The Patriarchal Trap: Carson Mccullough, Hermaphrodite Female Images In Three Primary Schools

Along with her contemporaries as Tennessee Williams and Eudora Welty, CarsonMcCullers (1917-1967) is considered as one of the most enduring authors of the AmericanSouthern Tradition. During her short life of50years, she created excellent literary works:The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941), The Member ofthe Wedding (1946), Clock without Hands(1961), The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1951) and afew short stories and plays. Loneliness and spiritual isolation is a main theme in almost allof her works. She is particularly good at revealing the spiritual dilemma and genderconfusion of the female characters in the South America background. Androgyny is one ofthe shared qualities of some of her female characters. This thesis aims to analyze threeandrogynous female characters in her works: Mick and Frankie, two tomboys in The HeartIs a Lonely Hunter and The Member of the Wedding, and Amelia, a rude, energetic ownerof several stores and a factory in The Ballad of the Sad Cafe.Androgyny was first put forward by Virginia Woolf, referring to an individual withboth male and female psychological features. Her idea of promoting sexual equality withthis notion is controversial. Some critics supported and celebrated the notion, like CarolynG. Heilbrun June Singer. However, other critics, like Elaine Showalter, hold an oppositeopinion, describing it as a utopian ideal and points out that this ideal erases sex-differenceand falls into the patriarchal trap.Based on the theories of feminism and discussions on androgyny, this thesis discussesthe reasons for the tragic fate and spiritual dilemma of the three female characters inCarson McCullers’ three novels and reveals that androgyny is not tolerated by a patriarchalsociety. It is an unrealizable ideal of harmony and equality between men and women insuch a society.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one provides a brief introduction toCarson McCullers, her literary works and a literary review of the three androgynouscharacters. Chapter two analyzes the sexual bewilderment and confusion of theandrogynous female characters. Chapter three is about their struggle to protect theirandrogynous qualities against the pressure from the society. Chapter four analyzes theirdoomed failure in a male-dominated environment. Chapter five concludes that androgyny can’t be accepted by the public and the androgynous personalities only bring to themmiseries and tragedies when the society is predominated by the inequality between menand women.