A Comparison Between Woolf’s Radical Feminism And Walker’s Womanism

This thesis focuses on the transformation from Woolf to Walker and compares the ideology between the two female writers with an emphasis of the advancement of the latter.There are six chapters in the thesis.Chapter one is the introduction part containing Literature Review,Significance of study and the structure of the thesis.Chapter two and Chapter three are the theoretical parts.Chapter two focuses on Radical Feminism,while Chapter three concentrates on Womanism.Feminism aims to search for the equality between both genders,which devotes to putting an end to sexism,sexual exploitation,sexual discrimination and sexual oppression.Radical Feminism is a perspective within Feminism concentrating on the abolishment of patriarchal system.Woolf’s ideas,such as androgyny,contributed a lot to radical feminist theory and the ideas even indicate the direction to radical feminism.There were some elements that influenced her ideology such as the miserable experiences in Woolf’s early years and the social background.As Feminism proceeded vigorously during the 1970s,the black women theologians considered that Feminism had been developing with the exclusion of the colored women and those from third world countries.Therefore,Womanism appeared.The term "Womanism" was first coined by Alice Walker in her short story Coming Apart in 1979,which was detailed in her collection of essays In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens.Generally speaking,it is a social term that related with race and the oppression of black women.Both of the experiences in Walker’s childhood and the social background contributed to the formation of the definition.In Chapter four,the thesis analyzes the similarities—such as the equal rights,the attitudes to female’s financial independence and the view of sisterhood----between Woolf’s Radical Feminism and Walker’s Womanism.Chapter five draws the conclusion on the differences of the two from following aspects---class,gender and culture.The last chapter is the conclusion part.To compare_the two ideologies,the thesis emphasizes the advancement of the latter.