The Motif Of Women Keeping Abreast Of Their Times In Mao Dun's Novels

The images of women keeping abreast of their times constitute the motif of Mao Dun's novels. By writing novels as The Alteration, The Rainbow, The Midnight and The Corruption, Mao Dun made vivid descriptions of how the women characters in these novels, disheartened by the ebbing of the May Fourth Movement and the failure of Chinese Great Revolution in the 1920's, altered their tracks of journey through their lives in the vast social background in 1930's and in 1940's. The creation of the chain of such images embodies the writer's point of view on woman. From The Alteration to The Midnight and then to The Corruption, the women characters degenerate from "active revolution" to "listless by-standers", even to "anti-revolutionary", whom are connected with each other by an unseen line. Through the degeneration of these characters, Mao Dun wants to show his readers: Only by regarding their liberation as part of people's and by overcoming the demerits of petty bourgeoisie, can these women possibly realize their ultimate liberation. The motif does not form by chance but for various reasons: it is related, first of all, to Mao Dun's devotion to women liberation movement in his early days; then to his adoption of the viewpoint on women characters in The Dream of Red Chamber and last, to his unconscious cultural ideas. Mao Dun's creation of these women characters has merits as well as demerits. The new explanation of woman's perspective, woman's status and the traditional social value on male superiority characterizes Mao's novels, represents his pursuit of subverting the male culture in feudal society, of building modern value of life. However, Mao Dun is a male writer after all. His male status and male perspective obstruct his from surpassing himself to penetrate into woman's world, so that male perspective and female perspective confuse in his novels. In addition to that, Mao's "revolution complex" also affects his creation of women characters.