Growth In Loneliness And Confusion

The Bell Jar is the only autobiographical novel of Sylvia Plath, a famous American confessional poetess. It talks about the story of a nineteen-year-old sophomore girl Esther who has experienced a chain of events:having served as a guest editor of the well-known magazine, being refused to participate in the writing class, having attempting to commit suicide, receiving psychological treatment, regaining confidence and expecting to return society and start a new life. As it was published in1963, it was extremely popular on campuses in America. The Awakening, the American writer Kate Chopin’s masterpiece, depicts the protagonist Edna’s growth process. In the novel, she grows into an independent woman concerning about spiritual life with modern sense from a traditional housewife without self-consciousness. Her short life is a process of the breeding, awakening and growing of her female subject consciousness. The novel was banned when first published in1899, and it has been accepted and respected until the1950s.From the perspective of the female’s growth, the thesis makes a comparative analysis on the characterization of two heroines, which is about how they awaken and grow step by step in loneliness and confusion. The thesis is divided into six parts:The first part is an introduction including some information about Sylvia Plath and The Bell Jar, Kate Chopin and The Awakening. The second part is literature review from the following three aspects:①Related researches abroad;②elated researches in China;③Bildungsroman and the female Bildungsroman. The third part first focuses on Esther’s loneliness from three perspectives:contradiction between the external environment and the individual pursuit, contradiction between attachment and alienation, loneliness intertwined between desire and disillusionment. And then analyzes Edna’s loneliness from two aspects: contradiction between the external environment and the individual pursuit, apathetic interpersonal relationship. Finally their loneliness is compared. The fourth part first shows Esther’s confusion from three perspectives:the expectations of society and the individual pursuit, confusion about concept of chastity, lack of female role models in the process of female’s growth. And then analyzes Edna’s confusion from three aspects:confusion about women’s choosing different roads, confusion about the complexity of sex, confusion about the contradiction between rights and obligations. Finally a comparative study on their confusion is conducted. The fifth part makes a comparative study of Esther’s and Edna’s growth process in loneliness and confusion. The last part is a conclusion which summarizes the whole thesis. It can be found that although the two heroines have different historical backgrounds, different ages, occupations, social status, there are similarities and differences between their growths which are comparable. The endings of Esther and Edna are the typical manifestation of women in a patriarchal society. Their way of pursuing freedom and growing step by step in loneliness and confusion is the only way for women to struggle for freedom, equality and independence.The thesis makes a comparative study of the two protagonists’growth process in loneliness and confusion. Although the study has certain limitation, this topic enriches the researches of the theme of female initiation on The Bell Jar and The Awakening at home and abroad. It is helpful to get a better understanding of the universal significance of female initiation and it is meaningful to guide the individual growth of the new women in today’s society.