《母亲的反抗》女性主义解读

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-校园英语 / 文艺研究
《母亲的反抗》女性主义解读
湖北中医药大学外国语学院/谢婷婷
【Abstract 】The Revolt of “Mother ” is one of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman ’s most popular short stories which presents us with a new woman — the rebellious mother. Through analyzing the traditional gender relationship in Penns, and Sarah ’s successful revolt, this thesis aims to study the feminist ideas Freeman presented in the story.
【Key words 】The Revolt of “Mother ”; Patriarchy; subversion
Mary E. Freeman is recognized by readers as a writer of excellent short stories of New England village life. She is best known for the “local color ”, such as realistic details, true-to-life characters and dialect. These elements are also present in The Revolt of “Mother ”. In this story, a mother, Sarah has been waiting forty years for a new house her husband Adoniram promised her. However, when he got enough money, he preferred to construct a new barn instead of a new house. Sarah tried in vain to make her husband change his mind. Ultimately, while Adoniram went out for horses, Sarah took advantage of this opportunity and moved all the household belongings into the new barn ,thus got the family a new house. When Adoniram came back, he had no choice but to accept the situation. According to Rena Korb, “this short story reached such fame that it is reported that Theodore Roosevelt, who at the time was the governor of New York, recommended that mothers read it ‘for irs strong moral lesson ’” (Rena Korb 2002).
“On the surface, this domestic drama may seem comic, and some critics have called it funny. Behind this folksy humor, however, there is a serious subtext ” (Marth J. Cutter, 2002). Indeed, many early critics and readers label the story as “comic fantasy ”. But many later critics, particularly women, claim that these earlier and primarily masculine readers did it to deny that a woman dares to defy gender roles and eventually succeed in subverting her husband ’s status. As a matter of fact, “the wife's revolt against the will of her husband and the will of her entire town and region touches on very serious issues of female identity and the relationship between the sexes ”(Rena Korb 2002). Lots of feminists call the story a declaration of independence if traditional woman. Similarly, from the angle of feminist, this paper is trying to study how the author depicted traditional patriarchy, and also how she deconstructed this patriarchy by the description of the revolt of mother.
The Depiction of Patriarchy
Patriarchy, feminists argue, “privileges power. What is meant by this is that patriarchy regards being masculine and possessing a penis as the norm and builds the social order around masculine sexually ”(quoted in 郑红艳2005: 8). Consequently, the labor division of “outdoor-oriented man and domestic-oriented woman ” came into being. Men became the key roles of social activities, thus there is male-dominated culture and male-dominated value system.. Therefore, the whole society share the same view: “Humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as autonomous being ” (quoted in 郑红艳2005: 8).
Throughout the story, we can see that the Penns is a model of patriarchal family. At the start, Freeman presents us with a typical female image: “She was a small woman … in her brown cotton gown. Her forehead was mild and benevolent between the smooth curves of gray hair; there were meek downward lines about her nose and mouth.” (Freeman). And the daughter Nanny with “a pretty girl ’s face, pink and delicate as a flower ” (Freeman). displays the female temperaments vividly. On the contrary, father is rude in action: “He hurried the horse into the farm wagon, and clattered out of the yard, jouncing as sturdily on his seat as a boy ” (Freeman). And Sammy also shows the nature of a male: he is reluctant to stay at home to help his father and always want to do out playing with his peers. What ’s more, it is clear that Adoniram and Sarah closely adhere to their gender roles. Adoniram has complete charge of the farm and any business dealings, while Sarah's domain is the home and “she was a masterly keeper of her box of house.”(Freeman). This division also finds full express in the duties of the next generation. Sammy, their son, often helps the father with those tough works such as unload the wood. As a male he has the right to go to school and receive education. On the contrary, Nanny, her sister, could only stay at home and do some washing, cleaning and sewing.
As Simone de Beauvoir says, “He is the Subject, he is the Absolute —she is the other.” Males are in the dominant positions. Females have to depend on their husbands for living and are diminished to “second sex ”. As objective beings, women do not have their own will and discourse rights. “patriarchal discourse systematically excludes women as speakers ” (Marth J. Cutter, 2002). Again, we can see this point clearly in the story, in the marriage relationship. mother is surely in the inferior status. At the beginning of the story, Sarah asks several times what the men are digging in the field for. But Adoniram either “shut his mouth tight ” or “his speech was almost as inarticulate as a growl ” (Freeman). He “carefully guard access to the citadel of power and knowledge: language ” (Marth J. Cutter, 2002). By this means, men denies women ’s right to subjectivity so as to prove their patriarchal status. What ’s worse, he even taught his son to behave in the way. Sammy has known about Father ’s plan for three months, but he kept this secret from his mother since he “didn ’t think ‘t
校园英语 / 文艺研究
would do good” to tell her. Maybe both the father and the son don’t think it’s women’s business. Then, when Sarah speaks with Adoniram about building the family a house instead of a new barn, she has no recourse because Adoniram refuses to utter any words on the subject. “I ain’t got nothin’ to say”, this sentence is repeated throughout the story.
Although mother is locked out of language and power, as Freeman states out in the story: “However deep a resentment she might be forced to hold against her husband, she would never fail in sedulous attention to his wants.” (Freeman). Actually, She has long accustomed to obeying her husband and accepting the capricious nature of men. For forty years Adoniram has promised to build Sarah a new house with no fulfillment. Sarah never complains. Being oppressed by the patriarchal culture for a long time, women seemed to get used to the injustice and tended to act obediently. However, is that the story Freeman wanted to tell us? No, definitely not. As a matter of fact, in spite of the difficulty of changing her status, mother does try to empower herself.
The Subversion of Patriarchy
The unfair patriarchy leads to an unbridgeable gap between the two genders. So they are noncommunicative. Mother might be silent for forty years, but she reaches her limit when her husband builds a new, spacious barn on the very spot where he had promised to build her a new house. Sarah couldn’t bear that anymore, so she tries to take active measures to fight against male-dominated culture.
In convincing Adoniram to allow the Penn family to keep the new barn as their new house instead, Sarah must learn and make known a new way of communication. She utters her demand eloquently. “I’m goin’ to talk real plain to you; I never have sence I married you, but I’m goin’ to now. I ain’t never complained, an’ I ain’t goin’ to complain now, but I’m goin’ to talk plain” (Freeman). Then she listed the reasons why father had to build a new house rather than a stupid barn. Firstly, He made the promise forty years ago, Secondly, the old house is not in a good condition now. Then, too much housework made Nanny’s unhealthy. To build a new house is necessary and absolutely right. She criticized him for “lodgin’ [his] dumb beasts better than [his] own flesh an’ blood.” (Freeman). Sarah has made her sound heard, which can be regarded as a challenge to the centrality of male voice. Miserably, throughout the course, Adoniram still holds on to his silence, He is indifferent to Sarah’s plea. It seems that all of Sarah’s eloquence is silent. Woman is shut out of the door to equality again. Mother’s remarks prove her powerless status. Her first fight encountered a defeat.
Under such oppression women only have two choices—keep silence or rise up. Mother chose the latter way. Since the conflict has completely exposed, a solution must be needed. The chance then comes—father has to go away for a horse, which is the turning point of the whole story. One day in July, Sarah takes an action which shocks not only her family members, but also the neighbors, and the village minister. She moves the house into the barn. She moves “all their little household goods into the new barn.” (Freeman). Actions speak louder than words. Mother “created a ‘language’ –a system of signs—based on interpretable actions, actions which can function as words, actions which speak” ( Marth J. Cutter, 2002). Sarah preferred a radical way to express her determination.
However, things don’t go as easily as we think. Since “Any deviation from the ordinary course of life in this quiet town was enough to stop all progress in it.” (Freeman). People think of Sarah to be insane, lawless or rebellious. As a traditional housewife in a small town, Sarah is faced with great pressure from all around. The coming of the minister symbolizes the intervention and suppression to the open challenge of woman. Sarah, however, does not flinch. She defends her position with forceful words: “…I believe I’m doin’ what’s right… it’s betwixt me an’ the Lord an’ Adoniram. There ain’t no call for nobody else to worry about it.” (Freeman). Faced with such a determined woman, the minister, representing male-centered culture, is helpless and finally decides to retreat. Sarah has achieved further success.
At the end of the story, when father comes back and see the new house, he is speechless. “his lips moved; he was saying something, but they could not hear what it was” (Freeman). He has lost his voice as well as the superior status totally. “Adoniram’s own amazed reaction to Sarah’ actions testifies to the undermining of his authority mother has achieved”(Marth J. Cutter, 2002). Sarah successfully revolts against and liberates herself from a male-dominated situation. By now, Freeman completed her deconstruction of male voice and the construction of female voice, showing us the subversion of patriarchy.
Interestingly, there’s a detail about prayer that worth mentioning. In the story, we learn that before dinner, father would ask a bless, then the whole family could eat. Here, male voice as well as male dominance is clearly expressed. Whereas, when they have moved into the new house/ barn, there is a sharp contrast. It is mother who reminds father to say prayers: “Ain’t you goin’ to ask a belssin’, father? (Freeman)”. It indicates the change of their discourse right. “Sarah has got control of language from her husband and placed it in her own hands (Marth J. Cutter, 2002)”.The apparent gender mismatch blurs the traditional gender confrontation, thus deconstructs the gender dichotomy in patriarchal society.
Conclusion
With thousands of years’ history, the models of the traditional gender roles have ingrained in people’s minds. They not only accept such prescriptions but also employ it as criterion to assess the opposite sex. Therefore, the subversion of gender dichotomy is by no means an easy case. As a distinguished
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-校园英语 / 文艺研究
中西生态批评文学的发展研究
郑州航空工业管理学院外国语学院/赵栩
【摘要】人与自然的关系是文学研究亘古不变的话题。

人类的生态意识从萌芽、发展到走向多元化经历了漫长的发展历程。

中西方文学作品中生态思想的渗透为生态批评理论的发展提供了源泉和沃土。

作为一种文学批评理论，它已经成为当下的一个研究热点。

本文旨在梳理中西方生态批评文学的发展源流，探讨其产生发展的必要性。

生态批评文学是人类走向绿色发展道路的指路明灯，是文学建构绿色经典的必经之路。

【关键词】生态意识 生态批评文学 绿色
一、文学批评的生态环境
人类经过数百万年的进化发展成为了世界的主宰，在这一历史进程中，人类和自然的关系成为了亘古不变的话题。

在西方文化中，有《奥德赛》式征服自然的英雄凯歌，也有阿卡迪亚式返璞归真的田园牧歌；有主张帝国式地征服自然，也有感恩式地回归自然。

在中国，远古时代漫长的蒙昧时期，人类以图腾等形式表达对自然的崇拜和畏惧；“天地人和”、“阴阳调和”、“天人合一”等哲学思想也都体现了古人朴素的生态观。

尽管关于自然的话题长久不衰，但直到近两个世纪它才真正受到人类的重视，因为人类到了必须考虑未来生存问题的关键时刻了。

土地沙化、河流断流、大气污染、森林资源枯竭、珍稀动植物灭绝等现象伴随着工业化的快速发展频繁发生，大工业生产带来的人类生存环境持续恶化，大自然向人类敲响了警钟，这也使得生态问题引起了各界人士的广泛关注。

许多思想家逐渐认识到人类普遍面临的全球性生态危机，起因不在生态系统自身，而在于人类自身的文化系统。

他们从不同角度阐述生态中心思想，极大地唤醒了民众的生态意识，推动了群众性生态运动的兴起和发展。

生态批评文学就事在这种环境危机日趋严重的情况下产生的，旨在探讨文学与自然的关系。

1972年，约瑟夫·米克在作品《生存的喜剧：文学生态学研究》中提出了“文学生态学”的概念，对出现在文学作品中的生物主题进行了研究。

1978年，美国学者威廉.鲁克特在其发表文章《文学与生态学：生态批评的试验》中首先使用了“生态批评”这一术语，提出“把生态学以及和生态学有关的概念运用到文学研究中去”。

随后出现了一系列的相关术语，比如“生态诗学”、“环境文学批评”、“绿色文化研究”、“环境伦理学”等，但大多数人还是倾向于使用“生态批评”(ecocriticism)，因为“eco ”这一前缀更能体现出人类与自然的关系。

“生态批评”这一概念的提出进一步强调了自然的重要性，关注动物等其他自然现象，积极推动人与自然的和谐发展。

二、西方文学作品中的生态资源
在西方殖民扩张时期，欧洲疾病、动植物的流散破坏了新欧洲原有的生态系统，给本土人带来了重大的灾难，艾尔弗雷德·W·克罗斯彼在著作《生态帝国主义：欧洲900-1900年的生态扩张》中指出帝国主义产生的结果除了瓦解被殖民地的文化传统、价值观念、宗教信仰和社会结构，还造成了当地民族及其文化赖以生存的生态系统的严重失衡。

本·奥克利的小说《饥饿之路》中描述了非洲的一个小镇，小镇居民原来过着和谐平静的原始生活，但西方殖民者的强势入侵打破了这人静谧，道路逐渐变宽，新建的房屋越来越多。

可是小镇本土的野草却越来越少，植被遭到破坏，欧洲殖民者大量种植甘蔗，使森林面积不断缩小，森林的减少导致了降水量的减少，进一步恶化了当地的生态环境。

欧洲殖民者在扩张和迁移的过程中也把传染病原带到了新世界，智利诗人弗朗西斯科·洛佩斯的诗作《致患天花病毒失去美丽的妹妹》中就描述了18世纪欧洲殖民者带入美洲的天花病使得其妹妹的花容月貌消失殆尽。

欧洲殖民者将体内的微寄生物病原体传染给了被殖民者，导致其民族人口数量急剧下滑。

在英国殖民woman writer, Freeman create vivid characters in New England at the end of 19th century in the short story. She first depicts a picture of traditional bipolarity of gender role models and then describe how the intelligent mother —Sarah managed to get the house she deserved to get long time ago. Women not only disclose their repression of feelings, but successfully subvert the male-dominated value about the inferiority of women. Through Sarah ’s rebellious action, Freeman made the declaration of independence of women. References:
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[2]Korb,Rena:One Woman ’s Independence[J].Short Stories for Students.2002.
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[3]Wilkins Mary:The Revolt of “Mother ”[Z]./short_stories_page/freemanrevolt.html.
[4]郑红艳.奥斯丁小说中的双重声音——奥斯丁的女性主义解读[D].华中师范大学,2005.
作者简介：谢婷婷，湖北中医药大学外国语学院讲师，华中师范大学文学院比较文学与世界文学专业访问学者。