On The Tragic Image Of Modern Ugly Eldest Daughter

The so-called eldest daughter image refers to a kind of female image in modern literary works.It is a reference to natural status in the family kinship pattern,that is,the eldest daughter of all children in the family.It is also a reference to patriarchal identity in cultural sense,that is,a group of women who accept the transfer of patriarchal responsibility as the "quasi-eldest son".This paper focuses on the image of the "ugly eldest daughter" created by modern and contemporary female writers,as the "quasi-eldest son" in the family,they flatter men in order to gain the recognition of mainstream morality,and even do not hesitate to kill the same sex for this purpose.In the long patriarchal social system of China,women have always existed as the dependency of patriarchy,and become the dependency of husband and family.The eldest daughter is embarrassed because of the special status in the family.They are forced to accept the transfer of patriarchal responsibilities and assume family responsibilities,such as the eldest son,but also mired in identity anxiety because of the strong social and cultural requirements for women,which resulting in learned helplessness for self-identity.Since the new culture movement,many writers have deconstructed and rethought the living conditions and cultural identity of the eldest daughter.Modern and contemporary women writers give special care and introspection to the eldest daughter group because of their special experience,mainly represented by Gu Manlu who created by Eileen Chang in Eighteen Springs and Liang Junbi who written by Huo Da in Muslim’s Funeral.Starting from their own experience,female writers give new attention to the eldest daughter who took into account the multiple identities of mother,daughter,wife and so on,which showing the anxiety and destruction of the eldest daughter in the period of social transformation.Unlike the "Chu Jun" identity of the eldest son,the eldest daughter is crouched under the shadow of the patriarchal system as the "doomed to exile",from the victim to the abuser.In the special period of the blending and collision of the old and new culture,the eldest daughter’ fate was inevitably involved in the period and showing the unique tragic color.As the "damaged person",the "ugly eldest daughter" is considered to be the receiver and producer of tragedy and has long been swallowed up by the male discourse system,showing a deeper level of sadness.On the one hand,the "ugly eldest daughter" has great sacrifice spirit and showing pure and selfless maternal characteristics,on the other hand,in order to obtain the patriarchal recognition,they save themselves by dark unconscious self-mutilation type of self – help and pull the same sex into the scene of abuse.Based on the author’s personal life experience,this paper discusses the basic form and tragic fate of the "ugly eldest daughter",and tries to analyze the causes of tragic fate from the perspective of personality,fate,identity and social culture,and reflects on significance of their tragic fate from the perspective of literary history.