The Feminist Consciousness Gestated By Maternity Love: An Analysis Of The Growing Process Of Rosamund's Female Consciousness In The Millstone

Margaret Drabble (1939-) is regarded as one of the most influential and famous writers in contemporary English literature. Drabble's novels in her early writing period are mainly concerned with young intellectual women, depicting young women's predicament, bewilderment as well as their continuous efforts to realize independence and self-worth in the patriarchy society. What makes Drabble different from radical feminists is that she does not refuse to be a mother, she takes maternity love as the outlet of modern female's pursuing of ideality. Drabble believes that females'love toward their children can harden themselves and satisfy them in soul, thus finding their own lives'direction and realizing their self-worth.The Millstone, published in 1965, is Drabble's third novel. The protagonist of the novel Rosamund is a female postgraduate for her doctor degree. On the one hand, she longs for love; on the other hand, she pursues a kind of independent and autonomous life, refusing to be controlled by love and marriage. Yet, after an accidental one night stand, she gets pregnant unexpectedly and after a fullest consideration, she decides to give birth to the child and play the role of an unmarried mother. In the process of breeding the child, she began to contact with the outside world frequently, and thus having a broader and deeper understanding toward the society as well as her own.The present thesis, with feminist criticism as its theoretical approaches, employs three chapters to analyze the three stages of Rosamund's psychological changes and the development of her female consciousness before and after she becomes a mother. The first stage, before Rosamund's pregnancy, is the pre-feminist consciousness stage. As an intellectual young woman, Rosamund has a strong rebelling spirit and a certain awareness of independence; she needs love and longs for love, but at the same time she refuses sex with men for fear that she will be thus controlled by them. This is also the enlightenment stage of her female consciousness. The second stage expounds the shaping of Rosamund's unique female consciousness after her pregnancy. As an unmarried pregnant lady, Rosamund has ever experienced a painful and hesitated period, and her decision to keep the baby and breed the child alone by herself manifest her female consciousness. The third stage elaborates Rosamund's strong female awareness aroused by her maternity. The birth of the child brings her special happiness and confidence. In the course of rearing the child, changes have taken place because of the maternity love as well as the social responsibility. She discovers her real-self and realizes her self-worth. In the conclusion part, the thesis makes a conclusion based on the statement of the three chapters and further discusses the significance and shortcomings of taking maternity love as a new outlet of feminism.