The Construction Of Feminist Consciousness:Reading The Yellow Wallpaper And Herland From The Perspective Of Feminist Narratology

Charlotte Perkins Gilman(1860-1935)is a pivotal feminist theorist,sociologist and prolific author in the First Wave of Feminist Movement in America.Many of her works have enjoyed marvelous reputation and have had great influence on gender issues at that time and continue to exert influence today,such as Women and Economics The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and so on.Especially the two masterpieces The Yellow Wallpaper and utopian novel Herland which reflect Gilman’s concern on gender issues are now getting more and more attention from scholars.By analyzing The Yellow Wallpaper and Herland in light of feminist narratology,this essay tries to discuss Gilman’s gender consciousness and her artistic narrative strategies in the two works.Gilman is a pioneer in female liberation and social revolution,and these two works perfectly demonstrate her feminist ideologies,her radical view of gender and society to readers through the artistic narrative strategies used in books.Through the two protagonists’ narrative voices and narrative perspectives,she described in detail the oppression of male discourse power and patriarchal culture in the Yellow Wallpper.And she constructed a harmonious society and liberated all men and women in Herland.This essay is consist of five parts.Chapter one provides the background information of Gilman and her master pieces The Yellow Wallpaper and Herland,previous studies on her works at home and abroad,the significance,methodology and central arguments of the paper.Chapter two offers a detailed discussion on narrative voices in the two works.Through character’s different voices,Gilman tries to highlight the importance of narrative authority for women and criticizes the oppression of male discourse power.Chapter three focuses on narrative perspective.By analyzing male and female’s narrative perspectives in the two works,this chapter tries to demonstrate Gilman’s unceasing endeavor to fight for the construction of female subjectivity and correct men’s biased view on women and gender differences.Chapter four discusses the meaning of Gilman’s narrative strategies.Chapter five is the conclusion part,which summarizes Gilman’s important role in American literary history and her great impact on feminist activities.Her narrative strategies perfectly demonstrate her feminist ideological content.She advocates the awakening of feminist consciousness,and shows her concern for the fate of women,her greatest wish to build a free land where men and women could get genuine freedom in her works.