Getting Rid Of The Shackle Of Alienation And Remolding Of Female Self

Carol Shields(1935-)is one of the most renowned writers in contemporary Canadian literature.She has published three collections of poetry,four short stories and nearly ten novels throughout her writing career.The Stone Diaries was published in 1993,marking her pinnacle of creation.Through the depiction of Daisy's life experience of nearly a whole century as well as the description of other major female characters'lives and their inner emotional changes,the mental state and living conditions of women in the twentieth capitalist patriarchal society are unfolded in front of us.Compared with the interpretation of Shields and her works from multi-levels and multiple perspectives abroad,the studies on Shields are relatively rare in China.The analysis of The Stone Diaries,which has brought Shields numerous honors is also scarce.The thesis will make an analysis of The Stone Diaries from the perspective of socialist feminism.The main body of the thesis is divided into three chapters:The first chapter discusses the manifestations of female alienation in the capitalist patriarchal society,namely,female labor alienation and sexual alienation.The American famous Marxist feminist theorist,Nancy Hartsock points out in her theory of female labor alienation that both the unpaid housework and the paid-work unwillingly performed by women are alienated labor.Because of sexual division of labor,women are confined in the domestic field.Doing repetitive and isolated household work can make women feel lonely,meaningless and deprived of selves.The descriptions of Mercy,Mrs.Flett and Daisy's loneliness,meaninglessness and bewilderment are abounded in the novel.One reason of the existence of these alienated feelings is women's long-term confinement within the domestic sphere,doing endless housework.Moreover,the gender segregation in the labor market forces women to undertake humble and underpaid work,which depreciates their working ability,fruits of labor and economic rewards.In the novel,when Fraidy was engaged in such work,she didn't experience self-value but a sense of meaninglessness.Besides,women also suffer from sexual alienation.The renowned American socialist feminist Alison M.Jaggar clarifies that male oppression over women is effectively carried out by alienating female bodies in her alienation theory.In the novel,as tools of male catharsis,women cannot control their own bodies and follow their own will in the process of committing sexuality.Passively accepting and developing sexual behaviors for male needs and desires are the manifestations of female experiencing sexual alienation.The second chapter illustrates the causes of female alienation in the capitalist patriarchal society.Hartsock and Jaggar both believe that the fundamental cause of female alienation lies in the division of labor between the two sexes.The different division of labor between men and women is the result of the complicity between capitalism and patriarchy.The main manifestations are:within the domestic field,women must faithfully play the role of wife and mother,willingly bearing the burden of housework and raising children.Women are unable to participate in social life and are totally dependent on men economically;in the field of work,women are subjected to inherent prejudices and discrimination.Moreover,women's oppression resulting from sexual division of labor is aggravated due to aggression of capitalist patriarchal ideology over women.In both the domestic sphere and the workplace,women are under the grip of capitalist patriarchal society,which ultimately leads to their losing of self and living a life of walking dead.The third chapter elucidates women's resistance to alienation in the capitalist patriarchal society.The unfair treatments women are suffering in all aspects in society also accelerate the awakening of women's consciousness of resistance,ultimately liberating women from the mood and state of alienation.In order to extricate themselves from labor alienation,women must avoid stereotyped,uncreative work and create an environment where an autonomous thinking and living is possible.In the novel,Mrs.Flett abandoned her ruthless and autocratic husband and ran away from domestic work.She found a job that she really appreciated and also could inspire her creativity,that is,selling flowers and gardening.In this way,Mrs.Flett extricated herself from alienation.Faced with sexual alienation,Fraidy broke the secular shackles and realized complete sexual liberation and sexual freedom and finally experienced the happiness and meaning of self in sexuality.Alice refused to accept the traditional idea of male hegemony.Deeply aware of the importance of work to women,she thought that“work and self cannot be separated”,and finally realized self-value in work which is based on her free will.Through the analysis of the living conditions of Canadian women in the 20~thh century,the changes of social roles and the awakening of women's consciousness presented in the novel,the thesis clearly exhibits that female alienation is the result of the oppression generated from sexual division of labor in the capitalist patriarchal society.If women want to achieve fundamental emancipation,the prerequisite is to liberate their own minds.Only when women awaken self-consciousness and bear the courage to break the shackles of male hegemony can it be possible for them to achieve true independence.