On Women's Living Predicaments In Oates's Them

Joyce Carole Oates is a prominent female writer,playwright, critic and poet in contemporary America. During the past 50 years, Oates has published more than 50 novels,30 short stories, and 12 literary reviews. them, as a National Book Award winner in 1970 depicting the social changes in America from the 1930s to 1960s, was received with great applause from readers and much attention from critics. Up to now, critics have conducted penetrating reviews on Oates's books from the perspective of violence, tragedy, and ethics.Most of the male protagonists in her novels have been read and analyzed, while comparatively less concern has been cast on female characters. This paper will focus on the women images in them, especially their living predicaments under male-dominated society.This thesis is composed of three chapters. First of all, the author gives a brief introduction to Joyce Carole Oates's life,literary career,and literature review on Oates's oeuvre. Chapter One to Three discuss three kinds of women respectively, "the submissive one","the passive resistant" and "the fanatic rebel". Chapter One elaborates on the submissive woman represented by Loretta. Living in a male-dominated society, Loretta chooses to submit her to the patriarchy,and even become the representative of male-authority. Unfortunately, her life ends in repression and tragedy. Chapter Two explores the passive resistant Maureen. Maureen manages to take passive resistance against the brutal environment. However, her failure is doomed, as the subordinate position of women will not be changed by fighting as an individual. Chapter Three studies the fanatic rebel Nadine,who is born in a rich upper-class family but despises the American society and struggles to get rid of constraints of patriarchy. Her boldness turns out to be a fiasco that leads to her final catastrophe. These chapters are followed by a conclusion. By describing these women's tragic lives, Joyce Carole Oates reveals the common problems and plights women were confronted with from 1930s to 1960s, their living predicaments not only appear as the personal sufferings, but more significantly signify the tragic lives of whole American women. Oates's descriptions of women's lives and psychologies indicate her deep concern towards women's living conditions from 1930s to 1960s,as well as the whole human beings.