On The Patriarchal Domination In Sophie's Choice

William Styron was an American writer who became famous for his novels after the Second World War.He won the Rome Prize,the Pulitzer Prize,the National Book Award and the William Dean Howells Medal.Sophie's Choice,a Holocaust literature work by Styron,does not directly present the brutal reality of the Holocaust.Instead,it focuses on the life of Sophie,a marginalized non-Jewish Catholic.Literature studies of Sophie's Choice at home and abroad mainly centre on its narrative strategy,theme researches and trauma perspective,as well as the prototype of the characters.Based on the existing researches,the present thesis applies the relevant theories about patriarchy in feminism,takes the tragic life of the heroine Sophie as a clue,and probes into the patriarchal domination in this novel,to present the survival plight of women and reflect the exclusion and oppression of women in a patriarchal society.The introduction part gives a brief introduction of William Styron's life,his writing style and representative works.Then it offers 'a general literature review at home and abroad and a brief summarization of the relevant theories of feminism,especially concentrating on the concept of"patriarchy",which provides a theoretical support for the exploration of patriarchal domination in the novel.It also presents the conception and structure of this thesis.The main part of the paper consists of three chapters.The first chapter starts from the chief institution of patriarchy—family,elaborating the indoctrination of patriarchal ideology in Sophie's family,which includes:first,male domination—men enjoy authority everywhere;second,male identification—the concept that men take care of the external affairs,while women handle the domestic ones subordinates women to men;third,female objectification,which deprives or restricts women's rights to get access to knowledge,improve their recognition,and develop their creativity.It elucidates within the family sphere from the following three aspects:the masculine authority of Sophie's father;the subordinate position of Sophie's mother to her husband as a typical housewife;the process of Sophie's being objectified gradually.The second chapter analyzes Sophie's passive obedience to patriarchal domination in the public sphere from the following three aspects:Sophie's surrender to the male supremacy of the commandant Hoss who brings fatal destruction to her;her compromise to the male coercion of the SS doctor who forces Sophie to make a choice between her son and daughter,her final decision to save her son,which leads to her daughter's death in the gas chamber;Sophie's being a victim of the sexual and physical violence without taking any reaction.The third chapter studies Sophie's realization of the internalized patriarchal values from three aspects:Sophie takes advantage of her sexual admirer Stingo and turns him into her faithful audience to alleviate her grief and sense of guilt;her psychological and financial dependency on Nathan;at the end of the story,Sophie chooses to commit suicide together with Nathan,which shows the eventual submission to patriarchy at the cost of her life.The conclusion part summarizes the entire thesis and points out that women as passive victims of patriarchal society,should regain self-consciousness and achieve financial independence.While men as oppressor,need to reflect on their behaviors and get rid of the unjust tradition and throw away the prejudice against women.Only in this way could it be possible to build up an equal and mutually dependent relationship between women and men and achieve the harmonious co-existence between men and women.