到灯塔去 英语论文

Final paper
An Analysis of Virginia Woolf’s Thoughts of Gender and Gender Differences in To the Lighthouse
Requirements:
Content: You may write a term paper on the following novels:
1.The Catcher in the Rye
2.To the Lighthouse
Evaluation:
Abstract:
Virginia Woolf(1882-1941) is a renowned English writer best known for her novels and essays. To the Lighthouse is one of her great works. This paper is mainly study three issues: feminism, the understanding of gender and the thoughts of gender differences.
摘要：
弗吉尼亚. 伍尔夫（1882-1941）是一位以小说和散文而著名的英国作家。

《到灯塔去》是她的佳作之一。

本篇论文主要研究的三个问题是：女性主义，对于性别的理解以及有关性别差异的思考。

Outline
Title: An Analysis of Virginia Woolf’s Thoughts of Gender and Gender Differences in To the Lighthouse
Ⅰ.Introduction
Ⅱ. Body:
A.Woolf and feminism
B.Woolf’s androgynous vision
C.Gender differences
1.Definition of gender difference
2.Woolf’s thoughts of gender differences
Ⅲ. Conclusion
Ⅰ. Introduction:
Virginia Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen on 25 January, 1882 in
London. She was an English novelist and essayist, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway(1925), To the Lighthouse(1927) and Orlando(1928) and the book-length essay A Room of One’s Own(1929) with its famous dictum, “ A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”
Wang wenyan, a postgraduate of Hunan University in the paper Female Consciousness in To the Lighthouse analyzes two major female characters, Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe from the feminist criticism point of view. At first, she studies the growth of Virginia Woolf’s feminism and analyzes “Angel in the House”and “the undercurrent in Mrs. Ramsay”. This paper is very good at focusing on one topic that is Virginia Woolf’s feminism. It offers me some knowledge about feminism and makes me more familiar with this book.
Cheng ying, a posts graduate from Zhengzhou University in her paper Virginia Woolf’s Art of Fiction in To the Lighthouse studies her typical stream-of-consciousness technique, musical methods, cinematic methods and poetic methods. And she mainly analyzes how these techniques used in the novel. Through reading this paper it is helpful for us to have a hint of Wool’f’s writing skills.
Li songyue, a scholar of Zhengzhou University in his paper 《<到灯塔去>两性形象的象征意义阐述》he mainly studies the narrative strategy----symbolism and gender perspective. Through the comparison of different genders’ personality, action, thinking symbolic colors and finally comes out the conclusion that in the book To the Lighthouse some objects are the symbols of genders.
But in this paper, what I want to study is gender and gender differences in the novel To the Lighthouse. I will talk about feminism, androgynous thoughts and gender
differences in the novel.
Ⅱ. Virginia Woolf’s Thoughts of Gender and Gender Differences in To the Lighthouse
A. Woolf and feminism
Feminism is an intellectual, philosophical and political discourse aimed at equal
rights and legal protection for women. It involves various movements, theories and philosophies, all concerned with issues of gender difference that advocate equality for women and that campaign for women’s rights and interests.
Virginia Woolf’s feminist thoughts widely cover the fields of society, politics, ethics, aesthetics, etc. and the need for freedom for the female is the primary theme in her ethical scheme. Gender and politics, morality and psychological desire are mixed together inextricably in her presentation of human motivation. In spite of all of these, Virginia Woolf has never, even once in her life, admitted that she herself is an advocator for feminism and insists that what she did was just studying it. Here we can see the complexity of Woolf’s feminist position and the flexibility with which she may be read as a feminist.
In To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe are the two female figures that Woolf mainly describes. However, they impress the readers strikingly for their views about the way to realize their own dreams and to escape from nothingness. Through the reading of Woolf’s different descriptions of Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe, we may find Woolf’s thoughts of female in the novel.
Mrs. Ramsay is a competent and intelligent housewife. She supports her husband by running the house smoothly and endures domestic anxiety alone so that the daily chores won’t interrupt Mr. Ramsay’s serious thoughts on reason and logic. She miraculously manages to run the house without disturbing her husband. The financial condition of the family is exposed by one of the guests, Mr. Bankes’ perception of the family. “The Ramsays were not rich, and it was a wonder how they managed to contrive it all. Eight children! To feed eight children on philosophy!” In fact, the wonder maker is Mrs. Ramsay. With herwisdom in housework she successfully shoulders the responsibility of house management without any help from her husband. Though she is worried about the household, she tries her best not to disturb him. The refrain of the bill for the greenhouse roof looms but she decides not to tell him. “She had it on the tip of her tongue to say, as they strolled, ‘It’ll cost fifty pounds,’ but instead, for her heart failed her about money, she talk ed about Jasper shooting birds …” Mrs. Ramsay feels it her obligation to keep the husband away from the worries of small daily family life.
Being a good mother is another criterion of the ideal Victorian womanhood. Woolf depicts such a good mother in this novel. Mrs. Ramsay protects her children from disillusion. When her son, James hopes for a trip to the lighthouse the next day and the father declares bad weather, it is Mrs. Ramsay who insists upon the possibility of a clear day. In this way she protects the sensitive mind of the child, retaining hope and faith in him, which shows her reverence for the spirit in others. What’s more, Mrs. Ramsay also protects her children from the chaotic adult world. By intuition, she knows the world is full of misery and sufferings.
Apart from Mrs. Ramsay, Lily is the other important female figure in To the Lighthouse. She admires and loves Mrs. Ramsay and shares a lot with her. However, their differences exceed their similarity. Compared with Mrs. Ramsay who is presented as an ideal woman of Victorian period, Lily represents the woman image of the new generation. She holds her unique views on marriage, which collides with the established and long standing Victorian customs of marriage. She develops her individual relationships with the opposite sex, which challenges the unitary relationship of marriage between the two sexes. She ventures into the career of painting, which has been the preserved domain of men. She courageously fights against any difficulties and obstacles that come in her way to self independence and self realization.
B. Woolf’s androgynous vision
Androgyny is a term derived from two Greek words which can refer to either of two related concepts about gender: the mixing of masculine and feminine characteristics, as in fashion statements; or the balance of “anima and animus” in psychoanalytic theory. For Woolf, the psyche is composed of two parts, one male and the other female, and only when the two are fused into one will the mind be able to produce art.
In Woo lf’s opinion, there exist two genders in human cerebrum –male and female and each pair forms a complementary whale. There is no apparent hierarchical order between them: the only dominance is the feminine part in the woman’s brain, and vice versa for man. Woolf’s choice of the word “fatal” is particularly important for an understanding of the high premium she places on androgyny. An important
aspect of Woolf’s argument for androgyny insists that writers should shun consciousness of their own sex when they write because pressures to conform to social gender roles create barriers that are “fatal” to creativity. She thinks that androgynous writing is not only an ideal, but also a reality. As for Woolf, “Perhaps a mind that is purely masculine cannot create, any more than a mind that is purely feminine”. She thinks that Shakespeare’s mind is a type of the androgynous of the man-womanly mind.
C. Gender differences
1. Definition of gender difference
The term “gender difference” refers to a distinction of biologic al and/or physiological characteristics typically associated with either males or females of a species in general. In the study of humans, socio-political issues arise in classifying whether a sex difference results from the biology of gender. Some feminists see gender differences as caused by patriachy or discrimination, although Difference Feminism argues for an acceptance of gender differences. Conservative masculists tend to see gender differences as inherent in human nature, while liberal masculists see gender differences as caused by matriarchy or discrimination.
2. Woolf’s thoughts of gender differences
Woolf’s thoughts of gender differences are formed through her understanding of the social prejudice towards all fields that related to women.There is no doubt that Woolf not only realizes the existence of gender differences and she also advocates protecting the existence. The gender differences are caused by two major aspects: the subjective social ideology that treats men and women differently and considers different genders should have different roles; and the objective existence of psychological and physical differences between different genders. These two aspects are respectively subjective cause and objective cause. In conclusion, the essence of Woolf’s thoughts of gender differences is: 1) admission of the existence of gender differences, in both subjective and objective aspects; 2) opposition to the subjective and prejudiced thoughts of genderdifferences; and 3) promotion of the objective gender differences and encouragement of the existence of such differences.
In To the Lighthouse, Woolf presents clear portraits of male and female
characters. The characters she describes most carefully are Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay. In the novel, the both Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay want to create a harmonious atmosphere among people and try to be understandable to others. However, they have different outlooks on life and their attitudes and behaviors are also significantly different.
In To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf discusses the influence of the traditional conception about different genders, which is the cause of gender differences. Mrs. Ramsay in the novel is the typical woman who is the slave fostered by men. Although she is not satisfied with the life of losing herself and lacking for self-confidence, she still worships her husband blindly, depends on her husband and subordinates to her husband. Besides playing the role of a virtuous wife and a lovely mother initiatively in the family and an elegant hostess in social situations, she still makes use of her influential power. Mrs. Ramsay does not only comply with social customs herself, she also impels others: she arranges for the marriage between Paul and Minta and tries to persuade Lily to marry Mr. Bankes. Under the influence of such traditional conception about different genders, Lily still feels that she can’t get rid of social prejudice to concentrate her attention on the art of painting although she is a woman having her own inclination. She always feels that she is just a second-class painter, and her works will not be hung on the wall to be seen by people. Furthermore, there is Mr. Tansley whispering in her ear, “Women can’t paint, women can’t write” obvious that her feeling of failure is caused by the influence of the traditional conception about different genders that women are inferior to men.
Another great difference between different genders is that Mr. Ramsay is more realistic while Mrs. Ramsay more idealistic. This can be seen, in the very beginning of the novel, from the attitudes towards whether the Ramsays can go to the lighthouse the next day. Mrs. Ramsay says: “Yes, of course if it’s fine tomorrow, but you’ll have to be up with the lark,” then they will go to the lighthouse. These words convey an extraordinary joy to her son. But her husband comes over and refutes: “But, it won’t be fine”. What he says is the truth and the truth forever; he does not resort to deception and distort the fact, and he will not say some harsh words mildly and indirectly to satisfy others. Mrs. Ramsay comforts James: “But it may be fine –I
expect it will be fine” (ibid.: 260). Although she has no idea about the weather of the
next day, Mrs. Ramsay is not only idealistic herself, but also wants to give her son comfort and hope. Mr. Ramsay, on the other hand, is not only rational as mentioned before, but also realistic, directly telling his son that the weather will not be fine and they can’t go to the lighthouse the next day. To Mr. Ramsay, the reality towers abo ve the rest, i.e., it’s much more important to respect the facts than to care for children. Therefore, his little son James is even anxious to kill him. As a philosopher, he may be skilled at explaining and dealing with everything in the world with his sense and logic. However, when he applies this kind of attitude to real life, such attitude seems so stubborn that he even denies human nature and suppresses others’ feeling, not only in his learning, but also in dealing with human relationship.
The third difference between different genders lies in the aesthetic appreciations. Mr.Ramsay can’t feel the beauty of nature at all. In this novel, male characters come into society,engaging in scientific study. Thinking themselves as the creators of the culture, men talk about science and politics. Yet being deprived of the rights to receive education, women have to stay at home and stand beyond culture. Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay have different reactions to the scenes of nature. For example, when Mr. Ramsay has a wal k with his wife by the seaside“he thought, looking at the land dwindling away… Poor little place,” but Mrs. Ramsay considers, “He said the most
melancholy things,” and believes that “it was a perfectly lovely evening”.
Ⅲ. Conclusion
On the whole, this dis sertation expounds on Virginia Woolf’s thoughts of gender and gender differences through the analysis of her thoughts of feminism manifested in her novel To the Lighthouse. From our analysis of the characters in the novel To the Lighthouse, we can see that Woolf’s perspective of women is unique. According to Woolf, women are not inferior to men in any field.
In my opinion, the basis of Virginia Woolf’s androgynous theory has something in common with her thoughts of gender differences to a certain extent. Androgynous theory advocates that men and women command the chaotic world in their own way: men rely on their reason and logic; women rely on their intuition and self-awareness. In fact, what Woolf insists as part of her thoughts of gender differences is that men
tend to be more reasonable than women and women more sensitive than men. In addition, Woolf’s thoughts of gender differences can be regarded as a bridge, connecting Woolf’s thoughts of feminism and androgynous vision.
Virginia Woolf’s thoughts of wom en still have practical significance in our modern society. Nowadays, women’s social position has been greatly improved, but there are many unfair treatments of women in the society, especially in finding jobs. There are many women isolated in their families after marriage, which is partly caused by their insufficient confidence in themselves. So it is time to get rid of the biased thoughts of gender differences about women and women themselves should believe that they can do many things like men. However, as a matter of fact, women should realize that they have both advantages and disadvantages. In this sense, women should not reject all male qualities and they need to absorb some male qualities to become perfect ones. In this way, women and men can draw the strong points of others to offset their own weakness, so that our society can get a harmonious development. In short, Virginia Woolf has made a great contribution to English literature and she will always be remembered as one of the most prominent women writers in England forever.
Reference
[1] 程英. Art of Fiction in To the Lighthouse [D].郑州：郑州大学，2002
[2]李嵩岳. 《到灯塔去》两性形象的象征意义阐述[D]. 郑州，郑州大学，2009 [2] 吴庆宏. 弗吉尼亚伍尔夫与女权主义[M]. 北京: 中国社会科学出版社, 2005.
[4]. 王文艳. 《到灯塔去》中的女性意识[D].长沙：湖南师范大学，2001。