| Margaret Drabble (1939—), who has won wide acclaim in the contemporary literary world, is considered among the most accomplished British writers of the postwar period. Since her debut in 1963, she has published a total of seventeen novels to date. Margaret Drabble is always concerned with the process of contemporary women's spiritual growth, their psychological experience and their state of subsistence in order to help them seek new self value and social status. While achieving international renown as a novelist, Margaret Drabble has also established an impressive reputation as a biographer, critic and editor.The main themes of Margaret Drabble's novels are principally about the predicaments of well-educated women, these including their domestic life, child rearing, balance between career and family, and marital problems. In her novels, Drabble never ceases from exploring the inner life of contemporary women who attempt to seek self-actualization and social recognition. However,Drabble's most recent fiction is heavily salted with social consciousness as she has continued to expand her focus from the concerns of middle-class female intellectuals to a variety of political and moral dilemmas within the broader background of contemporary Britain.The Millstone, the third novel written by Margaret Drabble, published in 1965, is the story of a young academic who encounters various difficulties as an unmarried mother in 1960s Britain. The book brought Drabble the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize and in 1969 was adapted for cinema in America as A Touch of Love. Rosamund, the protagonist of the novel, is a refreshingly honest portrait of a female doctoral candidate in her twenties who lives in London. She is an independent and successful intellectual, and simultaneously an unmarried mother. However, Rosamund's freedom and independence are achieved at the cost of abstinence and self-isolation.A brief survey of criticism of The Millstone shows that some research on the work has been conducted from the perspective of feminism and some has focused upon the writing techniques employed within. The research which concerns the philosophy of life or values of the protagonist mainly places stress on the positive attributes of the protagonist's way of living with only a few touches on its limitations. In other words, there is still room for systematic and profound investigation on such issues as the protagonist's obstinate pursuit of freedom at the cost of true love or on viable routes towards her true self-actualization not only as a woman but also as a human being. The interpretation of The Millstone with reference to the humanistic psychoanalytic theory remains almost undeveloped.Taking Drabble's masterpiece The Millstone as a case study, this thesis aims to make a more systematic exploration of the author's efforts to present women's dilemmas in modern life and to explore practicable approaches to their self-actualization. Specifically, based on a detailed study of the protagonist's spiritual evolution, and with reference to Erich Fromm's psychoanalytic theory of human nature, the author of this paper attempts to analyze the protagonist's obstinate way of pursuing freedom by comparing her spiritual states before and after she becomes a mother; to probe into the nature of her intransigent way of thinking; and finally to discuss the feasibility of the protagonist, as well as of people of the modern era as a whole, in achieving true self-actualization through a life lived in freedom but not in isolation from others.To expound the argument raised by the author of this thesis, three chapters are devoted to the interpretation and discussion of the story, in addition to the introduction and conclusion.The first chapter elaborates on the ambiguous nature of freedom that is manifested in the protagonist's life. It is divided into two sections. The first mainly discusses the seeming ease the protagonist enjoys by completely releasing herself from the bondage and burden possibly incurred by responsibilities or commitments from practical life especially before her pregnancy. And in contrast, the second section is mainly an exposure of the bitterness she suffers through her radical stance on freedom, this involving isolation and loneliness as well as helplessness.The second chapter is a detailed study on the nature of the protagonist's radical outlook on freedom. Two sections are included in this part. The first part is an objective analysis of the problematical attempts of the protagonist to achieve freedom. It includes consideration of her obsession with work, her habit of concealing her natural feelings in front of others, and her self-confinement within an ivory tower detached from an outside world viewed as potentially intrusive and threatening to her realm of freedom. The second part explains the possible reasons for the protagonist's pursuit of a radical freedom, namely, the influence of her parents and society as well as her character orientations. It will naturally be seen that the protagonist's freedom is by nature a negative one, which to a large extent can account for the bitterness incurred in her practical life.The last chapter concentrates on the discussion of a tentative solution to the predicaments incurred by this radical outlook on freedom. This solution mainly refers to a route towards what Fromm describes as"positive freedom". This chapter again includes two sections. The first elaborates on the issue of the return of human connections to the protagonist's day-to-day life. The second section is a detailed analysis of the awakening of distinct manifestations of love within the protagonist—a dramatic spiritual transformation which occurs during her pregnancy and in the primary phase of motherhood. In the end, the awakening of love in the protagonist and her return to human community and connection together portend a more self-fulfilling life for her in the future.The above analysis building on Fromm's theory leads naturally to the conclusion that the radical stance on freedom which the protagonist has advocated and practiced is what Fromm describes as"negative freedom", a freedom which has brought more bitterness than ease to her life. Therefore, any pursuit of a radical freedom is a negative attempt, which is to an extent achieved by freeing oneself from burdens and isolating oneself from connections with others. Only by returning to the real world and establishing harmonious human connections as well as being responsible to oneself and others can people of the modern era achieve true freedom, and thus be enabled to come closer to true self-actualization.
|
PDF Full Text Request