从社会主义女权角度分析简爱

南京工业大学西方文论试题（A）卷（开）

2015--2016 学年第二学期使用班级英语1303班

班级英语1303 学号2401130332 姓名左洁

An Interpretation of Jane Eyre from the Perspective of Socialist Feminism

1.Introduction

1.1 Socialist feminism

The basis of socialist feminism is historical materialism, which emphasizes that material life figuring people’s concepts persistently. Socialist feminism digests new ideas and develops itself into liberal feminists, Beauvoir’s feminism the ory, radical feminism and Marxist feminism. The class oppression that the proletariat suffers from contributes to female’s bad situation on material and economic capability. Socialist feminism pays close attention from the perspectives of the issue of economic reasons and states of capitalism. People in favor of socialist feminism support that it is essential to change the social structure drastically. Only in this way can the gender equality become reality.

1.2 Jane Eyre

The author of Jane Eyre is Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855). This legacy of feminism was published in 1847, and the characters in this book were the profiles of the social situation at that time in different aspects. On the one hand, In 19th century, it is a matter of course that financial burdens should be undertaken by male. In this way, females at that time lost their subjectivity and merely the tool for washing clothes and cooking meals. On the other hand, the females in 19th century frequently in a environment of rural small town, they barely saw a big earth. Within the walls of that grim family circle. And with the absence of the rapid developing of cities in the mainstream life, females seldom had the

chance to get economic independence, so naturally, females in the 19th century had to place hope on their marriage partners, which means that they were not own their happiness themselves but their desperate marriages.

Charlotte Bronte has a strong consciousness of socialist feminism. In this book she mainly expound that women is also a part of the productive force and the relationship between women and the society is interdependent. Therefore, people should pay attention to feminism in the perspective of socialism. This book harbored the idea of woman’s economic independence, thus demonstrating a kind of economic conflict between women and the society in the sense of Jane Eyre’s assets changing. This paper tries to analyze the relationship between women and the society from the perspective of socialist feminism so as to make people abandon the concept of machismo and shape the correct value in women.

1.3 Purpose of the study

The interpretation of Jane Eyre from the perspective of Socialist feminism can help females who lived in the 19th acquiring insight into their own characters and make them volunteered to be members of productive force. Such spirits of economic independence for females also can be found in the book Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility which encouraged women for equal status in the patriarchal society. These books expanded the influence of Marxism and make such a theory deep rooted among not only female but also male.

Nowadays, gender discrimination still exist in many Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq. Although the countries mentioned above are capitalist countries, they didn’t provide women opportunity to change their working condition. Women in these countries are in the struggle for freedom and the pursuit of equal pay, equal competition opportunity and senior positions. Through the discussion of Jane Eyre, to understand the fundamental reasons for women not to be treated equally, to provide guidance for the working life of modern women. The combination of woman’s Liberation and socialist future is of positive significance for people today..