A Comparative Study Of The Theme Bewilderment In The Bridges Of Madison County And The Summer Before The Dark

Theme, being one of the most important literary elements, is the soul of works, the carrier of author's thought and the destination of reader's emotion. Therefore, the study on a work's theme is of profound significance. The Bridges of Madison County created by the American writer Robert James Waller and The Summer before the Dark authored by the British female writer Doris May Taylor Lessing also show the bewildered situations of females, and this paper aims to explore the similarities and differences faced by those heroines from these two works.The Bridges of Madison County and The Summer before the Dark are two works from different countries reflected female's bewildered situations. Each novel has its own writing characteristics. The former describes the poignant and moving love story between Francesca and Kincaid, "America's last cowboy". Francesca has found her true love, Robert Kincaid, but family responsibilities and social demands on woman let her stay away, and eventually have to give up. The latter is about the returning journey of British middle-class housewife Kate. The rapid development of industry and technology bring not only material wealth, but also Kate's spiritual lost. On the one hand she wants to find her true self, on the other, she has to wear the "social masks". It is evident that both Francesca's journey to find her true love and Kate's self returning trip have a common characteristic, that is, females are facing bewilderment, which is also the basis of this thesis's comparative study.As far as the similarities are concerned, both Francisca and Kate are facing the same bewilderment. In a society where materials are extremely rich and the spiritual world is so empty, making a proper choice between freedom and responsibility, love and family, sense and sensibility is difficult. Another similarity lies in the same way they overcome the bewildered situations. Both of them have returned home with a new look. The differences between their bewildered situations are still very obvious. Francesca, in The Bridges of Madison County lives in a remote town in the United States, where it is relatively closed and people advocate the mass culture, which decides that Francesca will let the last American cowboy go instead of staying when making a choice between her true love and duties, but their love is sure to be eternal. On the contrary, Kate in The Summer Before the Dark, a representative of elite, will leave Jeffery indifferently in the end because of their different cultural identities.In summary, bewilderment is an eternal theme of literature, it is also the permanent theme in women's lives. When dealing with bewilderment, females should behave bravely like Francisca and Kate. It is worthwhile to overcome it in order to find one's true love and freedom although the process is painful and long. People in modern society should pay more attention to women's spiritual growth, thus can there be a more harmonious world.