An Existentialist Feminist Study Of The Heroine Tzu Hsi In The Imperial Woman

Pearl S.Buck is an American writer who lived in China for nearly 40 years,renowned in the world because of writing novels about Chinese subject matter.She represents Chinese people's life and efforts in the 20th century,a special and turbulent era also for a foreigner.She is the first American female writer who won both the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize till now.Pearl S.Buck pays close attention to issues of women's status.In a detailed way,several works of Pearl S.Buck,including The Good Earth Trilogy,The Mother.The Imperial Woman and Pavilion of Women,created a series of images of women,depicted women's life in the patriarchal society and the struggles they have made to change their fate.Tzu Hsi in The Imperial Woman is a woman with feminist consciousness and independence consciousness,who fights for the equal rights with men in the whole life,and finally realizes her real values,becoming the monarchess.This makes the novels known as a classic of female spiritual awakening.This thesis aims to apply the existentialist feminist theory of Simone de Beauvoir to analyze the heroine Tzu Hsi in The Imperial Woman and the underlying causes of Tzu Hsi's status as the Other and her efforts during the process of getting rid of otherness.The thesis consists of six parts.The introduction part makes a brief introduction of Pearl S.Buck and her novel The Imperial Woman as well as the general researches at home and abroad.Chapter One is the theoretical framework giving brief information of the development of existentialist feminism and its main contents:female survival situation,the Other,free choice and responsibility.Chapter Two mainly analyzes the social condition of the late Qing Dynasty to discuss Tzu Hsi's survival predicament.Chapter Three expounds Tzu Hsi's transformation from the Other to the Self during the process of pursuing freedom.Under the double oppression of social doctrine and her inner being,Tzu Hsi is forced to play the role of the Other.With the awakening of her female consciousness,Tzu Hsi begins to revolt the shackles of traditional female roles in the patriarchal society as well as the bondage of loveless marriage gradually.Chapter Four presents Tzu Hsi's choices about women's desire to get rid of the status of the Other in the construction of self-identity.Furthermore,it explores the relationship between choice and responsibility.The Conclusion gives a summary of the thesis.After experiencing numerous tribulations,Tzu Hsi grows into a strong woman who pursues her freedom and independence.Thus,women have the ability to refuse the feminine temperament imposed on them by the patriarchal society,get rid of the other status and become the independent and freedom identities.Therefore,by applying the existentialist feminism to interpret The Imperial Woman,we can not only understand the novel more thoroughly and enrich the studies of it,but also pay more attention to the female issues.