A Research Into Michael Cunningham’s The Hours From The Perspective Of Feminism

The Hours (1998) is the representative work of American writer MichaelCunningham (1952-). As a new novel, very few researches on it have been done athome and abroad. And the existing researches mainly focus on the movie which hasbeen adapted from the novel or the novel’s intertextuality with Virginia Woolf’s Mrs.Dalloway. This thesis aims to analyze The Hours from the perspective of feminism.The protagonists of the novel are three women from different time and space. Thesimilarity among them lies in their desperate feeling at a moment of life. This fatalfeeling, in fact, is experienced by all women. The last century witnessed women’sfearless fight against men for equality. In the novel, Virginia, Laura and Clarissademonstrate in front of the reader a vivid process of how their own inner worldstransform from being obedient, to getting confused and to becoming relativelyindependent at last in the world. Therefore, the living states of women are the greatestconcern of the novel. Besides, the author finds out that Michael Cunningham suggeststhat androgyny be a solution to women’s problems.The paper is composed of Introduction, Conclusion and the four chaptersbetween them. A general summary of Michael Cunningham and Literature Review areincluded in Introduction.Chapter One largely explains the theory that the paper refers to. That is, it setsforth feminism from the following respects: the definition, the development and theschools of feminism and also the concept of androgyny. The three chapters ofanalyses of the three heroines ensue.Chapter Two focuses on the famous English writer Virginia Woolf in the1920s.At first, the paper illustrates Virginia Woolf’s two roles in life—a writer and afemale—which reveal her living state. Then the reality of Virginia’s choice of death ispresented. Following, the reasons for Woolf’s living state and death are conciselyenumerated: Virginia Woolf’s pain in life and choice of suicide originate from thepatriarchal world’s pressure and her consciousness of liberal feminism.Chapter Three’s theme is around the dualism which the1950s’ Americansuburban housewife Laura Brown endured. Long time under the big haloes of “thefeminine mystique”, Laura Brown becomes nipped in the mental confusion ofcoexistence and contradiction between self and other. Finally, she can no longer bearthe heavy burden and chooses to flee from home to regain her self. Her reasons for escape stem from both the dualistic suppression and her consciousness of radicalfeminism.Chapter Four’s logic line is the late1990s’ New York editor Clarissa Vaughan’strials to gain a balance between masculine traits and feminine traits. Clarissa, as amodern edition of Mrs. Dalloway, loves life passionately but sometimes becomestrapped in disappointment in a sudden. Her relationship with Sally shows her weakfeminine qualities. Her masculine traits are enlarged when looking after Richard; butby doing this, she loses her ego of living for herself. Finally, by reemphasizing thevalidity of her living with Sally and by considering what Richard’s death means,Clarissa realizes life is hope and she should cherish every hour before her. In this way,Clarissa gains a balance in life.This thesis discusses how Cunningham exercises his inventive mind to protrudethe protagonists’ living states, which miniatures the common experiences of allwomen in feminist movements. What’s more, the author figures out that Cunninghamhighly asserts androgynous concept, which may offer a way to achieve a balancebetween masculinity and femininity in self.