Song Of Myself-a Feminist Reading Of A Thousand Acres

Adopting feminist theory, especially that of Simone de Beauvoir in her masterpiece TheSecond Sex, this thesis is a textual analysis of Jane Smiley’s novel A Thousand Acres. It intendsto demonstrate inequality between men and women and analyze patriarchal oppression onwomen as well as women’s revolt and awakening process.Jane Smiley is an American contemporary novelist, who has written several novels sincethe1980s. Her book A Thousand Acres coming out in1991was the winner of the Pulizter Prizeand the National Book Critics Circle Award. Upon its publication, the novel received plenty ofcritical attention. In this novel, Smiley employed the female character Ginny as the narrator,describing wax and wane of the Cooks. From Ginny’s eyes, readers saw males in this familypursue interests at the expense of ecological balance and women’s rights.Unfortunately, malecharacters got nothing in the end and lost everything under the revolt of women and nature.As the book released the theme of environmental damage caused by men’sover-exploitation of lands, a large number of critics interpreted human-nature relationshipdepicted in the story from an ecocritical perspective. Meanwhile, the story was told in the femalefirst-person narrative, so some critics applied psychoanalysis to investigating the inner world ofthe female narrator. Besides, some critics explored the intertextual relation between the noveland Shakespeare’s play King Lear or analysed the influence of American western culture on AThousand Acres. In contrast, few critics offered feminist readings of the book. They paid lessattention to the unequal relationship between both sexes as well as women’s awakening processportrayed by Smiley. Therefore, a feminist analysis of the book helps to make up theinsufficiency, deepening the understanding of the characters created by Smiey as well as theoriesof feminism.Feminist critics concentrated on inequality between sexes in patriarchal society. Feministsattached importance to women’s sufferings under male suppression. They encouraged women toestablish self-identity, rebel against patriarchal domination and form equal relationship betweensexes. As a significant feminist theorist, Beauvoir explained how women lost their sense of selfin her book The Second Sex. She declared that women must win independence and liberation sothat patriarchal sovereignty would come to an end and a harmonious world would open up forboth sexes. From the perspective of feminism, this study is a feminist reading of Jane Smiley’snovel A Thousand Acres on the basis of the theory of The Second Sex. To make up the study ofconflicts between both sexes, this research concentrates on the changing relation between malesand females in A Thousand Acres, analysing the negative influence of male oppression onwomen and women’s self-seeking odyssey. This thesis is composed of eight chapters.Chapter One is an introduction. Information of the novel A Thousand Acres and theauthor Jane Smiley is given in this part. This part also introduces the background of analysingthe novel from the feminist perspective. In addition, this chapter contains the purpose andframework of the study.Chapter Two is the theoretical basis, which introduces major theories of feminism andoutlines ideology of Beauvoir’s The Second Sex.Chapter Three is the literature review which generalizes studies on A Thousand Acres athome and abroad. Through the review of studies on A Thousand Acres at home and abroad, it canbe concluded that most critics focused on analysis of the novel from the perspective ofecocriticism, psychoanalysis and intertextual readings. In contrast, few of them investigated thebook from the aspect of feminism. Meanwhile, critics paid little attention to Smiley’s portrait ofthe crisis between male and female characters. To make up the insufficiency, this thesis exploreschanging relationship between both sexes described in this story.Chapter Four to Seven make up main body of the study, which is the analysis of the novelbased on feminist theories.Feminists critics exposed the injustice of patriarchal domination. Thus, Chapter Four isabout patriarchal domination in Zebulon County. The story was set in Zebulon County, atraditional patriarchal community in Western America. In this county, men believed they weresuperior to women and justified in oppressing women. Male characters like Larry saw their wifeand daughters as private goods, servants and nourishers. They imposed physical abuse uponwomen’s body, suppressed women’s voice and confined women to their homes.Feminist critics paid attention to women’s sufferings under such oppression. Therefore,Chapter Five analyses the negative effect of male suppression on women. Such oppression madewomen in the county become physically weak, remain timid before men and economically relyon men, which deprived them of the sense of self-consciousness.To improve women’s situation, feminist critics declared that women ought to rebel againstpatriarchal domination and establish their self-identity. Therefore, Chapter Five analyseswomen’s revolt and awakening process. In the novel, when female characters like Ginny decidedto struggle against male dictatorship, they began the self-seeking journey. They gradually got ridof physical rigidity and found their body become full of strenghth, which helped them to gain thesense of self-confidence. They took courage to express their true thoughts and expose injustice ofpatriarchal domination. What’s more, they left home and found jobs, becoming self-reliantindividuals. Thus, through rebelling against male-dominated system, women were blessed withliberation and achieved self-realization. Finally, feminists believed that women’s liberation was bound to end patriarchaldomination and realize equality between sexes. Therefore, Chapter Seven analyses how women’sstruggle shattered men’s position as the absolute leader in production and the almighty master athome, accelerated the collapse of patriarchal tradition in Zebulon and open up a new harmoniousworld for both sexes.Chapter Eight is the conclusion. It summarizes the main idea of the thesis, pointing out itstheoretical and realistic significance together with limitations of the present study and directionsof futhur study.