AWARENESS OF THE WOMAN QUESTION IN THE NOVELS OF GEORGE ELIOT AND EILEEN CHANG (ENGLAND, CHINA)

Victorian England (1832-1901) and the first half of the 20th century in China represent the dawn of the women's movement. George Eliot and Eileen Chang are the two most influential novelists heralding a new era for women in these two cultures. The Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch by Eliot and Eighteen Springs and The Rouge of the North by Chang, illustrate how women try to establish a respectful self-image and to achieve a balance between social demands and personal longings.;Poverty confines Eileen Chang's female protagonists to an even narrower range of choices in a society marred by disdain toward the poor and contempt toward women. Not surprisingly, both women come to regard marriage as redemption. Circumstances, however, rob Manchen in Eighteen Springs of the chance to marry the man she loves and force her to marry the man she despises. Yindi of The Rouge of the North finds herself locked up in a "golden cangue" after willingly entering into a marriage of convenience. Ironically, marriage, which both protagonists choose as a solution to their problems fails to deliver them from suffering, but actually increases it.;The four heroines, despite the differences in their cultural background and perspectives toward life, demonstrate a common strong determination to earn self-respect and seek happiness in a hostile society dominated by men. Their struggles, entailing compromise and partial surrender, fail to provide psychological self-reliance. Both authors suggest in subtle ways that fundamental changes need to be made in social norms concerning women. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.);George Eliot's heroines are not only beautiful and intelligent, but also motivated by an acute sense of morality. While British society decreed that a woman's place is at home and her fulfillment consists in dependency of her husband, these two protagonists pursue knowledge, man's wisdom, as an alternative direction in their lives. However, during their pursuit they both encounter the dilemma of romantic love. With Maggie of Mill on the Floss any concession to amorous feeling directly in conflict with her sense of morality and integrity. Dorothea, in Middlemarch finds a degree of harmony in marriage, but only at the expense of her independence and spiritual aspirations.