On Katherine Mansfield's Feminist Views

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), a New Zealand-born English writer of the twentieth century, was an outstandinging female writer in the history of British literature who had committed herself to the writing of short stories and who had established her fame through this genre. After her death, a number of her biographies and comments have been published, which are mostly based on her literary development. For quite a long time, both domestic and foreign critics have been focusing their study on Mansfield's literary achievements, viewing her as a writer with a unique style. With the development of the new Western Feminist Movement, some critics began to re-interpret Mansfield's short stories from the angle of feminist criticism to prove that Mansfield was actually a great feminist pioneer.Mansfield was not a feminist theorist. Throughout her life, she never studied any feminist theories, nor did she formulate any feminist theory herself. Her short stories serve as the best stage to present her feminist views. As is clearly stated in her works, she longed for a bright future when both sexes co-exist harmoniously. Based on the historical background of Victoria Age and feminist theories, this thesis reexamines Mansfield's unique feminist views and tries to figure out the reasons for the formation of her feminist views by means of analyzing some of her works of different periods. Although Mansfield didn't give a direction for women's liberation, her in-depth analysis of women's psychological oppression provided a psychological basis for their liberation. She also explored the way to women's liberation actively, which is still of positive significance today.The thesis consists of 4 chapters, excluding Introduction and Conclusion. Chapterâ… mainly introduces Mansfield's life and her literary achievements and explains the close contact between her individual experiences and her literary writing. It is made up of four sections, i.e. rebellion against the traditional family and society, failure in love and misfortune in marriage, unremitting pursuit of literature and the lonely and miserable decease. In order to better understand and analyse Mansfield's feminist views, Chapterâ…¡briefly introduces the status of British women in the Victorian Age and the upspringing of Feminist Movement. Chapterâ…¢is the key chapter which analyses the formation of Mansfield's feminist views and some of her works in different periods, which clearly manifest her unique feminist views. To make the study more systematically, Chapterâ…£tries to analyse both the internal and external reasons for the formation of Mansfield's feminist views. Various feminism thoughts of the comtemporary writers had a great impact on her thinking, such as famous Russian writers Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and British writers Virginia Woolf, Lawrence, etc. What's more, her family environment also played a certain role in the formation of her feminist views. As for internal reasons, her independent personality as well as her choice of life's road contributed to it greatly.Through study we can easily see that Mansfield's short story is a stage to demonstrate her feminist views. In her works, Mansfield thrusts sharp criticism at the patriarchal system that uses its values to confine women to their inferior position in the family and society. Although Mansfield did not provide an answer to women's liberation, she criticized the patriarchal culture by analyzing the spiritual and physical oppression imposed by it on women. Also she made an in-depth analysis of women's inferior status in family and society, thus to provide the necessary psychological basis for their liberation. Starting from herself, Mansfield made a positive exploration of the way to women's liberation. Therefore, Katherine Mansfield's revelation and condemnation of the oppression and humiliations that women suffer in the patriarchal society and her exploration of women's liberation prove that she was actually a feminist pioneer.