Sichuan International Studies University Westward To Freedom-Women In East Of Eden

John Steinbeck is one of the greatest but in the meantime most controversialnovelists in American modern literature history. He has produced sixteen novels, sixnon-fiction books and five collections of short stories and is said to be a writer withchangeable style and abundant creation. Steinbeck’s novels have receivedtremendous attention from both audience and critics and he was awarded Nobel Prizefor Literature in1962. East of Eden was created in his later years as Steinbeck’screative powers were said to be waning. This novel failed to receive a highrecognition but nevertheless, for Steinbeck himself, East of Eden is an unexceededwork in which he has poured in everything he had learned in previous writing.Studies on this novel concentrate more on the interpretation of the theme, writingtechnique, and male characters, with the vacuum of studying on women in the westunfilled. Therefore, this thesis intends to analyze the natural hostility and socialobstruction that women encounter in the process of participating in the westwardmovement, thus to illustrate the efforts that women made to gain identity andfreedom in modern society.Apart from introduction and conclusion, the body falls into three chapters: Theintroduction provides John Steinbeck’s life background and its influence on hisworks, together with a comprehensive literature review and the studies made on Eastof Eden. Chapter one elaborates on the living condition of women in the west. Asmen’s accessories to participate into the western wilderness, women suffer from boththe hostile nature and masculinity-centered society. In this part, Foucault’s theoryabout the women’ body is applied to analyze the fates of Cyrus’ wives. In thetraditional binary opposition the dominating voice in Phallocentrism is from male discourse, and its description and suppression upon women made the latter objectsbeing tamed. Women thus become a silenced group and freedom to them is all butinaccessible.Chapter two portrays women’s awakening by setting Cathy as an example.According to Foucault, resistance always exists where power exists. Cathy choosesfighting back to break the shackles of depressive environment and patriarchal control,but she takes for granted that evil is the only way to gain power. Her contemptiblemeans are actually trapping her in another “net” of power, for resisting “power” isstill within the net of “power”, only in a different form. Cathy herself becomes thetarget of resistance, which finally leads to her tragedy.Chapter three demonstrates women’s final success in pursuing freedom. Sincehistorical culture is a “symbolic order” based on “language” according to Lacan,obtaining the right of expressing would be the first step to gain identification in thisculture. Dessie and Abra liberate themselves from the shackles of the society. Theygain identification by independently thinking, bravely fighting against unjustice, andexpressing their thoughts honestly. Helping others makes their values as individualstruly realized and they finally gain real freedom.The conclusion part gives a further summarization: women in the process ofopening western land suffer a lot both inwardly and outwardly, yet Steinbeck stilloptimistically foresees women’s final success to find freedom in modern society.