Them,Wonderland And Middle Age:A Romance:-The Transition Of Masculinity In Oates's Fictions

Joyce Carol Oates(1938-)is one of the most famous writers in contemporary America,who has published more than one hundred works since her first collection of short stories By the North Gate was published in 1963.In these works,Oates used to describing all aspects of American social life panoramically,paying close attention to the people's survival state and the spiritual world,which shows her a strong sense of realistic concern.As an important subject in Oates's many works,men often form different gender relationships with other members of the family and society,showing different masculinity.This paper focuses on the Oates 's Them,Wonderland and Middle Age:A romance,aiming to study the different masculinity that is from male persons who are in the different stages of life and social class.On the basis of text analysis,we analyze reasons of change of masculinity basing on the realistic social environment,and discuss Oates's attitude to masculinity by exploring her creative idea.This paper is divided into four chapters.The first chapter analyzes the young Jules'sconstruction of hegemonic masculinity in Them.This work's story background is set in the bottom of American society in great depression,where the men who lived in constructed marginalized masculinity,showing extreme violence in gender relationship with other groups.Facing this oppression,Jules,a new generation of young men,hoped to get rid of the bottom of society and construct the marginalized masculinity through the struggle in career and emotional pursuit.While the new generation of female Maureen's female consciousness began awakening,she longed for freedom but showed the huge limitations.The second chapter analyzes the prime Jesse's maintenance of the hegemonic masculinity in Wonderland.Through Hart's and Peterson's family tragedies,this work reflects the fact that American men may become victims of masculinity while imposing hegemony.Jesse who experienced these tragedies gave up the rules like violence and high-pressure control,and in turn consolidated the hegemonic masculinity by emphasizing on his body,keeping "silent" and offering "protection" to his family members.Facing this kind of disguised oppression,the women in middle class struggled in various ways.The third chapter analyzes the middle age Adam's exploration of the ideal gender relationship in Middle Age:A romance.This work focuses on the problems about marriage and family in the upper class,showing the spiritual dilemma of the men and women of this class.This chapter mainly discusses the dilemmas of hegemonic masculinity in upper class,Adam's active exploration for the men who were in trouble,and the self-salvation of women who felt emotional and spiritual emptiness.The fourth chapter analyzes the reasons for the changes of masculinity and Oates's attitude towards masculinity.This chapter firstly clarifies the influence of gender relationships on masculinity,exploring the reasons by presenting the American women's survival condition in different stages.Secondly,this chapter also focuses on the relationship between masculinity and social class,and examines the causes of changes of masculinity from the perspective of social class.Finally,discuss Oates's attitude towards masculinity through the exploration of her creative ideas.The following conclusions can be drawn from the above four chapters:masculinity is dynamic and historic,and gender relations will change with the development of time.For a long time,the gender relationships of American society mainly shows men are in dominance and women are in subordinate status,however,Oates's hegemonic masculinity is shaken by the rise of women,and the men have to make adjustments to themselves when crossing the class.For Oates,she not only see women face all kinds of oppression under the influence of masculinity,also see the masculinity causes potential pressure to men.Since the 80s,although Oates's creation thought was inclination to feminism,she appeared to be more for men and women of sympathy and mercy,hoping the broad masses of men to construct the harmonious gender relationship by controlling desire and practicing virtue.