A Study On Gender Relations In Jack London’s Bildungsroman

Jack London was one of the most famous realists/naturalists in American literature inthe late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In his short but legendary life, heincorporated his own rich experiences into his works so that facts and fiction mergedtogether and made himself the crucial representative of his epoch which manifested the fastsocial and cultural transition of America. London’s works are so characteristic of his timethat they have become important cultural codes to be deciphered with their profoundembedded meanings, through which not only can we comprehend the American culturalcharacteristics at that time but also explore London’s inner world. Most of London’s workshave the features of Bildungsroman, the type of writing that traces the protagonists’growing up in the process of the story development and reaching a better understanding ofthemselves and the world around them. Yet up to now, few critical articles on London’sBildungsroman can be found and there is no systematic study on this topic. No specialstudy on the gender relations in London’s Bildungsroman is yet attempted and the factleads to an unexplored yet challenging area of discussion which is the main task of thisdissertation.This dissertation, which takes London’s three major Bildungsromans, namely, MartinEden (1909), The Sea-Wolf (1904) and The Iron Heel (1908), as its case studies, makesspecial references, wherever appropriate, to such theoretical guidances as the theory ofBildungsroman, of Feminism and of Subjectivity, as well as Foucault’s “Knowledge—Power—Discourse,” Panopticism and Gazing theory to study the gender relations in JackLondon’s Bildungsroman. The dissertation explores the relationship between the literaryrepresentation and the social and historical milieu and cultural tension relevant to thecentral topic in Jack London’s works, hoping to provide a new perspective for the study onLondon.Apart from Introduction and Conclusion, there are three chapters in this dissertation.Based on the theories of Bildungsroman and Subjectivity, Chapter One, taking MartinEden and The Iron Heel as its case studies, analyzes the gender relations in the process ofMartin’s initiation. In this chapter, the author not only explains Martin’s awareness andpuzzlement in the process of his identity cognition, attempts to interpret the confusion of his self-identity during the cultural reshaping and class recruitment carried out by females,but also discusses Avis’s action of giving up her subjective position, which reflects the foilfunction of females. The loss of females’ subjectivity helps the formation of malesubjectivity, while the female’s position of objectivity projects the male’s subjective role.In association with the theory of androgyny and gender, Chapter Two, taking TheSea-Wolf as its case study and, in combination with the discussion on the narrative patternof Bildungsroman, interprets the gender relations in the process of male initiation. Sexformation is one of the major subjects in the growth of males who will face theembarrassment of gender blur and the danger of gender inversion. This chapter, mainlyfocusing on the problems of sex formation and interchange of sex roles and looking intothe problem of the inversion and loss of gender due to the absence of females and theregain of masculinity or manhood because of the presence of females, aims to reach theconclusion that, only with the help of the female, the male character establishes his status,locates his role and gains his masculinity. The final return of the female to their traditionalroles in the novel reflects Jack London’s deep-rooted defensive attitude toward thetraditional patriarchal norms.Applying Foucault’s Panopticism and Gazing theory, Chapter Three examines thefemales serving as foils in love from two aspects. On the one hand, the author discussesfemales’ moral discipline, their betrayal and loyalty to love and spiritual enslavement ofeducation to them under the gaze of patriarchal ideology; on the other hand, this chapteraddresses females’ submission, revealing the connotation of the veiled but prevailing malesuperiority and the desired female’s subservient role, and confirming Jack London’s malesupremacy in regard to love.To sum up, this dissertation is intended to explore the gender relations and analyzeJack London’s views on gender. Ostensibly, he appreciates the “liberated” new women,but subconsciously he still leans heavily toward male superiority. He insists that mencannot achieve their maturity without women, but regards his female characters only asfoils, playing a supplementary function to highlight the males’ achievement in the processof their development. He yearns towards the sincere love but regards women-serving-menas an ideal pattern in marriage.