The Shaping Of Three Generations Of Cleary Women

Colleen McCullough is one of the most influential contemporary writers in Australia. She is also a representative of modern Australian writers who achieve great success overseas. Her masterpiece The Thorn Birds describes the shaping of the three generations of Cleary women. At the same time, it is a historical interpretation of the development of females in the early Australian colony. From the perspective of New Historicism, this thesis explores the shaping of the three generations of Cleary women and the historical elements that influences their choices, hoping to provide a new perspective for the shaping of female consciousness in the early Australian colony.This thesis includes introduction and five chapters. Introduction is mainly about the research objects, methods and aims. Chapter One first gives a summary of the novel and the literary review. The following part is the author’s achievement and the autobiographical factors of the novel. The last part of Chapter One is a brief introduction of new historicism which is the theoretical basis of the history probing. Chapter Two is an analysis of the historical elements and self-consciousness of the first generations’Cleary women. It explores the suppressed female consciousness under the extreme patriarchal society. Chapter Three is an interpretation of the heroine Meggie who is also the representative of the second generation. This chapter discusses the miserable but rebellious life Meggie has. Her childhood is suppressed by Catholic education and her indifferent mother. Her first love becomes the victim of Catholicism. Her marriage is destroyed by Bush Culture and mateship. Chapter Four studies the third generation of Cleary women Justine, probing the advent of independent modern women in the historical development. The last part is the conclusion. Colleen McCullough reproduces the development of female consciousness from the early Australia colony to modern society by the shaping of the three generations of Cleary women.