Family Relationship Of Female Characters In Jane Austen's Novels From The Perspective Of Social Exchange Theory

Jane Austen is widely recognized as one of the most renowned and influential British novelists.Her theme of love and marriage is ascribed to her stormy personal life and the unique interpretation of the philosophy and value of life in her works accounts for her popularity in part.Many scholars have investigated her language and style,but the study on the interpersonal relationship exchanges in her novels has been generally neglected.Therefore,this thesis tries to apply Social Exchange Theory to Austen's novels,aiming at revealing the nature of the family relationship of the female figures in her novels and at enriching the artistic appreciation of her works.Social Exchange Theory put forward by Homans postulates that human beings are constantly exchanging values with others.People exchange material or immaterial values.They pay out and expect rewards.What they pay out can be money,commodities as well as something intangible like time,energy,companionship,love and care.Meanwhile,rewards can be appreciation,recognition,love and inward satisfaction.Homans has also developed five key propositions to instruct individuals' behaviors,which reveal the relationship between the subjective and the objective in the interchange.The altruistic exchange and the self-seeking exchange are insinuated in real life,the two typical exchanges highlight the importance of consanguinity and moral values during the process.The theory has been applied in interpersonal relationship studies,for instance,costs and rewards,parent-adolescent conflicts in the single parent family,business transactions and so on.However,few studies combine Social Exchange Theory with literary criticism.This writer tries to apply Social Exchange Theory in analyzing female characters' relationship exchanges,including marital relationship,sisterhood,parenthood,aunt and niece,cousin as well as friendship in literary works to enrich the critical reading of Austen's novels.Academically,utilizing the theories from other disciplines in literary criticism is worthy of recognition.Applying such a theory into literary criticism is viable,with its own advantages and disadvantages.Realistically,to be familiar with SET enlightens the readers as well in understanding their daily social interactions.Combining SET with literary criticism,readers ponder the exchange relationships more wisely and more reasonably that the keys to the successful exchange lie in attempts of living up to each other's expectation and of balancing one's giving and taking.With this approach,the researches on Austen's works can be expected to move on and excel at a new level.