A Study Of Androgynous Idea In The County Of The Pointed Firs

The Country of the Pointed Firs is the finest work of Sarah Orne Jewett, representative of American local color literature in nineteenth century. Since its publication, many scholars put their different interpretations. Most of the critics interpreted it from the perspective of eco-criticism. With the rise of American women literature research in the1960s’, this novel had successfully aroused many feminists’ due attention. However, the androgynous ideas revealed in this work are seldom studied, and hence this new researching viewpoint is the beginning of this thesis.Started with the characterization in The Country of the Pointed Firs, this thesis is to make a thorough inquiry of the androgynous thoughts by using Woolf’s concept of androgyny, Jung’s theory of "anima and animus" and contemporary vision of androgyny. In this thesis, the author chooses characters to expound in terms of three states, namely, the state of masculine absence, the state of feminine absence and the harmonious state of androgyny. Through the demonstration of these three states, this thesis explains clearly the androgynous thought in this novel from different aspects, and asserts the expectation of pursuing the androgynous personality in The Country of the Pointed Firs.This thesis is divided into six parts, that is, Introduction, theoretical part, three chapters of main body and Conclusion.In the Introduction, the author succinctly summarizes Jewett’s life and works, and introduces the research status of The Country of the Pointed Firs in detail. Meanwhile, the author is also elaborating the purpose and significance of this thesis in this part.Chapter Two is the theoretical base of this thesis, which introduces the concept of androgyny. The author clarifies the concepts of androgyny in the following three aspects, namely, Woolfs concept of androgyny, Jung’s theory of "anima" and "animus" prototype and the contemporary vision of androgyny. Further, the author summarizes the meaningfulness of androgyny, so that these related theories can provide better theoretical support for the following textual analysis.In Chapter Three, the author of this thesis classifies Mrs. Blackett, Joanna, William and Tilley into the representatives of masculine absence. The different levels of negative effects, which are brought by their state of masculine absence and other objective factors, are shown in different aspects in their life. In this aspect, this thesis is confirming the importance of androgynous personality from the negative side.In Chapter Four, it is proposed that Mrs. Fosdick, Captain Littlepage as well as Mr. Dimmick have the state of feminine absence. Whereas Mrs. Fosdick has subtle androgynous feature, she suppresses her feminine features, for the sake of her "special" seafaring experience, so androgynous feature has not been harmoniously reflected in her. Captain Littlepage and Mr. Dimmick are the typical representatives of male society. Through the illustration of these three characters, this thesis is once again proved that the state of feminine absence is not a pursuit-worthy personality.In the fifth chapter, the author of this thesis considers Mrs. Todd and the narrator as the best representatives of androgynous personality. The androgynous personality is properly and harmoniously lived in them. They both embody good feminine features, and more importantly, the masculine features are harmoniously represented in them.In the Conclusion, the author restates and summarizes these three states so as to point out the androgynous personality is a pursuit-worthy personality.