| Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980), an active American writer in the first half of the 20th century, is widely known for her popular short stories and novella. She writes in a sharp and concise style with a conscientious artistic attitude as well as an acute and keen observation for small output, but each of them is powerful, peculiar and profound, inspiring people in many aspects. Since the 1930s-40s critics have paid great attention and attached much importance to Porter. In the 1990s the research on her reached new heights as scholars from home and abroad approached her works from varied perspectives and with diversified theories. Porter's works are rich in the feminist color, as most of the protagonists are women. The themes mainly concern women's struggle and quest for self-realization as well as their rebellion against the unequal treatment in the patriarchal society in the time of conflict and confrontation between the old rules and the new order, tradition and transformation, and the ideal meeting the reality. However, the theme concerning of feminists hasn't been paid much attention by critics. Because unfavorable fact for the proposition is that the period of the 1920s-60s when Porter makes great achievements in her writing career is also the time when the feminist movement in the US falls into the down curve between the "First Wave" and the "Second Wave". Very few critics regard her as a feminist writer, because of her lack of sympathy in the modern feminist movement. According to the theory of an American feminist critic, Elaine Showalter in her A Literature of Their Own, redefines the history of feminist literature hence arousing feminine consciousness. Thus, whether Porter is a feminist writer or not becomes debatable question. To find out the answer, the writer of this dissertation has probed into the history of the feminist movement in the United States and the life experience and literary career of Porter, explored the perspectives of her writing, and carefully examined the major characters in her most popular fictions to assess the extent to which feminist consciousness is present inthem. As a result, the author assumes that Porter holds her peculiar feminist consciousness, in which the true values of Porter and her short fictions lie.This dissertation is composed of four chapters. Chapter One introduces that different views of critics have on Porter's female images. It also makes clear the purpose of the writer of this dissertation: to study Porter's feminine consciousness through a survey of the major female characters together with an analysis of her career and the historical and social background of her writing.Chapter Two introduces the historical background and development of the feminist movement in the United States and explicates the budding, development and maturity of Porter's feminine consciousness. It adopts the feminist theories, as expressed in Kate Millett's Sexual Politics and Elaine Showalter's A Literature of Their Own, and points out that the society in which Porter lived was still a patriarchal one, as the early feminists did not go deep into the patriarchal ideology and challenge it thoroughly. As a result, women were strongly advocated to maintain their "nature" and "virtues" and attach great importance to family. Meanwhile Freud defines females to be "castrated", which vividly and bitterly describes the living state of the women in the patriarchal society. Under this background Porter grew up from a southern unbending girl into a famous writer. Her experience proves her value of self-realization in the society.Chapter Three gives a detailed analysis to three female characters in Porter's most popular works Old Mortality and Pale Horse, Pale Rider. Amy the southern fair maiden, Eva the feminist and Miranda the new woman. It demonstrates how Porter, through her characters, reflects the influences of the feminist movement and thoughts upon the South in different historical times and shows her attitude towards the patriarchy, laying stress on the thematic...
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