从《小妇人》中分析乔的女权主义.doc

滨江学院
本科生毕业论文（设计）

The Study of Jo in Little Women from the Prospective of Feminism

Contents
1. Introduction…………………………………………………….……………………5
2. Literature Review……………….……………………………………………….…..5
2.1 Definition and Features of Feminism…………………………………………….6
2.2Relevant Studies of Jo’s Feminism in Little Women………………………….….6
3. A comprehensive analysis of feminism on Jo in Little Women………………...……8
3.1 Pursuit of Freedom …………………………………………….…………………8
3.2 Demand of True Love …………………………………………..…...…………..10
3.3 Desire for Independence……………………………………………..…………..11
3.4 Embodiment of Equality……………………………………………..………….13
4. Enlightenment of feminism embodied in Jo in modern times ………...…...……..15
4.1 Modern Expression of Feminism in Professions………………….……………15
4.2 Modern Expression of Feminism in Marriage Life……………..……………..16
5. Conclusion………………………………………………….………………...………18
References…………………………………………………….…………………………19
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………...…...20

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从《小妇人》中分析乔的女权主义

摘要：《小妇人》由美国作家露易莎·梅·奥尔科特所著，她是美国文学史上最突出的作家之一，也被认为是以为女权主义者。《小妇人》是她最成功最著名的作品。《小妇人》是一部以美国南北战争为背景，以19世纪美国新英格兰地区的一个普通家庭四个姐妹之间的生活琐事。此小说与1868年出版后受到了极大的关注。本文旨在通过分析《小妇人》分中的女性乔，阐述奥尔科特的女权主义观点。这个观点在主人公乔的身上体现的淋漓尽致。乔，酷爱写作与阅读，独立勇敢。不甘心做一个家庭主妇，选择自己喜欢的工作-写作，厌恶社会无理的要求--女性权力不及男性。本文分别从自由，爱情，平等，独立四个角度，分析乔的女权主义思想。并结合现代社会，剖析乔这种女权主义在现代社会中的意义。
关键词：《小妇人》; 乔; 女权主义

The Study of Jo in Little Women from the Prospective of Feminism

Director：Wu Sufang
（College of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310053）
Abstract: Little Women is written by an American author, Louisa May Alcott, who is one of the most prominent writers in American literature as well as a feminist. Little Women is one of the most successful and famous works of hers. It is a novel which is set in the Civil War, and based on the four sisters’ family life in New England in the USA in the 19th century. It received a lot of attention when it published. This thesis is aimed at analyzing Jo in the Little Women to state the point of Louisa May Alcott’s concept of feminism. This view is reflected incisively and vividly on the heroin Jo. Jo, who has a passion for writing and reading and her characters are independent and brave. She is not content to be a housewife and chooses her favorite job—writing. Disliking the unreasonable request of the society—women’s power is less than men’s. The article is written respectively from four perspectives—freedom, love, equality and independence to analyze of Jo’s feminism ideas. And combining with the modern society, it dissects the significance of Jo’s feminism in modern society.
Keywords: Little Women; Jo; feminism

The Study of Jo in Little Women from the Prospective of Feminism
1. Introduction
Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, the second daughter of Amos Bronson and Abigail Abba May Alcott. She was raised in Concord, Massachusetts, a small town to the north of Boston that was home to many great writers of the day.
Little Women is a novel published in 1868 and written by American author Louisa May Alcott. The story concerns the lives and loves of four sisters growing up during the American Civil War. It is based on Alcott's own experiences as a child in Concord, Massachusetts with her three sisters, Anna, May, and Elizabeth. The novel tells of their progress into young womanhood with the additional strains of romance. It is a story of their growing maturity and wisdom and the search for the contentedness of family life.
In this situation, the paper tends to analyze the pursuit for freedom and demand of true love, embodiment of equality, and desire for independent personality and independent rights to make special analysis of feminism on Jo in English. In doing so, the readers might have a deep understanding of the feminism.

2. Literature Review
Little Woman, one of the classics of American literature, was written by American woman——Louisa May Alcott. Woman in the 19th century were still limited to traditional opinions that they were opposed to belong to the family, obey their husbands’ orders .They could not have the chance to compete equally with men in many fields of society. However, Louisa May Alcott did not look upon herself as the adjunct of the men. She was determined to break the fetters on the women, and tried to choose a profession to make a living on her way through this rough and tumble world. Hence, there is no doubt that Little Women occupies an essential position in the history of American literature in the 19th century.

2.1 Definition and Features of Feminism
As to the meaning of feminism: “most people think ‘feminism’ is about equality of the sexes, and activism to achieve equality of women”. (Johnson, 2011, p30) This theory is called: “Socialist feminism and was used increasingly during the 1970s to describe a mixed theoretical and practical method to achieving women’s equality. In addition, this theory analyzed the relation between the oppression of women and other oppression in society.” (Linda, 2011, p22)
In the Cambridge dictionary, the definition of feminism is the belief that women should be allowed the same rights as men and be treated in the same way, but also when it is used to describe a man that means the behavior of man is similar to women. “According to MS magazine, feminism sounds like a negative word for most women. They don’t like it or use it”. (Karol, 2011, p28) However, a very interesting article which is from Men in Feminism said: “some men seem to be interested in Feminism; they prefer to acquire more knowledge of it and encourage more of them to realize that feminism benefits everyone.”(Lizzie, 2003, p19) Therefore, to some extent, the readers can find that males and females still have different attitudes to this word.
For the features of feminism, the first one is to stress women’s gender differences and their expression in literary texts and texts interpretation, that is, gender poetics and gender reading. Secondly, it puts emphasis on the expression of gender symbol difference, advocating women’s discourse and maternal instinct discourse. Besides, it establishes women’s equality of political rights on the basis of female social difference and discourse difference.

2.2Relevant Studies of Jo’s Feminism in Little Wome
There are many scholars who throw some light on the feminist interpretation of Litter Women.
Although the book is filled with submissive women who are content with domestic life, a great deal of feminist attention concentrates on women’s influences on men. For example, in “The Influence of Little Women”, Carolyn Heilbrun argues that the fascination Little Women holds lies less in Jo’s ease in adopting male manners and behavior , than in the facility with which her whole family restructures itself on a female pattern.( Kress,1997,p23)
G. K. Chesterton noted that in Little Women, Alcott "anticipated realism by twenty or thirty years," and that Fritz's proposal to Jo, and her acceptance, "is one of the really human things in human literature." (Fritz, 1987, p67) Gregory S. Jackson argued that Alcott's use of realism belongs to the American Protestant pedagogical tradition that includes a range of religious literary traditions with which Alcott was familiar. (Jackson, 2009, p14) The nineteenth-century images he produces of devotional guides for children provides an interesting background for the game of "playing pilgrim" that, in part, comprises Book One's plot structure. Elbert argued that Little Women did not “belittle women’s fiction" and that Alcott stayed true to her “Romantic birthright.”( Sarah，1987，p11)
As we all known, Jo is the representative of Louisa May Alcott in the Little Women, so in “Closing the Garret Door: A Feminist Reading of Little Women”, scholars Deborah Thacker and Jean Well mention that the women writer’s place has been marginalized and consigned as “the attic” (Thacker & Well,1989，p3) the room of her own where a woman could express and liberate herself undisturbed. In Little Women Louisa May Alcott playfully enabled her girls’ readers to look within her inner room, her center of repressed imagination.
The heroine Jo is a unique woman in this book. Her unconventional opinions and deeds differ much from her sisters. The first chapter talks about Jo’ process of forming the sense of self-identity. It consists of four parts in self-shaping, self-reflection, self-fulfillment and self-control. The second chapter details about Jo’ sense of responsibility to play four different roles in her life. As a new woman, she flourishes personality. The third chapter discusses Jo’s equality thoughts, and her struggle to get her properly rights.
Based on the summaries of the previous researches, naturally, a new woman in Alcott’s Little Women should independent, self-identity and self-denial; a new woman should have her ability, and create her career; a new woman should live an equal life with her husband; the combination if family life and independent existence can open various probability for a new woman’ individual development.

3. A comprehensive analysis of feminism on Jo in Little Women
3.1 Pursuit of freedom
From the ancient period to modern society, all the people are seeking freedom, no matter what the person is man or woman, old or young. The author of Little Woman—Louise May Alcott who also wants to own freedom. In her famous novel Little Woman, through the main actor—Jo express the pursuit of freedom.
Jo is a girl who wants to be a boy. “I wish I was a boy,” says Jo. “Then I could go and fight beside father.” (Alcott, 1987, p38) Jo wants to escape from the full dress and puts on the uniform to fight beside her father. Meg always says to Jo in this way, “You’ve been running, haven’t you? Jo, when will you start to behave like a young lady?”(Alcott, 1987, p98)Although at that time, every girl want to behave like a young lady, Jo behaves like a boy. For her perspective, a boy can do many things that the girls also can do, such as skating and then talking about the skating with them. She never fells shy to play with boys. She believes that boys possess freedom and they can do everything they want to do. In the book, Jo does many things which can only be done by boys.
The reason why Jo stood out can be best illustrated by her characteristic. It is her characteristic that makes her different from all the other girls in the family. Unlike other girls who behave like quite water, Jo was neither soft nor gentle. She is just like a vigorous flame giving endless happiness.
In the beginning of the book, she claims that:
“I hate to think I’ve got to grow up and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and look as prim as a China Aster. It’s bad enough to be a girl, any way when I like boy’s games and work and manners. I can’t get over my disappointment in not being a boy, and it’s worse than ever now, for I’m dying to go and fight with papa, and I can only stay at home and knit like a poky old woman.”(Alcott, 1987, p43)
Jo also likes literature, both reading and writing them. She composes plays for sisters to perform and writes stories that published. She imitates Shakespeare, and when she doesn’t need to do chores, she reads a book in a corner of the attic, or outside, completely absorbs a good book. She also says: “Not being a genius, like Keats, it won’t kill me…when I am ready, I will up again…”Jo is not the oldest daughter in the family, but she put herself in the position of the man of the family when her father is absence. She devotes her literature works to support the family. When her father is hurt during the war, she cuts her lovely, sick, long hair to help her mother to look after her father. She says: “I just want to do something for father, and selling my hair was the only thing I could think of doing.”(Alcott, 1987, p105)
Because of her character –boyish, Jo has intense equality thoughts, and her struggle to get her properly rights. When she is young, her unique behaviors express her desire to break the fetters on the women. Her choices of career stand for her dreams of being equal as men. She does not obey the traditional view on marriage to find a rich husband, but establishes her love on an equal base. On work, Jo has achieved her dream and become a writer. In life, she is not the only one to do the housework and her husband will also undertake it. For example, her husband prepares the cakes for dinner and look after their children. Jo also appeals to the equality of, so do she and her husband. Though she returns home, Jo gives a new definition of new women that the combination of career and family is the best home for a new woman.
At the same time, she is a girl who has the courage to pursuit her ideals. She believes that a new circumstance has advantages for her writing; she follows to New York to teach children, or sometime stays in the bookroom to read books to absorb new knowledge. She accepts new things and comes being into new ideas.
All of her characteristics and her behaviors show that she pursuits of freedom and doesn’t care about others’ vision. She just does the things she wants to do, not bind by secular.

3.2Demand of true love
As a girl, Joy is lucky because of a boy, Laurie, who loves her; as a little woman, Joy is beatific because of a man, Bhaer, who loves her; as a mature lady Jo is felicific because of a gentleman, Bhaer, her husband.
As a female, Jo knows clearly that she is going for a true love rather than a rich life.
Most people who read the Litter Woman always think that Jo ought to marry Laurie, who is her childhood sweetheart and has a happy marriage with Jo However, it is unbelievable that she turns down his offer and gets married with Professor Bhaer, an old, poor man. A host of people take the view that Jo is foolish for she has done, but Jo is certainly understand what she really needs than anyone else.
For Laurie
Jo’s fell in love with Laurie