《女勇士》中花木兰与《木兰辞》中花木兰的形象对比_英语论文

A Comparative Study of the Two Images of Hua Mulan in Mulan Ci and The Woman Warrior

摘要

《女勇士》是美国杰出华裔女作家马克辛•洪•金斯顿的代表作。它创作于美国第二次女权运动时期，被视为美国女性主义文学名著。小说人物塑造非常成功，人物特征十分鲜明。本论文拟从女性主义和跨文化研究的角度，从《女勇士》中“花木兰”的形象入手，与《木兰辞》中“花木兰”的形象进行对比研究，具体分析《女勇士》中花木兰与中国传统故事中花木兰的异同，并从性别，种族和文化的角度探讨其背后深层次的原因。通过对《女勇士》中花木兰形象的再创造，金斯顿对美国男权社会和文化霸权进行了批判和颠覆，提倡在多元文化社会进行文化融合和两性平等对话，重建华裔女性的身份和地位。论文共分五个部分。第一部分简要介绍了马克辛•洪•金斯顿，《女勇士》，论文的目的和结构。第二部分简要总结了《女勇士》中花木兰与《木兰辞》中花木兰的形象。第三部分详细分析了她们的相似点和不同点。第四部分从女性主义和跨文化的角度探讨了相似点和不同点的原因。第五部分得出结论，《女勇士》中花木兰是中美文化融合成功典范，为解决文化冲突和颠覆文化霸权提出了有效的途径。同时，金斯顿的花木兰还是女性特征和男性特征的有机结合，体现了作者批判男权制度，提倡男性和女性平等相处，和谐共存而不是对抗。 

关键词：花木兰；《女勇士》；《木兰辞》；对比研究；女性主义；跨文化研究

Abstract

The Woman Warrior is an outstanding novel written by Maxine Hong Kingston, a famous Chinese American writer. Created in the second-wave feminist movement in America, The Woman Warrior is regarded as a masterpiece for American feminist literature. The figures of this novel are successfully shaped and their characteristics are very distinct. This paper intends to compare the image of Kingston’s Hua Mulan with Hua Mulan in Mulan Ci, a famous Chinese ancient long poem. From the perspective of feminism and cross-culture study, this paper will focus on the similarities and differences between the two images and probe into the corresponding underlying causes with regard to gender, race and culture. Through the recreation of Hua Mulan in The Woman Warrior, Kingston carried out criticism and subversion of patriarchal society and cultural hegemony in America, promoted cultural fusion and gender equality dialogue in a multicultural society in order to reconstruct Chinese American female's identity and status. This paper consists of five parts. Part one gives a brief introduction to Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior, the purpose and the composition of the paper. Part two makes a brief summary of the two images of Mulan in Mulan Ci and The Woman Warrior. Part three explores their similarities and differences. Part four reveals the causes for their similarities and differences in terms of feminism and cross-cultural study. Part five brings this paper to its conclusion that Mulan in The Woman Warrior is a combination of Chinese and American cultures, which shows culture integration is a good way to solve the problems of culture conflicts and culture hegemony. Meanwhile, Kingston’s Hua Mulan is also an organic combination of male and female traits, which illustrates that the writer criticizes the patriarchal system and advocates equal coexistence between males and females, and thinks they should live in harmony rather than in antagonism. 

Keywords: Hua Mulan ; The Woman Warrior ; Mulan Ci ; A Comparative Study; Feminism; Cross-cultural Study  

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Two Images of Mulan in Mulan Ci and The Woman Warrior 1

2.1 Mulan in Mulan Ci 1

2.2 Mulan in The Woman Warrior 2

3 Their Similarities and Differences 3

3.1 Their Similarities 3

3.2 Their Differences 5

4 The Causes for the Similarities and Differences 7

4.1 The Causes for the Similarities 7

4.2 The Causes for the Differences 9

Conclusion 12

References 13