On Family Ethics Of Katherine Mansfield's Short Stories From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

Katherine Mansfield,one of the most influential short story writers in the last century,has been written into the history of both New Zealand and British literature.Her masterpieces have earned great favor among critics and have been studied from a variety of perspectives,with her narrative skills and modernist characteristics having been elaborately probed into.This thesis is intended to interpret Mansfield's short stories from the formerly neglected perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism.By analyzing the ethical conflicts and compromises among the family members in Mansfield's short stories,ethical predicaments of the characters can be revealed with respect to their survival,identity and spirit.In addition,the ethical choices of the characters are interpreted to draw a conclusion on their family ethics for the ultimate purpose of understanding the effects on people's family ethics from ethical rules in the ethical environment at the end of the 19^thcentury and the beginning of the 20^thcentury,and showing ethical values of Mansfield's short stories.The research of this thesis is expected to be of some significance in enriching the critical practices on Mansfield's short stories from a new perspective.The thesis consists of introduction,three main chapters and conclusion.The introduction part introduces Mansfield and her short stories,the literature review of studies on Mansfield and her short stories both at home and abroad,the framework of Ethical Literary Criticism as well as the structure of this thesis.Chapter one introduces the ethical environment which influences Mansfield's short stories writing,including moral codes and bondage in the Victorian Era and ethics in capitalist society in the early 20^thcentury,during which family ethics of the middle class in Britain have its further development.Chapter two analyzes the ethical conflicts among family members and women's ethical predicaments in Mansfield's short stories.The ethical conflicts embody ethical conflict between parents and children,ethical conflict between husbands and wives as well as ethical conflict and compromise among siblings.Women's ethical predicaments are emphasized in the aspect of their survival,identity and spirit.Chapter three analyzes the varied ethical choices of the characters in Mansfield's short stories.Multiple ethical identities make the characters trapped in various ethical predicaments,where they have to make various ethical choices:some characters persist in their own ethical values;some characters submit to the dominant ethical values;some characters are confused and lose their selves in their ethical dilemmas.On the basis of the analyses above,as far as the author is concerned,a conclusion is drawn that family ethics of characters in Mansfield's short stories are concentrated in the following three aspects.Firstly,males should stick to the family ethics of the patriarchal society,which is accommodated to the ethical requirement in the capitalist society and contributes to the stable development of the capitalist society.Secondly,females should be aware of their identity equality and individual freedom and strive to improve their social status,which can further promote the advancement of the capitalist society.Thirdly,family members of every social class are supposed to re-think the family ethics and take actions,in order to adapt to the social requirements for family ethics in the future.Mansfield's personal experiences in her family background,her travel as well as her love and marriage,help to form her own family ethics,which are reflected in her short stories.Ethical Literary Criticism is a helpful method which can be properly applied to analyze the family ethics of characters in Mansfield's short stories,providing the modern readers with enlightenment in light of family ethical relationship.