A Comparative Study Of Female Consciousness In Jane Eyre And Love In A Fallen City

Female’s awakening and struggle against male’s authority has remained an everlasting theme in the modern history of literature. Throughout history, males have always been playing a dominant role in political, economic and social life. In order to pursue happiness and be the master of their own life, the females have their consciousness awaked. With the development of the feminist movement, a large number of outstanding woman writers have sprung up in the history of eastern and western literature.British woman writer Charlotte Bront? and Chinese woman writer Eileen Chang are two distinguished woman writers and occupies a remarkable position in the literary circle. Therefore, their works have remained a hot topic for researchers. Their respective masterpieces, Jane Eyre and Love in a Fallen City, have become very popular soon after their publication and still have profound impact on the world.Based on available materials and resources on Charlotte Bront? and Eileen Chang, and taking female consciousness in the two books: Jane Eyre and Love in a Fallen City as the study object, this thesis deeply and systemically explores the awakening and maturity of female consciousness in different countries under the guidance of feminism theory after a detailed analysis of the two novels, digs the similarities and differences of female consciousness in the two novels, hoping to give some enlightenment to modern females. Parallel study, one of the major study methods of the comparative literature, is adopted in this essay to analyze the two literary works.Although the living backgrounds of the two writers are quite different, because of the common emotions in the female and the common development rules in the two different societies, feminist thoughts and the awakening feminist consciousness are revealed in their works through two similar rebellious heroines. Female consciousness mainly stems from women’s unique mentality. However, during the awakening process, the achievement of self value is closely related to the economic and social environment. In the strictly hierarchical society, the two heroines dare challenge the social rules and shake off the traditional obedient images. They are reluctant to yield to male authority and the arrangement of fate. Therefore, they struggled for their own equal right in the difficult living situation and made a great effort to pursue the true and pure love and the equal happy life. This thesis consists of three parts: the introduction, the body and the conclusion.The first part mainly introduces the background and significance of the study, the current study situation at home and abroad, the research methods as well as the comparability of the two works.The body part includes four sections. The first section mainly introduces feminist criticism and parallel study method. The second section mainly introduces the writers, creating backgrounds as well as the influences of their lives and personalities on the writing. The third section, combined with the relevant feminist theory, analyzes the personalities of the two characters, through the analysis of different personalities and external presence between Jane Eyre and Bai Liusu, this section attempts to explore the different manifestation forms of the awakening of female consciousness. The fourth section conducts a comparative analysis of the heroines’ different attitudes towards love and marriage within their own social frameworks, in the hope of rendering an adequate vision of the alternative feminine images represented by Jane Eyre and Bai Liusu who were so brave as to rebel against the inhuman tradition and pursue their self-realization, true love and happiness. At last, combined with the living style and condition of the female in modern society, this section points out this comparative analysis can provide a certain sense of enlightenment for modern females to pursue an independent, fontal and happy life.The last section is conclusion. Through objective and truly comparative analysis of female consciousness of two heroines, their feminine dignity and charming personality can be strongly felt. The unyielding spirit of the two heroines sets an example for contemporary women who are willing to pursue self-esteem, self-love, self-reliance as well as self-improvement, which has a certain realistic significance.