新女性的赞歌
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摘要
路易莎·梅·奥尔科特撰写《小妇人》，正值夫权统治美国社会时期。当时社会推崇“真正女人”的传统道德标准，其信条的核心就是把女人禁锢于家庭生活之中，扮演社会为女人所规定的贤妻良母的角色，并以这种无形的枷锁，阻碍妇女的个性解放。社会对妇女的压迫使路易莎意识到社会强加到妇女身上的束缚，她立志走一条独立的道路，按照自己理想的模式安排自己的命运。她努力创作文学作品，使自己穷困的家庭状况有了好转。她在一篇文章中写到：“我要以自己的头脑做武器，在这艰难的尘世中闯出一条路来。”
1862年，她根据孩提时代的记忆写成了《小妇人》。书中她把自己描写成为乔，她的姐妹分别为梅格、艾美和贝思。《小妇人》用朴实无华的写实手法把四姐妹的命运展现在我们面前。乔勤奋写作，终于成为作家；梅格嫁给了布鲁克，夫妻二人同甘共苦，使小家充满了幸福；艾美喜爱绘画，最终成为一个真正的淑女，一个出资扶弱助贫、从事艺术工作的人；贝思生命短暂，但作为一个聪慧、充满爱心的家庭成员，她真正找到了自己的生活。她们的归宿虽然各不相同，但都是自强自立精神的表现。
路易莎·梅·奥尔科特通过描写四姐妹对自立权力的追求以及她们对家庭的忠诚眷顾，展现了自己理想中的新女性形象。新女性有自我定位的意识。她们敢于冲破社会加在妇女身上的种种束缚，闯出一条与传统妇女角色不同的道路。
新女性不仅具有强烈的独立意识，并且富有责任感。她们是孝敬父母的女儿，是慈爱善良的母亲，是忠于丈夫的妻子，同时又是个性刚强，具有独立意识的个体。她们品格高尚，富有牺牲精神，具有高度的责任感。
新女性在家庭中所扮演的角色不是唯唯诺诺的家庭妇女，而是与丈夫在精神和智力上完全平等的个人。家庭不再是淹没个性的洪流，而是男女相互尊重、相互依靠的支撑点。
女性走上自强自立的道路，她们不仅掌握了自己的命运，而且还成为对家庭，对社会有用的人。从这种意义上说，小妇人并不渺小，而是伟大的女性。
Little Women, being one of the classics of American literature, was written by an American woman writer-Louisa May Alcott. Women in the mid 19th-century were seen and saw themselves as defined by ties of kinship: daughter, wife, and mother. Most people took it for granted that women were "by nature" suited to domesticity: care of the home, and nurture of the young. Louisa determined to be a writer, broke the fetters on women and chose a profession, which traditionally belongs to man. Louisa wrote, "...I will make a battering-ram of my head and make my way through this rough and tumble world."1
In 1862, May Alcott wrote Little Women according to her childhood memory. In Little Women, Alcott describes herself as Jo and her sisters as Meg, Amy, and Beth. The girls varied in talent and temperament, and they found the fulfillment of their individual values in various ways. Jo realized her dream as a successful writer. Meg achieved useful, self-satisfying life in the home. Amy became an artist who helped the poor in the society. Although Beth died early, she chose her own life. Each contributed something to society because each had got a proper chance to display her potential as a human being.
Alcott created new woman images through her portrayal of the four March girls in Little Women. A new woman should have the sense of self-identity, dare to break the fetters imposed on her by the family or society and arrange her life according to her own will.
A new woman should have the sense of responsibility. She is a good child to her parents, a kindhearted mother to her children and a loyal wife to her husband. At the same time she is a strong and unyielding individual.
A new woman should have the sense of equality. She urges women and men to get to know each other so that men can realize that women are not decorative, mindless dolls but capable, intelligent individuals who can help their brothers or husbands do things for the world.
Women have their power and wisdom to do good to the world. They choose to learn and use their strengths; they pursue equality in and out of the family. In this sense, women are great. Little Women tells us the stories of New Women.
1862年，她根据孩提时代的记忆写成了《小妇人》。书中她把自己描写成为乔，她的姐妹分别为梅格、艾美和贝思。《小妇人》用朴实无华的写实手法把四姐妹的命运展现在我们面前。乔勤奋写作，终于成为作家；梅格嫁给了布鲁克，夫妻二人同甘共苦，使小家充满了幸福；艾美喜爱绘画，最终成为一个真正的淑女，一个出资扶弱助贫、从事艺术工作的人；贝思生命短暂，但作为一个聪慧、充满爱心的家庭成员，她真正找到了自己的生活。她们的归宿虽然各不相同，但都是自强自立精神的表现。
路易莎·梅·奥尔科特通过描写四姐妹对自立权力的追求以及她们对家庭的忠诚眷顾，展现了自己理想中的新女性形象。新女性有自我定位的意识。她们敢于冲破社会加在妇女身上的种种束缚，闯出一条与传统妇女角色不同的道路。
新女性不仅具有强烈的独立意识，并且富有责任感。她们是孝敬父母的女儿，是慈爱善良的母亲，是忠于丈夫的妻子，同时又是个性刚强，具有独立意识的个体。她们品格高尚，富有牺牲精神，具有高度的责任感。
新女性在家庭中所扮演的角色不是唯唯诺诺的家庭妇女，而是与丈夫在精神和智力上完全平等的个人。家庭不再是淹没个性的洪流，而是男女相互尊重、相互依靠的支撑点。
女性走上自强自立的道路，她们不仅掌握了自己的命运，而且还成为对家庭，对社会有用的人。从这种意义上说，小妇人并不渺小，而是伟大的女性。
Little Women, being one of the classics of American literature, was written by an American woman writer-Louisa May Alcott. Women in the mid 19th-century were seen and saw themselves as defined by ties of kinship: daughter, wife, and mother. Most people took it for granted that women were "by nature" suited to domesticity: care of the home, and nurture of the young. Louisa determined to be a writer, broke the fetters on women and chose a profession, which traditionally belongs to man. Louisa wrote, "...I will make a battering-ram of my head and make my way through this rough and tumble world."1
In 1862, May Alcott wrote Little Women according to her childhood memory. In Little Women, Alcott describes herself as Jo and her sisters as Meg, Amy, and Beth. The girls varied in talent and temperament, and they found the fulfillment of their individual values in various ways. Jo realized her dream as a successful writer. Meg achieved useful, self-satisfying life in the home. Amy became an artist who helped the poor in the society. Although Beth died early, she chose her own life. Each contributed something to society because each had got a proper chance to display her potential as a human being.
Alcott created new woman images through her portrayal of the four March girls in Little Women. A new woman should have the sense of self-identity, dare to break the fetters imposed on her by the family or society and arrange her life according to her own will.
A new woman should have the sense of responsibility. She is a good child to her parents, a kindhearted mother to her children and a loyal wife to her husband. At the same time she is a strong and unyielding individual.
A new woman should have the sense of equality. She urges women and men to get to know each other so that men can realize that women are not decorative, mindless dolls but capable, intelligent individuals who can help their brothers or husbands do things for the world.
Women have their power and wisdom to do good to the world. They choose to learn and use their strengths; they pursue equality in and out of the family. In this sense, women are great. Little Women tells us the stories of New Women.
引文
1. by Stern, Madeleine B. Critical Essays on Louisa May Alcott Boston:G. K. Hall 1984
2. Louisa May Alcott, qtd. In Saxton145
3. Louisa May Alcott's Journal
4. Louisa May Alcott's Journal
5. Louisa May Alcott, qtd. In Saxton145
6. Cheney biography P76-77
7. Myerson and Shealy (eds.), Letters, 1 Apr. 1887, 307.
8. These comments, by Cyrus Bartol are quoted in Stern Louisa May Alcott, preliminary page.
9. Madelon Bedell, "Introduction," Little Women (New York: Modem Library, 1983), ix-lxix.
10. Cynthia Ozick, "The Making of a Writer," New York Times Book Review, 11 Jan. 1982, 24; "Governors Recal Books of Their Youth," New York Times, 16 Nov. 1989. The most popular boods were Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
11. Ann Douglas, "Introduction," Little Women (New York: New American Library, 1983), vii-xxvii; Sarah Elbert, A Hunger for Home, rev. ed.(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987); Anne Rose, Transcendentalism as a Social Movement (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981); Nina Auerbach, Committee of Women (Cambridge. Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978), and "Afterword," Little Women (New York: Bantam Books, 1983); and Judith Fetterley, "Little Women: Alcott's Civil War," Feminist Studies, 5(1979), 369-83.
12. Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, trans. Janis Kirkup ( Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963), i.90.
13. by Florence Fenwick Miller.
14. A speech to the National Liberal Club
15. Louisa May Alcott, letter to Maggie Lukens, 1884
16. Journal of Mrs. Alcott, 1843
17. Little Women P134
18. Ibid, P134
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid, P147
22. Ibid, P408
23. Ibid, P256
24. Ibid, P6
25. Ibid, P361
26. Ibid, P429
27. Ibid, P430
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid, P257
30. Ibid, P371
31. Ibid, P6
32. Ibid, P134
33. Ibid, P166
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid, P166
37. Ibid, P351
38. Ibid, P352
39. "Marmee" in Little Women, 1868
40. Little Women P161
41. Ibid, P103
42. Ibid, P111
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid, P15
48. Ibid, P10
49. Ibid, P447
50. Ibid, P61
51. Ibid, P75
52. Ibid, P78
53. Ibid, P409
54. Ibid, P448
55. Ibid, P450
56. Dean Briggs, "Remarks," Smith College Quarter, Centennial Anniversary Proceedings, 1900
57. Little Women, P3
58. Ibid, P5
59. Ibid, P6
60. Ibid, P199
61. Ibid, P108
62. Ibid, P272
63. Ibid.
64. Ibid.
65. Ibid, P273
66. Ibid, P278
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid, P279
69. Charles Strickland's study Victorian Domesticity P11
70. Little Women, P448
71. Ibid, P458
72. qtd. in Zehr 324
73. Sicherman (247,259,260-1)
74. By Cynthia Ozick
Auerbach, Nina. Communities of Women. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1978.
Anthony, Katharine. Louisa May Alcott. New York: Knopf, 1938.
Baym, Nina. Women's Fiction. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1979.
Bedell, Madelon. The Alcotts: Biography of a Family. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1980.
Brophy, Brigid. Don't Never Forget: Collected Views and Reviews. New York: Holt, Rinehart, 1966.
Cheney, Ednah D. Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1889.
Crompton, Margaret. "Little Women: The Making of a Classic." Contemporary Review 218 (February 1971): 99-104.
Davidson, Cathy N. Revolution and the Word. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Douglas Ann "Introduction," Little Women New York: New American Library, 1983.
Delamar, Gloria T. Louisa May Alcott and "Little Women". London: McFarland,1990.
Elbert, Sarah. A Hunger for Home. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984.
Eleanor Flexner, Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959.
Ellen DuBois, Feminism and Suffrage: The Emergence of an IndependentWomen's movement in America, 1848-1869. New York: Massachusetts Review,1978.
Fetterley, Judith Little Women: Alcott's Civil War, Feminist Studies, 5 (1979),369-83.
Gilbert, Sandra and Gubar Susan, eds. The Norton Anthology of Literature. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1985.
Helsinger, Elizabeth. The Woman Question: Society and Literature in Britain and America, 1838-1883. New York: Garland Publishers, 1983.
Janeway, Elizabeth. Between Myth and Mourning: Women Awakening. New York:Morrow, 1975.
Kelley, Mary. Private Women, Public Stage: Literary Domesticity in Nineteenth Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Meigs, Cornelia Lynde. Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women. Boston: Little, Brown, 1933.
Moses, Belle. Louisa May Alcott, Dreamer and Worker. New York: Appleton,1909.
Myerson, Joel, and Daniel Shealy, with Madeleine B. Stern. The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown, 1987.
Papashvily, Helen. All the Happy Endings. New York: Harper and Row Publishers,1956.
Payne, Alma. Louisa May Alcott, a Reference Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980.
Pearson, Carol and Katherine Pope. The Female Hero in American and British Literature. New York: Bowker, 1981.
R.itzer, George. Classical Sociological Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992.
Rose Anne. Transcendentalism as a Social Movement. New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1981.
Salyer, Sanford. Matinee: The mother of Little Women. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1949.
Saxton, Martha. Louisa May: A modern Biography. New York: Avon, 1978.
Showalter, Elaine. Sister's choice: Traditions and Change in American Women's Writing. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1991.
Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977.
Spacks, Patricia Meyer. The Female Imagination. New York: Knopf, 1975.
Stem, Madeleine B. Louisa May Alcott. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,1950.
Tick_nor, Caroline. May Alcott: A Memoir. Boston: Little, Brown, 1928.
Tompkins, Jane. Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790-1860. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Warren, Joyce W. "Introduction," Ruth Hall and Other Writings, Ed. Joyce W. Warren. New Brunswich: Rutgers University Press, 1992.
Welter, Barbara. The Cult of True Womanhood, 1820-1860, Dimity Convictions: The American Women in the Nineteenth Century. Athens:Ohio University Press, 1976.
Worthington, Marjorie. Miss Alcott of Concord. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1958.
朱刚 二十世纪西方文艺批评理论上海上海外语教育出版社 2001
2. Louisa May Alcott, qtd. In Saxton145
3. Louisa May Alcott's Journal
4. Louisa May Alcott's Journal
5. Louisa May Alcott, qtd. In Saxton145
6. Cheney biography P76-77
7. Myerson and Shealy (eds.), Letters, 1 Apr. 1887, 307.
8. These comments, by Cyrus Bartol are quoted in Stern Louisa May Alcott, preliminary page.
9. Madelon Bedell, "Introduction," Little Women (New York: Modem Library, 1983), ix-lxix.
10. Cynthia Ozick, "The Making of a Writer," New York Times Book Review, 11 Jan. 1982, 24; "Governors Recal Books of Their Youth," New York Times, 16 Nov. 1989. The most popular boods were Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
11. Ann Douglas, "Introduction," Little Women (New York: New American Library, 1983), vii-xxvii; Sarah Elbert, A Hunger for Home, rev. ed.(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987); Anne Rose, Transcendentalism as a Social Movement (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981); Nina Auerbach, Committee of Women (Cambridge. Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978), and "Afterword," Little Women (New York: Bantam Books, 1983); and Judith Fetterley, "Little Women: Alcott's Civil War," Feminist Studies, 5(1979), 369-83.
12. Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, trans. Janis Kirkup ( Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963), i.90.
13. by Florence Fenwick Miller.
14. A speech to the National Liberal Club
15. Louisa May Alcott, letter to Maggie Lukens, 1884
16. Journal of Mrs. Alcott, 1843
17. Little Women P134
18. Ibid, P134
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid, P147
22. Ibid, P408
23. Ibid, P256
24. Ibid, P6
25. Ibid, P361
26. Ibid, P429
27. Ibid, P430
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid, P257
30. Ibid, P371
31. Ibid, P6
32. Ibid, P134
33. Ibid, P166
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid, P166
37. Ibid, P351
38. Ibid, P352
39. "Marmee" in Little Women, 1868
40. Little Women P161
41. Ibid, P103
42. Ibid, P111
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid, P15
48. Ibid, P10
49. Ibid, P447
50. Ibid, P61
51. Ibid, P75
52. Ibid, P78
53. Ibid, P409
54. Ibid, P448
55. Ibid, P450
56. Dean Briggs, "Remarks," Smith College Quarter, Centennial Anniversary Proceedings, 1900
57. Little Women, P3
58. Ibid, P5
59. Ibid, P6
60. Ibid, P199
61. Ibid, P108
62. Ibid, P272
63. Ibid.
64. Ibid.
65. Ibid, P273
66. Ibid, P278
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid, P279
69. Charles Strickland's study Victorian Domesticity P11
70. Little Women, P448
71. Ibid, P458
72. qtd. in Zehr 324
73. Sicherman (247,259,260-1)
74. By Cynthia Ozick
Auerbach, Nina. Communities of Women. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1978.
Anthony, Katharine. Louisa May Alcott. New York: Knopf, 1938.
Baym, Nina. Women's Fiction. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1979.
Bedell, Madelon. The Alcotts: Biography of a Family. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1980.
Brophy, Brigid. Don't Never Forget: Collected Views and Reviews. New York: Holt, Rinehart, 1966.
Cheney, Ednah D. Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1889.
Crompton, Margaret. "Little Women: The Making of a Classic." Contemporary Review 218 (February 1971): 99-104.
Davidson, Cathy N. Revolution and the Word. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Douglas Ann "Introduction," Little Women New York: New American Library, 1983.
Delamar, Gloria T. Louisa May Alcott and "Little Women". London: McFarland,1990.
Elbert, Sarah. A Hunger for Home. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984.
Eleanor Flexner, Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959.
Ellen DuBois, Feminism and Suffrage: The Emergence of an IndependentWomen's movement in America, 1848-1869. New York: Massachusetts Review,1978.
Fetterley, Judith Little Women: Alcott's Civil War, Feminist Studies, 5 (1979),369-83.
Gilbert, Sandra and Gubar Susan, eds. The Norton Anthology of Literature. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1985.
Helsinger, Elizabeth. The Woman Question: Society and Literature in Britain and America, 1838-1883. New York: Garland Publishers, 1983.
Janeway, Elizabeth. Between Myth and Mourning: Women Awakening. New York:Morrow, 1975.
Kelley, Mary. Private Women, Public Stage: Literary Domesticity in Nineteenth Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Meigs, Cornelia Lynde. Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women. Boston: Little, Brown, 1933.
Moses, Belle. Louisa May Alcott, Dreamer and Worker. New York: Appleton,1909.
Myerson, Joel, and Daniel Shealy, with Madeleine B. Stern. The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown, 1987.
Papashvily, Helen. All the Happy Endings. New York: Harper and Row Publishers,1956.
Payne, Alma. Louisa May Alcott, a Reference Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980.
Pearson, Carol and Katherine Pope. The Female Hero in American and British Literature. New York: Bowker, 1981.
R.itzer, George. Classical Sociological Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992.
Rose Anne. Transcendentalism as a Social Movement. New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1981.
Salyer, Sanford. Matinee: The mother of Little Women. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1949.
Saxton, Martha. Louisa May: A modern Biography. New York: Avon, 1978.
Showalter, Elaine. Sister's choice: Traditions and Change in American Women's Writing. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1991.
Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977.
Spacks, Patricia Meyer. The Female Imagination. New York: Knopf, 1975.
Stem, Madeleine B. Louisa May Alcott. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,1950.
Tick_nor, Caroline. May Alcott: A Memoir. Boston: Little, Brown, 1928.
Tompkins, Jane. Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790-1860. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Warren, Joyce W. "Introduction," Ruth Hall and Other Writings, Ed. Joyce W. Warren. New Brunswich: Rutgers University Press, 1992.
Welter, Barbara. The Cult of True Womanhood, 1820-1860, Dimity Convictions: The American Women in the Nineteenth Century. Athens:Ohio University Press, 1976.
Worthington, Marjorie. Miss Alcott of Concord. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1958.
朱刚 二十世纪西方文艺批评理论上海上海外语教育出版社 2001