A Tentative Study On Sexism As Seen From Chinese And English CLWs (Classical Literary Works)

The issue of sexism in language has been the focus of attention of linguistic scholars, whose researches from different perspectives through natural languages, have contributed to our better understanding of this realm. The author of this thesis maintains that such surveys of sexism cannot help us to find those sexist phenomena deep-rooted in people's mind. However, we can tackle this problem by studying the 'purified languages' in the Classical Literary Works that mirror patriarchal structures of China and English-speaking countries (England being typical) in ancient times.First, the author points out that, from the very beginning of human civilization, the patriarchal order of society resulted in sexism in China and English-speaking countries. The continuation of such an order leads to the fact that sexism will not extinct fundamentally even if social inequality between the two genders disappears.Second, Confucianism, the most typical ideological instrument to spread sexism and to impose it on man's mind in China, is similar to Christianity, originating from the Middle Ages and prevailing in most English-speaking countries. They both were used by the ruling classes to form and regularize the commoners' manner of thinking and of living, and special requirements of virtues were exerted upon women.Third, various forms of sexism permeating in Chinese and English CLWs, to a great extent, have amply reflected the doctrines of Confucianism and Christianity. In this thesis, sexism can be understood to have covert and overt patterns and the latter are seen typically in the form of idiom, proverb and slang seen from the CLWs.Last, the author claims that, like any other literary works, Chinese and English CLWs are the artistic reflections of social lives and writers' mind. Therefore, we may not only find plentiful sexist expressions that derived from the social reality, but sexist notions in most male writers' mind. In the meantime, we can sense some subtle differences in writers' attitudes towards sexism from their way of characterizing women.