On The Development Of Saul Bellow’s Attitude Towards Women

Saul Bellow is regarded as one of the greatest writers of the20thcentury inAmerica. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, theNobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only writer towin the National Book Award for Fiction three times and he received the Foundation’slifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in1990.Most of Bellow’s novels focus on a single male protagonist, whereas the womencharacters in his fiction are usually presented from the viewpoint of the male narrators.Therefore, most of the critics tend to concentrate on the male characters----theirbewilderment, their struggle, and their relationship to the world around them. Thewomen characters defined by the male narrators are usually ignored. But the presentstudy on Bellow’s female characters is far from objective or comprehensive to explainthe complexity of Bellow’s attitude towards women and vividness of his femalecharacters. As the international debate over women’s roles intensifies, it is inevitablethat his attitude towards women would come under increased scrutiny.The author of this dissertation chooses to explore the evolution of Bellow’sattitude towards women in different periods by analyzing his representative novel ofeach stage: Dangling Man (1944), Herzog (1964), and The Dean’s December (1982).The author of this dissertation puts forward the three-stage development of Bellow’sattitude towards women, focusing on his depiction of female images and the changesin Bellow’s treatment of women in these novels in accordance with the social andcultural changes of the outside world.This dissertation consists of five parts, including introduction, three chapters andconclusion. The introduction provides the necessary background information of thisstudy, introduces Feminist Movement and Feminist Criticism, clarifies the importanceof the research, and also makes a detailed critical review conducted both at home andabroad.The first chapter is focused on Bellow’s attitude towards women in his earlynovel Dangling Man. This novel was published in1944with the background of the Second World War and the early period of the Feminist Movement. In this period,Bellow is less influenced by the Feminist Movement, and his attitude toward womenmust have been affected by the deep-rooted prejudice against women in westernculture and literary tradition. Briefly, Bellow exhibits an attitude of contempt andindifference mixed with a little acceptance and understanding, which is mainlymanifested through Joseph’s male chauvinism and Iva’s awakening of feministconsciousness.In Dangling Man, Bellow’s male chauvinism still occupies a dominant position.Joseph is depicted as the type of man who believes that the universal law of liferequires the submission of women to men to learn self-discipline. He believes that heis superior to Iva since he is more intelligent and his interest and taste is more elegant.Joseph regards Iva’s interest in fashion, magazine, and amusement as superficial.Therefore, out of his male-chauvism Joseph tries to reform Iva, to convert hereveryday desires into his so-called intellectual ideas. Similarly, Iva’s support of thefamily also makes Joseph depressed and uncomfortable, so they no longer confide ineach other and are estranged.Influenced by Feminist Movement, Bellow portrays Iva as a woman whosefeminist consciousness is awoken, which reveals the positive side of Bellow’s attitudeto women. Iva is depicted as a career woman who is not content with her inferiorposition and is beginning to realize her feminist consciousness. On the one hand, Ivaused to be a dedicated wife who accepts her subordinate role, and remains a silenthelper; on the other hand, Iva now has enough courage to subvert Joseph’s will, whichshows that her self-consciousness is awoken.The second chapter explores Bellow’s complex and ambivalent attitude towardsfemale characters in Herzog. The1960s sees the booming of radical FeministMovement. Under the circumstances, women who are no longer satisfied with being awife and mother, go out of the family, seeking economical independence, thinkingabout their own life and achieving their own value. Bellow describes different typesof female images in Herzog and exerts different attitudes to them. Herzog’s attitudetowards Madeleine clearly reflects the complexity and ambivalence of Bellow’s attitude to female characters.Herzog’s attitude toward Madeleine is complicated and changing. It developsfrom love, hatred, fear to understanding and acceptance. Madeleine is both loved andhated. Herzog desires for her beauty, intelligence, strong power, and self-control.Herzog is filled with strong hatred for Madeleine for her adulterous relationship withhis best friend Gersbach. He blames Madeleine almost for all his misfortune in his life.Herzog’s hatred and fear for Madeleine is also demonstrated from his envy forMadeleine’s intelligence. Herzog’s hatred and fear for Madeleine reflects Bellow’smale chauvinism and his self-centered consciousness.Bellow’s positive attitude towards Madeleine is revealed through his depiction ofMadeleine as a new woman with a strong sense of feminist consciousness. She refusesto be “the other”, asserts her resourcefulness and wit, and tries to be the master of herown fate. She realizes that her true value lies in her success not in her physical beauty.According to Simon de Beauvoir, sex is biologically determined, but gender isculturally formulated, so Madeleine rebels against her subordinate position in themale-dominated society, and tries to become a “significant person” instead of an angelin the house. Not being content with Herzog’s male-chauvinism and indifference, sheis determined to end the unhappy marriage, and to rebel against Herzog’s dominance.So she pursues her Ph. D, attempts to gain her rights and power.The third chapter deals with Bellow’s favourable view of women characters inThe Dean’s December. The Feminist Movement reaches maturity in the1980s. Duringthis period women pursue their true value, seek economic and spiritual independenceand equality. Bellow presents women in a positive light.For the first time in Bellow’s works, the number of important minor womencharacters is larger than that of men. Bellow describes a group of Rumania womenwho possess such qualities as love, persistency, and solidarity, and reveals his respectand praise for them. In Minna Bellow presents a lifelike model and a convincingillustration of what an intelligent, beautiful, struggling, hardworking new woman is.Bellow’s change in his view towards women is manifested in his treatment of therelationship between Corde and Minna. Their relationsh is stable and equal, so Corde needs not seek comfort for his wounded male-ego in the bosom of a sensual mistress.It is also noteworthy that for the first time in Bellow’s fiction, Minna is a full-timeprofessional with many attractive qualities: independent, intelligent, beautiful,persevering, and strong minded. Albert Corde is a decent, responsible, mature,considerate husband who loves his wife so much that he is willing to do all thehousework, including cooking and shopping. The hormonious relationship between ahusband and a wife is not often seen in Bellow’s fiction because most of the couplesget divorced. Corde is a reliable husband because he has found what Herzog andCitrine are looking for: a marriage that does not imprison, a love that does notenchain.The positive description of so many women characters in this novel clearlyshows Bellow’s attitude towards women changes from the initial indifference,contempt, hatred, and fear to sequent understanding, praise, and respect.The last part is the conclusion which sums up the findings of the study. Throughthe analysis of Bellow’s attitude towards women in these novels, the author of thisdissertation draws the following conclusion. First of all, Bellow creates a vast and richgallery of convincing female images, such as the old traditional Jewish housewives,the brilliant and intelligent new women, the exotic and sexy mistresses, and thecharacterization of women is not flat and dull, and the female characters have thesame well-rounded flesh-and-blood characteristics as the male protagonists. Secondly,since the women characters grow in complexity and individuality from novel to novel,Bellow shows different attitude to women in different periods of his literary career. Itevolves from early contempt and indifference, to the middle complexity andambivalence, and then to the final praise and respect. The changes of Bellow’sattitude to women stem from Bellow’s own experience with women, the Jewishculture, and the influence of feminist movement.