An Analysis Of Jane's Feminist Self-consciousness In Riders Of The Purple Sage

As a great American writer Zane Grey(1872-1939)is one of the most prominent representatives of the so-called Western style of writing. Most of Grey's works are about the mid-western prairie where he grew up. In his works, he sought to recapture the American past and portrayed people's frustrations with contemporary life. His representative work Riders of the Purple Sage is the most original and complicated western novel. Regarded love as the main line, this novel not only explored the inner world and fate of the female character represented by Jane but also described how Jane defended for women's rights and dignity and fought against the Mormon religion and finally defeated the evil and found the true love. Zane Grey lavished a great many descriptions for Jane's resolute and fearless rebellion against the social customs and her pursuit of freedom and happiness. This research has deep social and philosophical significances. His styles are varied, but his works are seen as a unified . He pays more attention to the transformation of the female self-consciousness in his novel. He tries to study the self from the imagination and real aspects. Through the heroine, he believes there are not only spiritual but real self. The real self must be realized in the society. The process of self-recognition and self-realization is a process from conflict to harmony between man and society, man and man, and man and others. Women face a lot of frustrations on their way to search selves, pursuing equality, independence and freedom. So what the heroine Jane shows is the spiritual self in equality, independence and freedom.Through the analysis of Jane's tenacious sense of survival and courageous rebellion against the man-dominated society, this thesis will discuss in detail how the author expressed the arousal of female self-consciousness, announced the idea of equality in love and marriage, proposed the idea of striving for independence and freedom and maintaining dignity by self-struggle in Riders of the Purple Sage. The thesis is divided into three parts from the points of equality, independence and freedom. Chapter one demonstrates the value of interpersonal equality, attitude toward non-Mormons and her views on love to show her female consciousness; Chapter two analyzes Jane's sense of independence in face of religion, thinking and defending of self-esteem; Chapter three interprets her pursuing freedom through the analysis of marriage freedom, religion freedom and choosing freedom.