A Comparative Study On Images Of Xiao Hong And Zhang Ailing's Novels

Image is the important path for us to delve into the connotation of a text. A writer's choice and interpretation of the images in his work not only reflect his understanding of the real world, his literary opinion, but also his life experience and emotional experience. The author of this thesis analyzes Xiao Hong and Zhang Ailing's novels based on"image", and the essay is composed of the following three aspects: explanation of the concept and current research of the topic; analysis of the specific images; and analysis of the deep meaning of each image. The thesis consists of eight sections in three chapters.Chapter one is the introduction. This chapter mainly explains the image theories in Chinese and Western literature, and the current research of the images in Xiao Hong and Zhang Ailing's novels. The author of the essay establishes the research method through the summing-up of these theories. That is to draw on the new achievement of images study in Western literature based on the traditional image theory in Chinese literature, to value the specific image analysis and to discuss the images'generative mechanism. By analyzing and summarizing the current research of the topic, the author sets up the significance of the comparative study of the two writers based on the present situation—the image study of each writer is sufficient, while the comparative study is rather insufficient.Chapter two is the rich image world. The author chooses four pairs of images to make a comparative analysis, the eight images are: image of nature—the moon and the sun; image of life—the stage and the mirror; image of death—the graveyard and the residence; and image of soul—the backyard and the opium house. The author tries to read the two writers'deep connotations of images and to explain the similarities and differences of their using images, by analyzing and summarizing the images in their novels.Chapter three is"all the scenery descriptions are from inner heart". The author makes an analysis from two angles: the two writers'similar cognition in female's issues and the different space-time contrast. From the female angle: because of the two writers'similar experience of growing up and running away from home, they both have a strong sense of belonging and wandering, which puts into images and presents the reminiscent record of the old family and the drift feeling of this homelessness. That's the similarities of the two writers in creating images. From the space-time angle: Xiao Hong grew in a rather closed and backward Hulan Town, and tasted mostly the agricultural civilization, while Zhang Ailing lived in the open and prosperous Shanghai, and she felt mostly the industrial civilization and the living style it brought. Different living environment form their dissimilar writing styles and their choosing about various images have obvious differences on tradition and modernity. In brief, Xiao Hong's images have the apparent local flavor, naturality, and duplicity, while Zhang Ailing's images have the typical modernity, artificiality and conformity. That's the differences between the two writers in creating images.To sum up, the author of this thesis tries to integrate the characteristics of the two writers'uses of images and to discuss its generative mechanism by analyzing the specific images in their novels, so as to explore the deep meaning of the images longitudinally, and to compare the similarities and differences of the two writers'images transversely.