On Space And Female Images In Cities Of The Plain

Cormac McCarthy is a famous contemporary American novelist and playwright.The publication of Border Trilogy has established his master position in the modern American literary arena and won him the National Book Award and the National Book Review Award.The last part of the trilogy,Cities of the Plain,is the epitome of the whole trilogy in terms of its ideological content.The change of the heroine’s image in the space plays a decisive role in the development of the plot.However,there are few studies on the relationship between space and female images in this novel.From the perspective of both spatial criticism and feminist theory,this thesis interprets the female images of Cities of the Plain,explores the underlying causes of the heroine’s tragic fate The introduction gives a brief introduction to the writer Cormac McCarthy and his works,and has a review of the research on Cities of the Plain at home and abroad,which tries to point out the significance to take the approach of spatial criticism to have a study of McCarthy and his novel.Chapter One analyses the victim images of the heroine Magdalena in the three physical spaces and her struggle against the oppression of space-power in the transformation of physical space,reflecting her awakening of self-awareness to a certain extent.Chapter Two analyses the images in the spiritual space of Magdalena from three aspects:self-awareness,religious belief and mental illness,revealing the spiritual crisis brought by the oppression of space-power towards women,and showing McCarthy’s reflection and his criticism of space-power towards the construction of female images in the society.Chapter Three analyses female images in the patriarchal society,and tries to explore the disciplining affect of patriarchal social power on the shaping of female’s character and destiny.The conclusion points out that through the analysis of female images in different spaces,the female’s destiny is found to be limited by multiple spaces.Only in an equal and harmonious society,women no longer rely on men and then can they achieve their independence in their ways of thinking and economy and even spirit.Of course,they can go beyond spatial limitations,and thus making their own destiny move towards what they hope to be in their own space.