FeminisanalysisofGoneWihheWindandTheDreamofRedMansions---comparisonoffeminischaracersofScarleandxifenwang_开题报告

1 A brief introduction to Margaret Mitchell and Cao Xueqin

1.1 A brief introduction to Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell(November 8，1900-August 16，1949)was an American author, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her epic novel Gone with the rand, her only major publication．This novel is one of the most popular books of all time，selling more than 30 million copies(see list of best-selling books)．The film adaptation of it, released in 1939，became the highest-grossing film in the history of Hollywood，and it received a record—breaking ten Academy Awards(a record since eclipsed by Ben Hur，The Lord of the Rings：The Return of the King and Titanic)．Mitchell has been honored by the United States Postal Service with a Great Americans series postage stamp．

Margaret Mitchell Was born into all upper-class family in Atlanta, Georgia．Her mother, Maybelle Mitchell，was a suffragist．Margaret Mitchell’s father, Eugene Mitchell，who worked as a prominent lawyer．Margaret Mitchell Was found of listening to the old stories about her hometown in the past time．And she was also interested in stories of the battles during the American Civil War．At the age of fifteen，she wrote in her journal：“If I were a boy, I would try for West Point，if I could make it，or well I'd be a prize fighter—anything for the thrills．”Margaret’s life Was deeply influenced by the effects of Civil War．Her childhood Was spent in the laps of Civil War veterans and of her maternal relatives，who had lived through the Civil War．

After graduating from Washington Seminary(now The Westminster Schools)，she attended Smith College，but withdrew during her freshman year in 191 8．She returned to Atlanta to take over the household after her mother's death earlier that year from the great Spanish flu pandemic of 1918．When she Was nineteen years old，she took the responsibility of taking care of her family．And，formally，she entered into the society of Atlanta at that time．

Margaret Mitchell herself is also a rebellious and independent woman whose nature and experience share some similarities with Scarier O’Hara's．She refused the marriage arranged for her by elders of the family，and made her first marriage to an idealistic，wild，handsome guy despite the opposition of her relatives．Unfortunately，the disastrous marriage Was ended within months．After that Mitchell started her career as a journalist in 1 922 for the Atlanta Journal and rose in status from a fledging reporter to one of the newspaper’s best feature writers．Under the name Peggy Mitchell she wrote a weekly column for the newspaper’s Sunday edition，thereby making her mark as one of the first female columnists at the South’s largest newspaper．Mitchell’s first professional writing assignment Was an interview with an Atlanta socialite，whose couture—buying trip to Italy Was interrupted by the Fascist takeover．At that time，in Atlanta, Mitchell Was the only woman reporter．Through her work, she experienced the ups and downs of life．Especially through the hardships，Mitchell had learned how to confront the difficulties and bad luck of her life．

Margaret Mitchell Was considered to be a successful American woman writer．Meanwhile she Was a woman of firmness of will in modem times．She Was a feminist．Even during the hard times，she made her effort to survive．She Was all independent woman and always hold on to her own ideas．In her life，Mitchell lived through terrible disasters many times．While these misfortunes made her become more brave．She experienced car accidents more than once．She Was badly injured from these accidents．And because of the serious accident，she had to stay at home．Thus，she obtained more time to write the long novel Gone with the Wind．Unfortunately，Mitchell Was killed in a serious accident in 1949．

Gone with the Wind was such a great success．It Was published on June 30，1936．It Was the second best—selling book, next to the Bible，at the time of publication．The book was made into a film by David O．Selznick，and released three years later．The premiere of the film Was held in Atlanta on December 1 5，1 939．

In Gone with the Wind, Mitchell successfully created some lively characters which made a very deep impression on readers．Mitchell’s  Success proves that the novelists Can hit the target of the greatest accomplishment in their literary works as long as they are familiar with the life referred to the literary creation．With the influence from the family and her personal experience，Mitchell successfully created the attractive classical woman image—Scarier O’Hara, a rebellious，strong—willed girl growing into a mature woman in the process of struggling for survival；a convincing character that is directly from her, also a Southern woman’s view．

1.2 A brief introduction to Cao Xueqin

Cao Xueqin (? ~1764) was one of the most famous novelists and poets in the history of Chinese literature. Born in an influential Manchurian bureaucratic family, he had high cultural accomplishments and outstanding competence for art. During the reign of the Qing Emperor Yongzheng, his father was involved in a political struggle within the ruling class, defeated, so his family suffered a heavy blow both politically and financially. Thereafter, his family circumstances deteriorated. However, adversity brought talent in return. It was when he was plunged in such an embarrassing circumstance that he had the chance to contact himself with the underprivileged of the then society, thus giving him specific, intense experience, and enabling himself to see better of life. He spent as was recorded, at least ten years busying himself with the production of the novel The Dream of the Red Chamber, in which, through a detailed description of the rise and fall of an influential noble family of that time, he created a great number of typical characters, conducted in-depth analyses and criticisms of the then evil society and, at the same time, sang ebullient praises of both the male and female youths who were considered heretical in pursuit of love. The Dream of the Red Chamber is seen as a great realistic masterpiece among the Chinese classic novels. But the novel reveals a kind of pessimism and sentimentalism past cure. With the tone of Lin Daiyu, one of the heroines in The Dream of the Red Chamber, the author Cao Xueqin blended human feelings with nature in this novel as if in confirmation of man’s helplessness in the presence of the change of nature and the flight of time.

2 A Brief Introduction of Gone with the Wind and Dream of the Red Mansions

2.1 A Brief Introduction of Gone with the Wind

Under the context of the American Civil War and Reconstruction in Georgia and Atlanta, Gone with the Wind portrays a series of female characters．It depicts the story of the life of Scarlett O’Hara and her relationships with Rhett Butler, and Ashley, Ellen and Melanie Wilkes．They have their distinct personality and fate．Facing the fortune and misfortune in their lives，they make their own choice，learn important lessons about life and love，and lead to different endings．

The plot concentrates on the story of a rebellious Georgia Southern belle named Scarlett O’Hara and her persistence and resistance during that turbulent period in American history．Throughout the antebellum period，the War of Northern Aggression，and Reconstruction era, there witnesses Scarlett’s experiences and maturity with friends, family, lovers and enemies．

There is no doubt that Gone with the Wind is a love story．It is also an epic about the struggle and changes of American South during the time of 1860s.In the novel，Mitchell traces the hardships that the Southern people face and how they surmount numerous difficulties and rehabilitate their homeland．

2.2 A Brief Introduction of Dream of the Red Mansions

Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the most influential and celebrated classic in Chinese literature．It is not only a charming tragic love story but also a great realistic panorama about a falling feudal clan in Qing Dynasty．With traces of Jia Baoyu’s life and his familial relationships，Dream of the Red Chamber exposes a complex social background in the degenerating feudal society, and at the same time being endowed richly with Chinese—specific cultures and arts in the given historical period．It is a mirror of Chinese society in the eighteenth century(Hu Wenbin，2001) for it displays almost every aspect of Chinese cultural contents with detailed description，such as cookery, dressing，arts, architecture and gardening，medicines and music，official titles，religions，etiquettes and customs，etc．thus creates an invaluable treasure-house in the history of literature both in China and the world．

The novel is accomplished by the great writer Cao Xueqin in the mid-eighteenth century．There are 120 chapters in this book while what is generally believed，the first 80 chapters were completed by Cao Xueqin and the last 40 chapters were resumed by Gao E．There are still disagreements，especially on the author of the latter 40 chapters，but this does not affect the attraction of Dream of the Red Chamber as one of the masterpieces in Chinese history．

As a great artistic book unrolling a panorama of feudal society and an encyclopedia of the abundant Chinese cultural heritages，Dream of the Red Chamber has aroused extensive and perpetual interest at home in readers and professionals．Its fame quickly spreads abroad and Redology has emerged as a specific academic research．Numerous enthusiastic scholars both home and abroad have endeavored to introduce it to other cultures．

3 Feminist Analysis of Gone with the Wind and Dream of the Red Mansions

Over a long period of time，the masculine consciousness had always been the main line in a variety of literary works．In the traditional literary, women were considered inferior to men．It was written in the Genesis of the Bible that Lord God created a woman after a man, and the woman was made of one of the man’s ribs．So a woman was made out of the needs of a man，and was bound to be subjective to a man.15 Freud’s theory of the acquisition of gender made the bias deeper．He “assumes that young boys recognize the absence of the penis，the organ of male sexual gratification，in girls and women，and that this provokes in them a fear of castration．This encourages them not to compete with the father figure in the family for sexual possession of the father, and to postpone sexual gratification to the future．Women can never directly exercise the power invested in the position of father because they do not have a penis，and this biological fact has，in Freud，important psychic consequences for feminine subjectivity.”16(Chris,47)Aristotle once declared that “female is female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities”,and St Thomas Aquinas believed that woman was an “imperfect man”．17(Andrea, 189)Women were seen as lesser beings in a mode of thought in which men were taken as the norm and the ideal，and women were defined as“others”．

Feminism，which originated from the West, meant women’s liberation originally．Nowadays it meant the belief in the principle that women should have the same rights and opportunities(1egal，political，social，economic，etc)as men．After obtaining equal political rights，women remained unequal to men in people’s concept．Feminists recognized that this was the question of gender relations and gender power．Therefore，research includes the changes in feminist analysis of why the inequality existed between men and women，men and women’s power architecture，focusing on gender analysis．In Western literature，feminism was manifested in equality between women’s and men’s beliefs and ideologies．While in Chinese literature，the female characters would strive for the equality with men and unfold their unique female charm．

Feminine consciousness could be seen in Gone with the Wind and A Dream of Red Mansions．We could see both femininity and masculinity in Scarlett and Hsi-feng．In fact，the androgyny had been the perfect archetypal image．Early in 360 B.C.，the Greek Philosopher Plato in his Symposium wrote，“for the original human nature was not like the present, but different．The sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number；there was man，woman, and the union of the two，．．．and the word‘Androgynous’is only preserved as a term of reproach．”Carl Jung，the famous Swiss psychologist, thought “Every man has a feminine component in his psyche；everywoman has a masculine component in hers．”18(Carl，157) Virginia Woolf once said in her A Room of One’ Own，“…in each of us two powers preside，one male，one female．．．The normal and comfortable state of being is that when the

two live in harmony together, spiritually co-operating．”19(Virginia, 102)Compared with other women，they didn’t endorse the traditional gender expectations．They thought women should be equal to men．The fact had it that they had outshone their male counterparts．In reality, they dared to rebel against their destiny, which was a unique feminine consciousness in the society they lived. Their feminine consciousness was also the feminist traits advocated by later feminist theorists．

Gone with the Wind told us a female arduous story through Scarlett’s rebellious spirit and striving for future．A Dream of Red Mansions chose a noble maverick woman---Hsi-feng as a typical image from China’s traditional feudal family, through her talent to show the awakening of feminine consciousness in China’s declining of feudal society．In the novel，Scarlett lived in the 19th century and Hsi-feng，in the latter of the feudal society．At that time，women were represented as passive，masochistic and totally male-identified．Women were encouraged to identify with traditional female gender norms of sensibility, passivity and irrationality．But they pulled down the societal structuring of gender expectations．There was much masculinity in their female body．And this sameness has become the backbone of the thesis and explains why the thesis places them together under discussion．

In the patriarchal society, Scarlett and Hsi-feng were both losers．Scarlett succeeded in the business but lost her love．Hsi-feng once acted as the housekeeper of the feudal family, but at the time of the family’s declining，she was dismissed by the family and her husband．The dual (masculine and feminine) personality played all important role in their feminine consciousness，but disobeyed the conventional norms．Their tragedy lay in the traditional gender expectations and the internalization of the masculine power．

二、^范文提纲

1 Feminist Analysis of Gone with the Wind and the dream of the red mansion

2 Comparison of family background between Scarlett and Xifeng Wang

3 Comparison of tragic marriages between Scarlett and Xifeng Wang

4 Comparison of dominant female images between Scarlett and Xifeng Wang

5 The underlying reasons of the difference of social background and culture between 

Scarlett and Xifeng Wang

三、参考文献

[1]Felder, Deborah G. “Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind Is Published.” A Century of Women: The Most Influential Women Events in Twentieth Century Women’s History. New York: Citadel Press, 2003. 157-161. Print.

[2]DeBlasio, Donna. “Scarlett O’Hara and the New South.”Illinois Quarterly 42.3 (Spring 1980):12-23. Print.

[3]Gaillard, Dawson. “Gone With the Wind as Bildungsroman or Why Did Rhett Butler Leave Scarlett O’Hara.”Georgia Review 28.1 (Spring 1974): 9-18. Print.

[4]Mitchell, Margaret. Gone With the Wind. Scribner Press, 1936.

[5]Darden Asbury Pyron. Recasting:“Gone With the Wind” in American Culture. Miami: University Presses of Florida, 1983. 

[6]Edwards, Anne. Road to Tara: The life of Margaret Mitchell [M]. New York: Dell.1983. 

[7]Palmer, Joyce. Key thinkers on the Environment.Routledge.2001.p.283-288

[8]Anne Sarah Rubin, Revisiting Classic Civil War Books:“Why Gone With the Wind 

Still Matters; or, Why I Still Love Gone With the Wind.” [J]. Civil War History.2013, 59, (1):93-98.

[9]Danielle Barkley, No Happy Loves: Desire, Nostalgia, and Failure in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. [J].The Southern Literary Journal, 2014, 47, (1):54-67.

[10]ZHAO Baohe, A Comparative Study of Two Chinese Versions of Gone With the Wind from a Social-Cultural Perspective. [J]. Studies in Literature and Language. 2012, 4, (2):59-64.