A Journey To Female Self-actualization In The Bush

Miles Franklin, by virtue of her first novel My Brilliant Career, a story of bush girl’s growth experience, is considered as a female pioneer in Australian literary scene. It is a portrait of a young girl growing into womanhood and defying the unreasonable requirements of class respectability. It is also a vehicle for feminist cause and necessary change for the future of woman. The novel is praised by Henry Lawson as the most truly reflection of the Australian state in19th century and is widely recognized as a milestone in Australian feminist literary creation.Most writers before Miles Franklin regard men as the subject of the jungle life and mateship, while some women writers only show jungle woman’s marginalized fate. The female consciousness has not yet been awakened. The female protagonist Sybylla is portrayed in My Brilliant Career with rich connotation of the local characteristics. She is an Australian bush girl yearning for true love, seeking for gender equality, struggling for independent personality, which reflects the voice of the feminists who are active in the1890s. In a way, Sybylla is a feminist embodiment of opposing the traditional ethics of women, which highlights Franklin’s female images and reveals Franklin’s early feministic perspectives.The thesis attempts to probe into Sybylla’s self-exploration as well as her journey to self-actualization. Through her struggling to resist traditional marriage, and her bravery to subvert the patriarchy by her "monster" character, she steps further to construct her own identity. Last but not least, Sybylla’s egalitarianism, pursuit of writing career and final choice of loneliness contribute to her awakening journey to feminist awareness and her realization of identity and true self. Her voice goes beyond time and space, still echoing in the world today, urging us to keep faith in ourselves, making us to realize that we can control our lives and calling women to make unremitting efforts for their self-reliance, self-improvement and self-actualization.