【精编完整版】新女性独立精神在《小妇人》中的体现毕业论文设计

本科毕业论文中文题目: 新女性独立精神在《小妇人》中的体现外文题目: The New Woman Ideology in Little Women毕业设计（论文）原创性声明和使用授权说明原创性声明本人郑重承诺：所呈交的毕业设计（论文），是我个人在指导教师的指导下进行的研究工作及取得的成果。

尽我所知，除文中特别加以标注和致谢的地方外，不包含其他人或组织已经发表或公布过的研究成果，也不包含我为获得及其它教育机构的学位或学历而使用过的材料。

对本研究提供过帮助和做出过贡献的个人或集体，均已在文中作了明确的说明并表示了谢意。

作者签名：日期：指导教师签名：日期：使用授权说明本人完全了解大学关于收集、保存、使用毕业设计（论文）的规定，即：按照学校要求提交毕业设计（论文）的印刷本和电子版本；学校有权保存毕业设计（论文）的印刷本和电子版，并提供目录检索与阅览服务；学校可以采用影印、缩印、数字化或其它复制手段保存论文；在不以赢利为目的前提下，学校可以公布论文的部分或全部内容。

作者签名：日期：学位论文原创性声明本人郑重声明：所呈交的论文是本人在导师的指导下独立进行研究所取得的研究成果。

除了文中特别加以标注引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写的成果作品。

对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。

本人完全意识到本声明的法律后果由本人承担。

作者签名：日期：年月日学位论文版权使用授权书本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，同意学校保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许论文被查阅和借阅。

本人授权大学可以将本学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。

涉密论文按学校规定处理。

作者签名：日期：年月日导师签名：日期：年月日新女性独立精神在小妇人中的体现摘要：露易莎. 梅. 奥尔科特，美国十九世纪后半期著名女作家，以其长篇小说《小妇人》而闻名于世。

这部以19世纪中叶美国内战时期的新英格兰小镇为背景，生动地体现出美国社会的变迁和文化的传承的小说，以家庭日志的形式，讲述了马奇家四姐妹的成长经历，给读者留下了极为深刻的印象。

小说中充分体现了时代新女性的独立精神，小说女主人公们不满足家庭主妇式的生活，要求走出家门、步入社会、追求经济上的独立，渴望通过发挥自己的才智以实现自我价值。

除此之外，小说通过马奇姐妹艺术才华的展示、梅格和乔外出工作以补贴家用、马奇姐妹组织俱乐部创立自己的报刊、乔违背传统的婚姻、丈夫们参与家务事等片段揭示出女权主义兴起和新女性主义的体现。

论文的第一部分主要阐述女性主义的萌芽，包括美国文化中的女性主义，女权运动，新女性主义等。

第二部分着重于女性独立精神在婚姻和家庭生活中的改革，分别从乔和艾米这两个人物加以论证描述。

第三章是论文的结论，概括总结了《小妇人》中体现出的新女性独立精神。

关键词：新女性；自我依靠；自我独立The New woman Ideology in Little WomenAbstractLouisa. May. Alcott, American woman writer in the latter half of the 19th century, is famous for her warmly-received novel Little Women. In the form of domestic diary, the novel tells the growing- up experiences of the four March sisters. Set in a small town in New England during American Civil War in the mid-nineteenth century, Little Women impresses readers with the social changes and cultural traditions of the American society at that time. The story presents the New Woman ideology in great sense, such as the four March sisters cannot stand their poor life and go out to work, earn money for the family in order to lessen the pressure of their parents and pursuit their economic independence, realize their self-value. Besides, the March sisters show their artistic talents, Meg go out to work and earn money for lessen the family burden, they run their own newspaper club, Jo go against with the traditional marriage, and husband takes part in the household things are all present the New Woman Ideology.The first chapter of this thesis introduces the Initiation of Feminism, including the "True Women "Ideology in American Culture, Women's Movement, the New Women Ideology. The second chapter mainly describes the Feminist Reform of Marriage and Family Life, especially about Jo and Amy in this perspective. The Third chapter is the conclusion, which summerizes the newWomen Ideology in Little Women.Key words: new woman; self-reliance; self-individualismAcknowledgementsFirst and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor Mr.ZhangCongcheng, who has guide me in my study of English literature, and with his painstaking instructions has led me through the whole process of writing the thesis. With kindness and generosity, he engages himself with this project above and beyond the call of duty. His infinite wisdom and advice and the grace and with which it has always been bestowed, and for everything he has taught me through his own outstanding example about being a professional, effective, and dedicated scholar and teacher, as well as a truly considerate, generous, and lovely person. Without his continuing directions and encouragement, this thesis would not have been possible.Thanks to all the teachers in English Department for their help in getting me through bachelor program virtually unscathed.Thanks to my family and friends for helping me through various breakdowns, for listening to my Victorian and Gaskell Ian rants and rambles, for putting up with countless hours of whining, always been there to listen and encourage and help and remind me of what is important.Contents中文摘要 (i)Abstract (ii)Acknowledgements (iii)Introduction (2)I.The Initiation of Feminism (4)A.The‖ True Women‖ Ideology in American Culture (4)B.Women‘s moveme nt (7)C.The ―New Woman‘‘ ideology (9)II.Feminist reform of marriage and family life (11)A.Self-reliance and Individualism in Jo‘s Writing Pursuit (12)1.Self-reliance in Jo‘s writing Pursuit (13)2.Individualism in Jo‘s Writing Pursuit (13)B.Self-knowledge a nd Individualism in Jo‘s Marriage (15)1.Self-knowledge in Jo‘s Marriage (15)2.Individualism in Jo‘s Marriage (16)C.Self-assertion and Self-reliance in Amy‘s Artistic Pursuit (16)1.Self-assertion in Amy‘s Artistic Pursuit (17)2.Self-reliance in Amy‘s Artist ic Pursuit (18)3.Individualism in Amy‘s Marriage (19)Conclusion (21)Works Cited (22)The New Women Ideology in Little WomenIntroductionLittle Women is a novel published in 1868 and written by American author Louisa May Alcott. The story concerns the lives and loves of four sisters growing up during the American Civil War. It was based on Alcott‘s own experiences as a child in Concord, Massachusetts with her three sisters, Anna, May, and Elizabeth.This is a story about love, faith, fortitude, and devotion. The story of March happened in Massachusetts during the American Civil War. It includes most problems which probably happen in the growth of young girls, such as the problems in first love, friendship between teenagers and the gap between our dream and the reality.Little Women is the story of The Marches, a family used to hard toil and suffering. Although Father March is away with the Union armies, the sisters Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth keep in high spirits with their mother, affectionately named Marmee. However, despite their efforts to be good, the girls show faults: the pretty Meg becomes discontented with the children she teaches; boyish Jo loses her temper regularly; while the golden-haired schoolgirl Amy is inclined towards affectation. However, Beth, who keeps the house, is always kind and gentle. After certain happy times winning over the Laurence‘s, dark times arrive as Maumee finds out about her husband‘s illness. Worse is to come as Beth contracts scarlet fever in her Samaritan efforts for a sick neighbor and becomes more or less an invalid. The novel tells of their progress into young womanhood with the additional strains of romance, Beth‘s terminal illness, the pressures of marriage and the outside world. This is the story of their growing maturity and wisdomand the search for the contentedness of family life. It was written in 1867 and is a fictionalized biography of Alcott and her sisters. It has become a much loved classic tale and, while some of its issues seem outdated, many of the trials of the sisters are all too relevant today as evidenced by its continued following.I.The Initiation of FeminismLittle Women is a multifaceted novel with Alcott‘s subversion of the story‘s traditional doctrine and on the other hand her compromise with her culture‘s norms. It preaches domestic containment while it explores the infinity of inward female space and suggests an unending rage against the cultural limitations imposed on female development. Women in the March family bear conventional feminine features preserved by the 19th-century True Woman ideology, but meanwhile carry distinctive New Woman‘s spirits of that time. These self-contradictory messages in Little Women show two highly polarized views as regards women‘s role in the American culture. The more prevalent of these two views, the conservative or traditional one, relied especially on the Biblical story of Eve‘s ordained subservient status. The opposing view, ―equalitarian feminism‖ to use Cot‘ s phrase, admitted women‘s ―shared weakness relative to men‘‗but questioned ―whether this weakness was natural or artificial, biological or cultural（qtd. in Davidson,126).Accord to this view women‘s supposed natural inferiority was really imposed by custom and culture ,then it could largely be remedied through many ways.A.The‖ True Women‖ Ideology in American CultureBased on the traditional ideologies, a term and concept of ―True Women‖pervaded in antebellum 19th-century American Culture, defining the proper role for middle class white women. ―The Cult of True Womanhood‖, as Barbara Welter named in her influential essay of the same title, involves ―the attributes of piety, purity,Piety, a virtue of ―True Womanhood‖, requires a devout belief in Christianity, stressing that woman is man‘s helpmeet, not his equal. A woman‘sduty is to serve her husband. Religious women are not expected to question their subordinate status, which is believed to be ordained by God. Meg‘s engagement years and marital life clearly prove this point. When Meg‘s engagement to John Brooke is fixed, Meg resolves to learn the domestic chores so as to get herself ready for marriage when Brooke works outside to earn the material basis for their marriage. Precisely speaking, Meg‘s preparation for marriage is to train her to serve a man.Purity, a second virtue, demands of women‘s chastity before marriage and fidelity afterwards. When Mr. March leaves home to take part in the war, Mrs. March waits for him to come back faithfully. When Meg is engaged to Mr. Brooke, she with fidelity waits three years for him to earn enough means for marriage. These show female loyalty to husband of fiancé.Submissiveness, the next virtue, requires that a woman obey her parents and later her husband without question. Woman‘s passivity, dependence, self-effacement and self-abnegation ensure that the patriarchal myth of male supremacy will remain in force. Although submission brings suffering to many women, they are schooled to vie suffering as part of their lot and obediently accept. The four March girls, following the suggestion of their mother as well as in response to their father‘s expectation in a letter, determine to begin their self-improvement in journey. They are obedient children. Mrs. March‘s advice to her daughter Meg on her marriage-‖Watch yourself, be the first to ask pardon if you both err, and guard against the little piques, misunderstandings, and hasty words that often pave the way for bitter sorrow and regret‖.(263).– shows the former obedient child is turning to a docile wife. Amy‘s utterance in the novel-‖women should learn to be agreeable‖, - echoes women‘s submissive status. Women will not be tolerated unless they are agreeable. They can justify their existence andassuage the guilt deriving from being useless only through a life of cheerful service to others. Women must watch themselves because they are economically dependent on men‘s income and emotionally dependent on their approval.Domesticity favors the doctrine of separate spheres, emphasizing that women‘s sphere is the home while men‘s sphere is the world. Men are the supporters of families, and should go out to earn the bread. Women should center their lives on the home, immersing themselves in domestic tasks of housekeeping, child rearing, and providing comfort to their families. In the novel, Mrs. March represents such an ideal domestic woman in the 19th-century America. Mrs. March, the mother of the four March sisters, is the center of the household. Her voice is ―the first sound in the morning- and the last sound at night‖. When her husband is away as a Union Army chaplain during the Civil War, she leads her daughters through their troubles and faults with her calm bearing, selflessness, and wisdom. Throughout the novel she is a reliable source of loving wisdom, strong as an imperturbable rock. She is the guide for the girls when they are confused, their confessor when they have done wrong, and their confidante when they are troubled. She is always compassionate, always there when she is needed, always strong and loving, and always knowing what to do. Mrs. March is a model domestic woman for all her girls to follow. Married Meg is a duplicate of her model mother. She does all the domestic chores and takes care of two small children in her little cottage, while John, the single wage-earner spends more time working away from home. These instances exemplify women‘s role in their domestic sphere.While Alcott‘s Little Women still celebrates women‘s domestic role, its heroine Jo March carries with her the image of the financially, physically, and emotionally independent ―New Woman‖. It seems clear that the traditionalmessages about female dependency gradually did not serve the needs of the 19th century women. Alcott in a certain sense openly violated the boundaries of women‘s sphere. The reason is that at that time, American social reformers such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought to achieve social and political equality for women, especially through the right for women to vote, and Alcott was definitely affected by this women‘s rights movement.B.Women‘s movementWomen‘s movements, according to Lisa Fine, occurred during three separate periods in the history of the United States. They roughly coincided with the antebellum period (1830—1860), the progressive era (approximately 1900-World War1), and the civil rights movement and the student activism of the 1960s and early 1970s (933).At different times during Alcott‘s childhood, the Alcott family had influential feminists as acquaintances such as Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody and so on. Surely Alcott was affected by the initiation of women‘s movement.The first period of women‘s movement in the United States occurred just as the existence of the women‘s sphere seemed to be limiting women‘s range of activates. The intellectual and organizational progress women made during the antebellum period grew out of the antebellum reforms. Many of the early activities on behalf of women‘s rights such as Elizabeth Cady and Susan B. Anthony participated in one or more of the great causes of the day, such as abolitionism, educational reform, temperance, and labor reform because these reforms and intellectual currents of the day also led women to expressions of the desire for a change in gender roles. Scottish Frances Wright scandalized in her New York City audience not only by being one of the first women to speak inpublic but also by tackling such subjects as labor reform, the gradual emancipation of slaves, and women‘s emancipation. Margret Fuller, intellectual, writer, and one of the New England transcendentalists, also challenged all barriers to the fullest development of women. Invoking assumption about natural rights, Fuller claimed, ―We should have every arbitrary barrier thrown down. We would have every path laid open to woman as freely as to man‖.The beginning of the self-conscious and organized efforts on behalf of women‘s rights usually dated from 1848 to the famous women‘s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York. This meeting marked the beginning of the struggle for women‘s movement. In the meeting antebellum reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott led the call for a Women‘s rights Convention. Stanton and Mott believed that women confronted the power of men in seeking political, economic, and legal tights. The meeting identified most of the important activists for the 19th century, and also produced one of the most important documents of the women‘s movement. The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. The authors rewrote the Declaration of independence:‖We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness‖.(Fine,935).After the Civil War, leaders of the women‘s rights movement looked to a new source to improve their status：The United States Constitution. They maintained that voting was a basic right shared by all citizens, men and women, white and black.According to Boorish, the National Woman Suffrage Association (N by Stanton and Anthony in 1869 and the American Woman Suffrage Association organized later by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Blackwell in the sameyear were two influential organizations of that time(860—861).Although suffrage was the cornerstone of American women‘s campaign for political, social, economic equality, it was not the only cause for which they fought. Suffrage fighters also aimed to create more fulfilling lives for women. They challenged the traditional notion that women‘s destiny lay in full-time homemaking. They praised the value of homemaking but urged women to seek employment outside of the home. Women needed a purpose, a definite pursuit in which they were interested, if they expected to gather from it vigor, either of mind or body. They encouraged women to pursuit their careers in industry, science, art, religion, and the conduct of the government of the State. They thought women should not be overwhelmed by household obligation and husbands should share housework and childcare responsibilities.In other ways, women were making their voices heard and were aiming to achieve self-consciousness and autonomy. The postwar era was an extraordinary rich one for women speakers, writers, and artists. Famous writers appeared including Louisa May Alcott. In her masterpiece Little Women, the March sisters‘self-reliance artistic attempts along with the novel‘s minor themes such as education, dress reform temperance movement, women‘s legitimate will etc. embody some emerging feminism ideas and reflect the influence of women‘s movement of that time.C. The ―New Woman‘‘ ideologyLittle Women reflects the spirit of the New Woman of that time. The New Women defined by the mainstream media, was a revolutionary social ideal in the later half of the 19th century that defined women as economically independent, physically adept, and mentally acute, and able to work, study and socialize on apar with dress reforms, with the rising pressure from women‘s movement, with gains that women had made in their access to higher education, and with expanding service and public sector occupations. Women writers of the era produced challenging works of fiction and drama about women‘s lives that explored the new social and psychological possibilities. The New Woman images in literature of that time depicted women who challenged traditional ―True Woman‖ values and viewed things from the feminist perspectives. Early feminist ideology is most apparently embodied by the character Jo March. Her hot temper, her literary ambition, her active approach to life, her boyish enthusiasm, her fervent desire to be a boy and her struggle against the bonds of domesticity are not at all in harmony with the social convention. Her wishes that she could enjoy the freedom of boys in clothing, manners, and career are in contrast with the ―True Woman‖ ideology mentioned before Jo‘s lifestyle Is a departure from the traditional feminine role, and to some extent she is happy and successful in her endeavors as a writer. She enjoys an exciting life because she refuses to fit the conventional mold of a traditional woman, though eventually she does conform in some way to the expected norms by uttering ―I may be strong minded, but no one can say I‘m out of my sphere now, for woman‘s special mission is supposed to be drying tears and bearing burdens‖(448).Jo asserts herself, and creates new and subversive for herself as a member of a community and as a professional in her own right. Ht, so her model suggests the possibility of female autonomy.In the novel, the March sisters show talents and intellectual capacities which might lead them to careers--Meg as an actress, Jo as a writer, Beth as a pianist, Amy as an artist. This is evidence of women‘s intellectual possibilities. If given the opportunity, women are capable of achieving their potential to enjoy a delightful career life. Jo‘s intellectual career is the most representative example.Beginning with fairy tales and melodramas, Jo‘s adolescent ambitions are vague and grand：‖I‘d have a stable full of Arabian steeds, rooms piled with books, and I‘d write out of a magic inkstand‖(1 34)The publication of her first story, The Rival Painters, is the outcome of her involvement with romance, fantasy and the foreign. Motivated by the example of ―Mrs.S.L.A.N.G.Northbury‖(251), a successful sensationalist writer, Jo then sets out to write a sensational story, ―full of desperation and despair‖(252)her first effort wins her a hundred—dollar prize, and she finds that her pen can bring comforts to her family, such as paying the butcher‘s bill, and sending Beth to the seaside for a month. Her most ambitious project is a novel for which she is paid three hundred dollars. In other efforts, she writes sensation fiction for a weekly magazine .After Beth‘s decline, Jo produces her first commercial and critical success, a tale inspired by love and sorrow and presented in the realistic mode. Jo at the end of the story says that her story will be all the stronger for her years as wife, mother and teacher.II.Feminist reform of marriage and family life Jo‘s comparatively nontraditional marriage is viewed by some early feminist as a genuinely egalitarian one in which women can be strong and loving, and in which they can continue to work and create as men. These feminists wanted to elevate the wife‘s role and therefore equalize her relation to her husband. Indeed they felt, equality in marriage would lead to a happier marriage and a more harmonious family life.In the novel, Jo does not turn her energies into becoming the perfect housekeeper and mother like Meg. Nor does her path become easy, as does Amy‘s with the benefit of Laurie‘s money. After marriage, Jo and her husband Professor Bhaer found the Plumfield School which Jo inherits from her aunt. In its educational atmosphere the couple maintains an intellectual quality in theirrelationship that is clearly lacking in the more traditional marriages of Meg and John, and Amy and Laurie. Beside Jo still continues her writing. As comrade, teacher, and mother in, Plumfield School, Jo creates a life that combines intimacy with independence. This kind of marriage gives Jo the freedom to be more than just a housewife.Meg‘s commitment to domestic chores and child—rising, together with her inquiry of her husband about political matters show that feminist reform of marriage and family life did not intend to overthrow the institution of marriage. Feminists accepted marriage and family as important social institutions；they accept traditional ideas about women‘s special maternal qualities and their moral and spiritual superiority. While at the same time, they also wanted women‘s sphere to encompass more than marriage and family；they hoped to enlarge women opportunities beyond the home Women may step out of their domestic sphere and step into the male domain of commerce and politics. In other words, these feminists accepted the ideal of domesticity, while pushing out the edges to make room for women‘s expanded role in the public realm.A.Self-reliance and Individualism in Jo‘s Writing PursuitJo‘s independence and self-reliance can be best seen from her writing career. Jo loves writing and writing brings her great happiness and satisfaction. Louisa May Alcott gives such comment:But when the writing fit came on, she gave herself up to it with entire abandon, and let a blissful life, unconscious of want, care or bad weather. Sleep forsook her eyes, meals stood untested, day and night were all too short to enjoy the happiness which blessed her only at such times.With the spiritual brought by writing, she insists on it. When hermanuscripts have been burnt by Amy for her refusal to take her to theatre, she feels frustrated and angry. In face of the frustration, she does not stop her pen and continuous writing the same enthusiasm.1.Self-reliance in Jo‘s writing PursuitJo‘s loves writing for one hand it brings her great spiritual satisfaction, for another, she regards it as a means of self-reliance. With her efforts, she tastes the sweet fruit brought by writing. Jo publishes some stories and earns money which affords her mother and Beth to go to seaside and get refreshed. Writing adds Jo‘s confidence to keep self-reliant and independent. She feels the great comfort that ―she can supply her own wants, and seek ask no one for a penny‖. (Alcott248)Writing for Jo is important and meaningful. On one hand, it brings her spiritual happiness and satisfaction, on the other it is her means to keep self-reliant and independent.2.Individualism in Jo‘s Writing PursuitIn her writing career, Jo struggles to keep her individualism. Writing for money which can help her family or writing in a way that she likes and that she likes and that contributes to the betterment of humanity is always a choice for her. Experienced and suffered the hesitations and struggles, she finally overcomes all the disturbances and follow her true intuition though the process is long and hard. In chapter 27, when she prepares to publish her novel, suggestions and advice pour on her. Publisher demands her to cut down one thirds of the novel, including the part she particularly loves. The family also gives their advices. In hope of pleasing everyone, she takes everyone‘s advice. She works very hard to mold the novel and finally, the novel suits nobody. Though itis published, the praises and blames throw her into a state of bewilderment. She feels that she was misjudged because the writing is not originally wants, but for pleasure, for money and for catering to the advice of others. She suffers the lesson of losing her individuality and realizes the importance of it. She once tells her mother that ―I wish I‘d printed it whole or not at all‖. (Alcott 251)Then she give up writing sensational stories marks her maturity to keep her individualism.Jo takes to writing sensational stories for the sake of money to help the family. Though she has the feeling that her parents will not approve that, she believes it will do no harm to her because ―she sincerely means to write nothing of which she would be ashamed‖. However, those she has carefully put in as ballast for much romance-the moral parts are rejected by the editor. Though Jo believes that every story should have some sort of moral and disagree with the editor, desires to help the family defeat the hesitation. She writes sensational stories anonymously. She once again diverges from the correct road and denies her real herself. Fortunately, Professor Bhar draws her out of the mire. Inspired by Professor Bhaer‘s suggestion, Jo realize the harm of such writing, she comes back to the correct road. She decides that she will never give up her writing and at the same time, she will never write that she believes incorrect. Thus an internal revolution begins in her mind. She began to write child‘s story, it easy and happy for her to write such story, but she cannot agree with totally follow the patron, a worthy gentlemen who believes the children who do not go to a particular Sabbath school be severely published. So she stops her trial for children‘s writing. At this time, the internal revolution has almost finishes in her mind. Jo has completely realizes the importance of keeping her individualism in writing and has maintained the ability to trust herself and to be true and honest to herself.。