On Women's Pursuit Of Self-identity From Feminist Perspective

Margaret Drabble (1939-- ) is a prominent British writer enjoying an international fame and popularity in contemporary times. She has great sympathy with women who suffer from inequality in the patriarchal society. Almost all of her novels probe into the predicament and loss of self-identity capable and well-educated female intellectuals have been confronted with in their pursuit of self-fulfillments. Each novel manifests different manners contemporary women take to rebel against suppression to regain their self-identity and self-fulfillments.This thesis chooses three novels of Drabble's early literary creation, A Summer Bird-Cage, The Millstone and The Waterfall to analyze intellectual women's quest for self-identity and fulfillments with gallantry and persistence from the perspective of feminism. What accounts for the study of three novels lies in the fact that the three novels could be regarded as a trilogy. Here are the reasons. Firstly, they bear similar themes, delving into how newly liberated female intellectuals struggle out of confusion and perplexity to pursue their self-identity and realize their fulfillments in the patriarchal society. Secondly, they reveal Drabble'feminist consciousness to the full by depicting three manners the female characters in the three novels have used respectively to pursue their identity and fulfillments. In the first novel of the trilogy, A Summer Bird-Cage, the protagonist, Sarah is plunged into serious consideration when she gets confused about intellectual women's identity and roles. Her perplexity reveals that intellectual females begin to be awakened from slumber of subordination in the past to reconsider women's identities. It heralds the time for women to embark on a journey for self-exploration has come. The Millstone, the second novel of the trilogy discloses two manners contemporary women use to regain their identities. Firstly, they struggle out of their frustration and repression by challenging conventional ideology and shatter the feminine mystique imposed by patriarchy. Secondly, they realize their womanhood and regain female identity by embracing maternal love. The Waterfall, the third novel of the trilogy, delves into the third manner intellectual women use in realization of selfhood. Through depicting the miraculous recovery of Jane, the heroine, from spiritual wasteland by embracing true love, Drabble reveals her advocating the realization of womanly self and female identity by embracing sexual love based on mutual understanding.This paper will adopt feminist theories of Elaine Showalter to give systematic insight into how female intellectual characters in Drabble's works struggle out of predicament to embark on a journey for self-identity and self-fulfillments from three manners. The manners fully manifest Drabble's unique feminist consciousness which are revealed by emphasizing on women's rebelliousness against traditional ideology to declare their independence, emphasizing on the constructiveness of maternal love, and emphasizing on sexual love based on equality, understanding, and support.This thesis is composed of five parts. In the first part, the author will cast a general glimpse of Drabble's life, and education which serves as the impetus and provides rich material for her literary creation. In the second part, the author will probe into Drabble's feminist consciousness by comparing with such feminist representatives as Simone de Beauvoir and Virginia Woolf, aiming at disclosing Drabble's unique feminist consciousness. In the third part, the author will deal with the predicament, confusion and loss protagonists have encountered in their pursuit of self-identity and self-fulfillments. In the forth section, the author will explore women's efforts to struggle out of their confusion to regain their self-identity and realize their fulfillments in the patriarchal society from three aspects: challenging conventional mores, shouldering the responsibility of being a mother and embracing sexual love that is based on equality, understanding and support. At last, the author will summarize the themes the manners women fight against subordination and repression to regain their self-identity and realize their fulfillment in contemporary times. Besides, the author will summarize the contribution Drabble has made in enhancing the development of feminism.