A Feminist Analysis Of The Image Of The Female Protagonist Sybylla In My Brilliant Career

In the late years of the 19th century of Australia, it is widely covered with colonial and patriarchal ideology while Australian women severely suffered from discrimination and exclusion in the whole society and life. They had no social status and were only affiliated to the males, let alone the independence and freedom. Miles Franklin is one of the remarkable female writers in the colonial period of Australia, she does her efforts to depict women’s tough and cruel bush life so as to reveal the social circumstances at the time and lash at all kinds of detrimental elements which are used to strangle and destroy women.My Brilliant Career is Miles Franklin’s maiden work and also her classic masterpiece. The novel is famous for its vivid and profound depiction of the image of the female protagonist Sybylla, advocating and speaking highly of her determined spirit of struggle and perseverance for freedom, independence and self-dignity. As a woman, although Sybylla lives in an oppressive age against women, she has a clear awareness of selfhood, gender and identity, even the female consciousness. It is an amazing miracle. She considers a career of writer as her lifelong target because she holds that if women want to reach her self-emancipation, the first step is to possess a career and a constant struggle for it. This thesis applies the theory of feminism to analyze the images of the protagonist Sybylla aiming to present a strong-willed woman who is searching for her selfhood, pursuing her identity and constructing the identity. Although she suffers a lot on the pilgrim to exploration, her inner mind is enlightened by the experiences that she has gone through. Sybylla turns up in the novel with several images. She first acts as an image of patriarchal victim, next a brave rebel and finally a master of fate. Sybylla is a brave girl and she is not beaten down by patriarchal society and family. On the contrary, she becomes more courageous and powerful to resist the injustice from society and family. Thus, her world of spirit changes from the wasteland to the oasis. Sybylla is more active to think, to analyze and clearly·to recognize the reality in which women are deeply trapped and she knows the importance of constructing the female identity and constantly struggles to be a true brave female self-rescuer. In a word, Sybylla is deserved to be called a real woman warrior in the Australian bush.