A Comparative Study Of The Feminist Consciousness In The Rouge Of The North And The Awakening

Feminist consciousness is a common theme in literature of different culturalbackgrounds. By applying parallel study, this thesis explores the feministconsciousness in Eileen Chang’s The Rouge of the North and Kate Chopin’s TheAwakening. It mainly focuses on the two heroines’ quest for survival and subjectivityfrom the perspective of feminist criticism with the aim to expose women’ssubordinate situation as “the Other” in the patriarchal society, and to reveal theuniversal patriarchal repression on women. The thesis begins with an introduction tothe life and works of Chang and Chopin, a literature review on the two writers and apresentation of research methodology of the study. It then analyzes the characters’fancy for love, sexuality, motherhood, self-independence, and self-realization. Itconcludes that the two heroines’ tragedies root in patriarchy, and only by abolishingthe confinement of the patriarchy can women achieve complete self-realization, wingenuine subjectivity and pursue happiness in social as well as domestic lives. Changand Chopin never had immediate communication, but through literature, they sharesimilar understanding of women’s condition. This thesis for the first time comparesthe feminist consciousness reflected in their works, and hopefully it will contribute tothe study of Eileen Chang and Kate Chopin.