Women’s Survival Predicaments In Saul Bellow’s Herzog

Saul Bellow (1915-2005) is a famous Jewish writer in contemporary America.In1976, he successfully won the Nobel Prize in literature “for the humanunderstanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in hiswork.” Herzog is an important work at the medium term of his creation, and it isdeeply loved by readers and favorably reviewed by critics by virtue of its superbnarrative skills, unique artistic style and the characters’ revealing of complexemotions.This thesis is intended to uncover the root causes of women’s sufferings andfrustrations through the application of the feminist literary theories, especially BellHooks’s theory of postcolonial feminism. Due to the unequal power structureinduced by the differences of the class, race, gender and the cultural environments,females are caught in the contradictions between the margin and the center, thehistory and the reality, the matter and the spirit, and are unable to build a newidentity for themselves.Through an analysis of women in the novel, it is very easy to realize thatwomen fall into two categories: one refers to those traditional women as victims innegative mentality, the other refers to the modern women who have gradually lostthemselves or are distorted in personality when they are caught in the contradictionbetween self-realization and the location of historical traditions. With regard totraditional women’s survival predicaments, clinging to the Jewish domestic ethics,they are obliged to be the Other and the servant of the household. Although theystrive to sacrifice for the family, yet they still cannot escape the fate of beingbetrayed, abandoned by husband, and being troubled by poverty or household affairs.Unable to change the cruel reality, they became depressed and silent. Next, themodern women are the marginal who wander between the traditional and moderncultures. They are intellectuals accepting the modern education thoughts,nevertheless they are unable to rid themselves of the constraints and influence of thetraditional cultures. As a result, they are often confronted with all kinds offrustrations and pains. Under the double pressure of the traditional positions andself-realization needs, their body and mind are trampled, personalities are distorted.Thirdly, the deep reasons of women’s survival predicaments are explored. There are objective factors, subjective factors, as well as the historical and cultural factorswhich interact and interweave with each other to threat women’s living.Through the discussion of women’s survival predicaments from Hooks’sfeminist theory, it is expected that this paper can help people to find out effectiveand proper ways to relieve and eliminate if possible, women’s survival plights andthe vicious battle of the sexes for the realization of truly equal and harmoniousrelationship between males and females.