A Stydy On Male Characters’ Attitudes Towards Women In Herland

Appeared in the 19 th century,feminist utopian novel is a literary genre which adopts novel as a carrier to reflect feminist ideas.The value orientation of female utopianism is generally to eliminate the gender difference and the unequal status between men and women.Herland is such a significant feminist utopian novel written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.Previous studies on Herland mainly focus on feminist utopianism,ecologism and comparative study.Nevertheless,there is almost no complete analysis of the male characters from functional stylistics.Therefore,this thesis aims to observe different attitudes of the three male characters towards women in Herland from the perspective of functional stylistics.This thesis combines quantitative method and qualitative method in the analysis of the three male characters’ attitudes.The quantitative method is used in the identification of the prominent mood feature,modality feature and the features of attitudinal resources while the quantitative method is applied in the confirmation of the foregrounded features and the explanation of the three male characters’ attitudes.According to time order,the novel is divided into three periods.In each period,the foregrounded mood features,modality features and the features of attitudinal resources in the three male characters’ dialogues and descriptions related to women will be analyzed and the attitudes realized by the foregrounded features will be explained.It is found that declarative clauses are foregrounded mood features in each period.Before entering the utopia,modal verb “mustn’t”,“must”,“will”,modal adjunct “have to”,and positive security affect resources are foregrounded features to express Terry’s contempt.Modal verb “must”,modal adjunct “have to”,negative security affect resources and negative social sanction judgement resources are foregrounded features to demonstrate Vandyck’s worry about the danger of women.Modal verb “will” and two positive reaction appreciation resources “peaceful” and “harmonious” are foregrounded features to reveal Jeff’s optimistic judgment towards women.After coming to the utopia,Terry’s dismissive and dissatisfied attitude towards women is displayed from the foregrounded modal verb “must”,“can’t”,“would”,modal adjunct “of course”,negative satisfaction affect resources and negative social sanction judgement resources.Vandyck’s acceptance of the women’s good qualities and their strength is illustrated from the foregrounded modal verb “may” and positive social esteem judgment resources.Jeff’s positive attitude towards women is demonstrated from the foregrounded modal verb “will”,“would”,modal adjunct “never”,“of course”,positive inclination affect resources and positive social sanction judgment resources.When making final choices,Terry’s anger towards women is shown from the foregrounded modal adjunct “always”,“of course”,“mostly”,negative satisfaction affect resources and negative social esteem judgment resources.Vandyck’s respectful attitude towards women is displayed from the foregrounded modal verb “will”,“would”,“won’t”,positive inclination affect resources and positive social sanction judgment resources.Jeff ’s super worshipful attitude towards women is revealed from the foregrounded modal verb “would”,“wouldn’t” and positive satisfaction affect resources.Finally,a diachronic analysis of the foregrounded mood,modality and attitudinal features of their words and descriptions related to women reveals that their attitudes toward women haven’t undergone fundamental changes because of their experiences in the utopia.The study of the three male characters’ attitudes from the perspective of functional stylistics not only deepens reader’s understanding of the theme of the novel but also further proves that functional stylistics is an effective theory and approach for the analysis of literary works.