Looking Forward In The Middle Ground

Margaret Drabble is a key figure in the British literature circle. She has established a great fame worldwide because of her numerous achievements. Margaret Drabble grows mature during the second wave of feminist movement and surely she and her works are more or less influenced by feminism. Feminism is developed and promoted by the feminist movement. It takes literature books and feminist literature as its research targets to re-examine the traditional practices of western culture. It is based on female's experiences and their responses to life, affirming self value, rebuilding self consciousness of females, getting back their social status and praising their contributions to society and culture.This thesis is going to analyze 3 major novels of Margaret Drabble which are created at different times during the second feminist movement: A Summer Bird-Cage, The Radiant Way and The Middle Ground. The heroines are from graduates of younger generations having received higher education in 1960s to the middle-aged career women in 1980s. The feminist theories and methodology of feminism, especially those of Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir will be used to explore the unique standpoints and living conditions of intellectual women as well as the reasons for their confusion depicted in Margaret Drabble's works. After the analysis, this thesis also puts forward possible suggestions for the future generations of intellectual women to realize their self value.