Women Pursuing Independence

This thesis comparatively analyzes the female consciousness of Scarlett O'Hara in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and Tanni in Lin Yutang's A Leaf in the Storm from the perspective of feminism,and then it gives modern women some inspirations.American writer Margaret Mitchell and Chinese literary giant Lin Yutang lived in similar eras with relentless warfare and great inequality between men and women.Mitchell's mother was a suffragist.Influenced by her,Mitchell had a sense of feminism from an early age.Lin Yutang was a feminist,too.The experience of studying abroad had made him accept the Western feminist thought very early.In addition,Lin owned strong thought of women-worship,which was caused by several perfect ladies in his life and the descriptions of women in Chinese classic Dream of Red Mansions.The love and marriage experiences of Mitchell and Lin were also similar,bumpy and rocky.During the creation,the two writers would like to put their personal experiences and thoughts into the works as writing materials.Gone with the Wind and A Leaf in the Storm were two representatives.The background of Gone with the Wind was American Civil War,and that of A Leaf in the Storm was the Anti-Japanese War of China.The two novels both described the influences of the wars on women.Through the narrations of the experiences and behaviors of the two heroines Scarlett O'Hara and Tanni before and after the wars,the writers presented their female consciousness.The major ideas of feminism:in the man-controlled society,females,called the second sex,should actively revolt against gender discrimination and try their best to fight for equal status and rights with males both in family and in the society.Females represent the other sex which is equal with that of males and they are the same subjects having equal rights with males in the world.In the Patriarchal society,women were playing the roles of slaves without any equal human rights.Their duties were to look after their families,husbands and children.Scarlett and Tanni had broken the traditions.No matter in the family or the society,they were trying to pursue equal rights with men all the time.For Scarlett and Tanni,they pursued sincere love bravely,chose marriages all by themselves,received education equally,had their own careers equally and understood or participated in national politics equally.The two heroines made great efforts to pursue equal status with men,finally,they had obtained an independent life.In the modern society,gender discrimination has been a lot better than before,but a little gap between men and women still exits.In order to completely achieve the liberation of women,modern women must be as rebellious as Scarlett and Tanni,and dare to resist unequal treatments by the society.They should fight for equal rights with men in aspects of love,marriage,education,career and politics,so that they can achieve the great independence of their lives.