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“Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic and social rights for women. In addition, feminism seeks to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. It is an ideology that opposes the political, economical and cultural relegation of women to positions of inferiority. Simply put, feminism affirms women’s equality with men, and rejects patriarchy” (Rita, 1994: 8). The 20th century was a century full of turmoil, doubt and disillusionment. In 1960s, people from colonies and oppressed class have had many fights to obtain freedom and independence. At the same time the second feminist movement was developing vigorously. Although the society had undergone a radical change, the situation that women were in a subordinate position of society had not changed. And the low status of women had also not improved. Because of the awakening of women’s consciousness and the depressing social reality, many women felt very depressed, even angry about that. When the new feminist movement vigorously took place again in the developed countries in Europe and America, women activists had already not only successful ancestors’ experience. But also a strong theoretical foundation. It is safe to say that feminism have a deep impact on women’s life, especially on those female writers with advanced thoughts. As one of the most famous female writers who continuously struggles for female freedom while living in a society of patriarchy-center culture. She had a profound understanding of the pain suffered by women. 源]自{751^*论\文}网·www.751com.cn/
The Golden Notebook describes vividly liberated women’ survival state and their fighting for freedom. The “free women”(Kate Fullbrook, 1990: 48) represented by Anna has experienced a lot of sufferings and dilemmas in the pursuit of inpidual identity. They suffered from marital dilemmas, emotional plights and spiritual crisis. However, they fight against these plights and tried to find solutions. The novel soon became popular among the feminists because of its realistic description about women’s independent consciousness and their living condition. And the novel’s theme, structure, characters and narrative style also serve well for the aim of feminist interpretation. The writing successfully expresses female discourse and feminist writing intention. It also explores the theme that women should not release themselves and obtain freedom by imitating and bring down men. They should respect each other, understand each other, help each other, believe each other and support each other to look for the meaning of life together, which will prompt the progress of the whole society.
2. Literature Review
There are many perspectives and research achievements both in China and abroad about The Golden Notebook but only some prominent representatives are mentioned here. The most prominent and controversial school of thematic studies on The Golden Notebook is feminism. Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir are considered as the pioneers of feminist criticism. Virginia Woolf makes a lot of contribution to feminist literary criticism. In her masterpiece, A Room of One’s Own, she has criticized the inequality between man and woman, claiming that it is man that has regarded woman as the inferior. In a patriarchal society, man places himself in a dominating position in the fields of economy, politics, society and literature while woman is subordinated to man and confined to the narrow home. Virginia Woolf expresses that gender identity is socially built and can be changed and transformed. In addition, she believes that a woman is always confronted with social and economic obstacles on the way to pursue her literary ambition. Therefore, she says that a woman must have “money” and “a room of her own”(Virginia Woolf, 1992: 19). Simone de Beauvoir reveals the sources of the definition of women as the other of man in her book The Second Sex. She argues that the overlapping of biology, culture, economics, and history have an effect on shaping human sexual arrangements and strengthening female subordination over time. Her critical view is that women’s secondary status throughout history is not innate but culturally produced and reproduced by the social structure known as patriarchy. To sum up, no matter what particular view a certain feminist work holds, the final aim of feminist criticism is to reject, resist and eventually eliminate the traditions and conventions of patriarchy as it exists in literary, historical and critical contexts. What feminist critics try to do is to wipe away the misrepresentation of women and search for the truths of women’s lives in order to gain final equality between man and woman.