On The Male-female Relationships In Katherine Mansfield’s Short Stories

Katherine Mansfield was one of the most famous English short story writers inthe20th century. She had made a great contribution to the English short story with herinnovation and exploration on it. She was widely accepted for her unique writingtechnique. As a writer in the transformation period, she inherited the writing style ofwomen in the Victorian age. She emphasized the detailed description of the daily lifeof ordinary people in combination with her own life experiences. One-third of herworks contain meticulous description of women’s marital and family life, whichreflects her deep concern for the women’s fate and the male-female relationship.This thesis is based on the feminist theory, using the feminist key words“patriarchy”,“femininity”, and “androgyny” along with the close reading method toanalyze the text. This thesis is a study on stories of the male-female relationship inmarriage and family. At first, in the early and mid-term works, the male-femalerelationship in marriage and family was in an abnormal development for theoppression of patriarchal ideology. As the only bread winner of their families, menwere extremely indulged in self-complacence and the repression of women’spersonality development. However, women dared not resist men, for they were fearfulto lose everything men offered to them. Silence was their way to protect themselves.Secondly, in her late works, the male-female relationship tended to develop in anotherdiscordant state. Because of the social transformation, women’s female consciousnesswas aroused and they longed to gain independence. These kinds of women have a newfemininity; they are completely independent in spirit but still dependent on men intheir daily life. Thirdly, with the description of androgyny image, Mansfield came toconsider that androgynous temperament contributed to the development ofmale-female relationship. The little girl Kezia was placed the hope to realize theharmonious male-female relationship.Mansfield desired for the harmonious development of male-female relationship.The long-standing disharmonious relationship led to the formation of her ideal. In her eyes, the fusion of the temperament of two sexes can be the only way to achieve anideal male-female relationship. Only in this way can they break the bondage ofconventional ideology and achieve the real harmonious male-female relationship.There is a long journey to the achievement of harmonious male-female relationship.Mansfield’s exploration of male-female relationship makes far-reaching significanceof the development of harmonious male-female relationship.