feminists believed that women have the equal right to share the education sources.In addition, some of the earlier forms of feminism have been criticized for being geared towards white, middle-class, educated perspectives. This led to the creation of ethnically-spec

32、ific or multiculturalist forms of feminism.2. Causes of the Formation of Daisys ImagesThe formation of Daisys images is not without foundation, and it has its social roots. Influenced by many factors, Daisy becomes a controversial and changeable women. The following is aimed to analyze the causes of

33、 the formation of Daisys images.2.1 Social Background of America in the 1920s 6The decade of the 1920s, particularly in America, had a sharply defined uniqueness than most recognized periods. World War I had left all European belligerents weary and numbed spiritually. America, however, not having be

34、en involved in the war for long, remained just as powerful as before. An economic boom marked the first few postwar years, and as people began receiving higher wages, there was a rash of spending on conveniences that advertisements stated people could not live without. Materialism spread rapidly thr

35、oughout the country, and people became more liberal and self-obsessed. A flow of consumerism seemed to have swept away the pain and shadow caused by the war. The American Dream turned to be the dream of money, and wealth became the symbol of success. Yet the gap between the wealthy and the poor in s

36、ociety was still painfully obvious. Prosperous in economy as it was, many changes in spiritual and social values were taking place in the 1920s, which seriously affected the younger generation. The attitude of the time was also a backlash against the experience of the war. Young people turned their

37、backs on the values of their parents. Girls enjoyed the casualty and freedom in their relationships with men, which would be impossible for their Victorian mothers to imagine. A “revolutiontook place in peoples attitudes towards moral and sex, which seemed to be encouraged by the popularity of the F

38、reudian psychology by 1920. The pursuit for material fulfillment and sensual enjoyment became the dominance of young peoples life while they remained spiritually bankrupt. This kind of hedonism and “seize-the-day philosophy”(Massa, 1982:146) is well illustrated in both The Side of Paradise(1920)and

39、The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald summarized the characteristics of the Jazz precisely in This Side of Paradise: “a generation grown up to find all gods dead, all wars fought and all faith in man shaken”. And Tom and Daisy in The Great Gatsby portray perfectly the carefree, self-absorbed attitude of the

40、time.The American Twenties is also a period when urban crimes were on the rise. The enforcement of the Prohibition(1919-1933) led to nation-wide bootlegging, and illegal business and crimes spread throughout the country. A lot of groups as well as individuals took the chance to make large profits ov

41、er the Prohibition. The hero in The Great Gatsby is such an upstart accumulating his wealth through bootlegging and other illegal operations, though it doesnt seem a fatal flaw in contrast with his “inordinate ambition, extraordinary hope and romantic readiness, which sets him apart from and above h

42、is contemporaries”(Massa, 1982:146). And the depiction 7of the gaiety of the wild drinking party during the Prohibition where gin flowed like water in The Great Gatsby is also the realistic reflection of the aura of the time.2.2 Development of FeminismThe decade of the 1920s was particularly importa

43、nt in redefining the roles of women, both within the family and within American society as a wholeFor many, it meant a turning away from the social activism of the progressive era and into a more personal, private search for satisfacfion. By the 1920, the so-called “New woman” have shown not only th

44、e significant new degrees of “freedom”-in dress, activities, and behavior, more important, those years witnesses the emancipation and progress of the American Woman.Womens organizations and female political activities grow in many ways in the 1 920s. The aim of feminist movement has changed a lot co

45、mpared with what they are before.The traditional feminist goal is to secure “protective” legislation for women. Till the 19th century, the feminist movement in the west takes visible shape in the name of womens liberation movement. Inspired by the American and French Revolutions and the anti-slavery

46、 movement, in the twentieth century, women for the first time unmistakably claim for the “rights ofwomen” in terms of “natural rights”. Women who support suffrage argue that women deserve the same rights as men, including, first and foremost, the right to vote. Some women believe that the vote will

47、enable them to increase the power and opportunities available to their sex. Many other women support suffrage as well because of what they feel it Can do to advance other causes.The new generation of social feminist is more pragmatic. The National American Woman Suffrage Association forms in 1890 by

48、 these new feminists is led from 1900-1904 and again from l915-1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt born in Ripon in the great state of Wilsonsin, Catt(1859-947). Catt goes to school in Lowa, and works for womens suffrage, eventually becomes a close colleague of Susan B. Anthony.Cart believes it is a womans natural fight to participate in politics, and also wants women to have the vote in order to reform society. Catt reason