A Comparative Study of the Femal

A Comparative Study of the Female Images in the Writing of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf from the Perspective of Motherhood

Abstract: Female images in the writing of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf have been studied respectively for a long time. But there are not enough studies which put the writing of the two writers together and make comparisons. On the basis of this discovery, this dissertation compares female images in the literature of the two writers from the angle of motherhood. It finds that female images in Zhang’s writing are inclined to be subject to males and do not have the awareness to change the present situation. At the same time, marriage are closely associated with money which are considered prostitution. Motherhood of these females are seemed distorted which is different from the traditional ones. Although females in the writing of Woolf have the awareness to keep individuality, to some degree they cannot completely shed the influence of patriarchy. But luckily, they finally get to live with males harmoniously by achieving the stage of androgyny. Meanwhile, the thinking of the motherhood has also been eternal. It also explains the implication for the development of feminism in contemporary China that marriage with the purpose of money remains as sex trade while only psychological independence of females with the support from media, officials could make feminism in China keep moving forward.

Key Words: Female Images, Female Consciousness, Motherhood, Zhang Ailing, Virginia Woolf

从母性角度比较研究张爱玲和弗吉利亚·伍尔夫作品中的女性形象

摘 要：对张爱玲和弗吉利亚·伍尔夫作品中女性形象的分别研究已经进行了很多年。 但将两位作家放在一起进行比较研究的不多。基于此，这篇论文将从母性角度比较研究张爱玲和弗吉利亚·伍尔夫作品中的女性形象。研究发现张爱玲笔下的女性多屈服于男性并也没有改变现状的意识。同时，女性的婚姻往往与金钱挂钩，这种婚姻如同卖淫。这些女性身上的母性似乎是变异病态的，呈现出与传统母亲不同的方面。虽然伍尔夫笔下的女性有意识去保持自身的独立性，但从某种程度上她们并未完全摆脱父权制。幸运的是，她们最终因为达到了双性同体的阶段而与男性和谐的生活下去。而母性思想在这里也得到了永生。研究同时也解释了研究对女性主义在当代中国的发展所有的启示。以金钱为目的的婚姻仍然是性交易。女性只有有了心理层面的独立， 并且获得媒体官员支持， 女性主义在中国才能得以持续发展。

关键词：女性形象；女性意识；母性；张爱玲；弗吉利亚·伍尔夫

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CONTENTS

Abstract​I

摘 要​II

Acknowledgemets​III

1 Introduction​1

2 Female Image and Motherhood in Feminist Literature​3

2.1 Previous writers and their relevant literature on depicting female image and motherhood of feminism​4

2.2 Motherhood in Studying Female Images​5

2.3 The parallel study in Comparative Literature​6

3 Female Images in Zhang Ailing’s Works and Virginia Woolf’s Works from the Perspective of Motherhood​8

3.1 Female Images Relating to Oedipus Complex of Motherhood​8

3.1.1 Female Images Relating to Oedipus Complex in the Writing of Zhang Ailing​9

3.1.2 Female Images Relating to Oedipus Complex in the Writing of Virginia Woolf​10

3.2 Female Images Linked with a Mother-Daughter Bond of Motherhood​11

3.2.1 Female Images Linked with a Mother-Daughter Bond in the Writing of Zhang Ailing​12

3.2.2 Female Images Linked with A Mother-Daughter Relationship in the Writing of Virginia Woolf​15

3.3 Feminist Consciousness behind the Female Images in the Writing of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf​16

3.3.1 Feminist Consciousness and Motherhood​16

3.3.2 Comparisons and Contrasts of Feminist Consciousness in the Writing of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf​16

4 Implications for the Development of Feminism in Contemporary China​19

5 Conclusion​21

References​22

I

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the people who have provided me with help, support, and understanding during my four-year study in the university. It is impossible to list every name but I would like to convey my special thanks:

To my respected supervisor Ms. Li Dongyun for her constant encouragement and guidance. She has walked through all the stages of the writing of this academic dissertation. Without her consistent and illuminating instruction, this dissertation would not have achieved this present form.

To all the professors and teachers who have once taught me. It is their profound knowledge and rich life experience that facilitate my understanding towards the world.

To my beloved family and friends for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years.

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1 Introduction

Western studies on feminist literature experienced three stages (Chen, Sun & Xie, 2007): the first stage was from 1960s to the early 1970s in which the studies on feminist literature centered on how the female images were distorted in the traditional literature as well as criticized the patriarchal consciousness in the traditional literature criticism. The second stage lasted during the middle and late 70s in the 20th century in which focus were switched from literature written by males to those created by females to explore how female writers depicted females uniquely. When it came to the third stage in 1980s, several schools had emerged—feminist criticism of sociology from the perspective of society, politics and culture to study the form and connotation of female images, feminist criticism of semiotics which proposed the deconstruction of “female” that was made by males and explored the female language symbol system on the basis of the instinct of female’s body, and feminist criticism of psychology, learning the concept of subconscious mind and sexual instinct in text creation and politics from Freud. While in China, feminism consciousness only boomed since the 1920s in which female writers not only encouraged females to fight for equal rights with males but also some of them appealed to females for remaining the female characteristics which could distinguish females from males (Chen et al, 2007: 346). Obviously, western feminist literature exerted a certain influence on the development of feminist literature in China but feminist literature in China is simultaneously equipped with its own characters like motherhood (Chen et al, 2007: 346). To further study the relationship between the Chinese feminism and Western feminism, one way is to make comparisons of the feminist literature in China and Western world. Based on this, this dissertation will pay attention to the writing of two female writers, one from China and the other from Western world.

Zhang Ailing was one of the most outstanding Chinese female writers in the 20s while Virginia Woolf was a renowned feminist writer in the world in the 20st century. Zhang Ailing was born in a family of power in 1920 and received the traditional family culture with the influence of western culture (Xia, 2015: 404). When Zhang was very young, her mother went to Europe for education which to some extent exerted effects on the formation of Zhang’s attitude of life value. The intensive hope of breaking the binding of the decaying traditional family resulted in a terrible relationship with her father who used to be someone she really trusted and respected. However, later after a divorce with her mother, Zhang’s father was addicted to opium and married her step-mother. All these pushed Zhang to seek the help from her mother to rescue her from the corrupted family. Zhang used to have a good time with her father during which her father dedicated to teaching her the traditional Chinese literature and discussed the details of Dream of the Red Chamber which proved to be vital later in Zhang’s writing experience (Xia, 2015: 411). But it all vanished when she suffered abuses from her father. Furthermore, Zhang worked very hard and she was once admitted to London University; but due to the intervention of war, she had to change to study at Hong Kong University. As regards to love and marriage which are possibly the most popular anecdote besides her literature accomplishment, Zhang met her first husband Hu Lancheng in 1943 when she was 23 and he was 37. Despite the fact that Hu was labeled a traitor for collaborating with the Japanese during World War II, Zhang continued to remain loyal to Hu. But they finally separated because Hu betrayed their marriage for several times and had affairs others. For the second marriage, it was said that she married an American screenwriter Ferdinand Reyher who was older than her for decades of years which indicated that she was totally disappointed in love and marriage and only wanted someone who could provide her with accompany. Therefore, it could be seen that the well-education of eastern and western culture and the rich life experiences had definitely laid a foundation for her writing career (Xia, 2015: 410).

Compared with Zhang Ailing, Virginia Woolf also had a very complex life experience. Woolf was born in a literate family and was educated by her parents in their household. Her parents had been married previously but been widowed, and, consequently, the household contained the children of three marriages. There were two most important things during her childhood which played very influential roles in Woolf’s life: One was the death of her mother and her half-sister which led to several nervous breakdowns and subsequently the death of father also caused her severe collapse. The other one was suffer from sexual violation by her half-brothers and the childhood abuse later contributed to her trauma narrative in her writing (Cramer, 2010: 184). With regards to love and marriage, Virginia Stephen married the writer Leonard Woolf in 1912 and they had a harmonious marriage. But she was also a lesbian. Woolf published Orlando, a mock biography, based on the life of her lover, Vita Sackville-West (Cramer, 2010: 189).

To conduct further studies on Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf, this dissertation is aimed at making a comparative study on female images of the works of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf from the perspective of motherhood. Based on discoveries on the female consciousness behind the female images, the author hopes to provide implications for the development of feminism in contemporary China. There will be three parts in the body: the first part will review some literature on female images and motherhood, and introduces parallel study as well as how it will be applied in this dissertation. The second part will analyze female images concerning motherhood in the writing of the two writers and meanwhile will compare and contrast the female consciousness embedded. The third part points out the implications for the development of feminism in contemporary China.

2 Female Image and Motherhood in Feminist Literature

Choosing female image and motherhood to study the particular female consciousness embedded is a good method of exploring how female consciousness reflected by mothers functions in developing feminism. Especially, the description of motherhood has experienced changes concerning the control of patriarchy and the resistance of patriarchy. The feminist consciousness of mothers is supposed to vary simultaneously. So mother images and motherhood play a significant role in analyzing the female consciousness in the later parts of this dissertation.

2.1 Previous Writers and their Relevant Literature on Depicting Female Image and Motherhood of Feminism

It is necessary to have a look first at the female images depicted by other female writers who lived in the same period as Zhang Ailing. In the field of contemporary literature, there were a group of female writers whose works ever caused a social sensation and Ding Ling, Bin Xin and Zhang Ailing were among them (Chen et al, 2007). Bin Xin was adept in portraying positive and tender mothers. In Bin Xin’s literature, mothers’ love is always unselfish and eternal. Although she encouraged females to struggle for their lives, she was different from feminists who totally denied the significance of being mothers. For example, for one of her works Stars, it carries the praise for motherhood which is considered containing the national culture. While compared to Stars, The Diary of Mrs. Shafei written by Ding Ling boldly scorned the patriarchal world, the depiction of female images in this writing were distinguished from the traditional ones which were the mixture of .decisiveness, kindness and boldness. It seems that female images in Ding Ling’s writing conformed to the western feminism while what held by Bing Xin behind the female images were more likely to be the localization of western feminism in China (Chen et al, 2007).

Some studies focused on Zhang Ailing’s novels to explore the relationship between mother and daughters, mother and sons and make deep analysis of female images in these works. For example, Xu Zidong (2012) made complimentary words of Zhang Ailing that the depiction of relationship of mother and daughter in contemporary Chinese novel culminated in Zhang’s novels. According to Xu, in Zhang’s novel Xiao Tuanyuan, the relationship between mother and daughter was rarely seen in other contemporary literature. He also expressed that in her Love in a Fallen City and The Golden Cangue, mother and daughter relationships were also distorted and nearly in opposite positions. Therefore, compared with other female writers, Zhang broke the stereotype of the positive mother images in novels like that in Bin Xin’s but she neither followed Ding Ling who appealed to readers for standing against patriarchy.

To have a look at the works of female image and motherhood of feminism in the western world, there are not only pure literature but also literature criticism and theoretical studies. Victorian age female writer Charlotte Brontë in her famous novel Jane Eyre delineated the mixture of angel and evil as a female image which projected the anxiety, insanity and the sense of split of females (Chen et al, 2007). Later, with the editorship of The Crazy Female in the Attic, the further interpretation of the female voices embedded behind those typical female images in the literature came out and the study believed that those hidden voices were used to rebel the patriarchal literature system (Chen et al, 2007). Furthermore, the depictions of female image and motherhood regards feminism were not merely confined to the pure literature but had switched to studies and criticism of feminist literature. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf challenged the patriarchal world and first proposed the theory of androgyny. Woolf reckoned that no matter males or females only when they owned the androgyny thinking could they become themselves which would be applied in her works like To the Lighthouse and Orlando to help depict female images (Woolf, 1999).

In addition, there are studies comparing different writers and works from different countries and they are applied to discover the possible common and dissimilar aspects from the writing in the field of comparative literature (Chen et al, 2007). Some of them have also made comparisons of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf in terms of their feminist writing. For example, Du Juan (2010) focused on the female view of the two writers; Liu Ling (2015) attached importance to the female consciousness and male image in the writing of the two writers. However, there are few studies which are from the perspective of female image and motherhood. Concerning this, this dissertation is trying to shed some light on the relationship between motherhood and feminism and give some implications for the development of feminism in contemporary China.​

2.2 Motherhood in Female Images

Motherhood has been divided into “Patriarchal Motherhood” and “Feminist Motherhood” (Green, 2004). Early Studies of mother images try to explore the characteristics of motherhood by studying how female behave in mothering (Green, 2004). This is part of female image studies apart from focusing on female appearance or female position in the whole society. According to Green (2004), it is important to study motherhood by focusing on the female psychology and female position within the mere scope of family. For example, He Yongxian (2006) mentioned that the distorted and abnormal female images including mother images were totally controlled by money. And meanwhile, Chen Huiru (2009) explored the mother images and explained the reason why those mother images were out of the expectation of the traditional patriarchal world and seemed distorted. However, distinguished from a variety of “Patriarchal Motherhood” and the studies of it, studies on “Feminist Motherhood” turn out to be few because motherhood used to be alienated from feminism and was attributed to kind of “motherhood institution” under patriarchy (Green, 2004: 126).

Furthermore, besides literature scope, such studies also have previously appeared in other fields. For example, Carine and Jan（2000）did the research in young female images who were potential mothers to reveal how the young female images considered motherhood. In addition, Christine & Colleen (2012: 351) stated that “Feminist and mothering identity were not related to one another nor directly tied to satisfaction with one’s self nor life”. Therefore, motherhood studies not only include the studies of patriarchy and feminism but also it breaks the stereotype that motherhood is opposite to feminism. It also points that females tend to concern more about their life satisfaction when they concern about motherhood rather than the patriarchal mothering rules or deliberate feminist motherhood which go against their instincts. It could contribute to the implications for the development of feminism in contemporary China in the later part of this dissertation.

2.3 The Parallel Study in Comparative Literature

The parallel study is to study writers, literature works and literary phenomena of different nations with no direct contacts to compare their similar and different aspects so as to draw valuable conclusions (Chen et al, 2007: 50). And the main focus of the parallel study is to find out and differentiate and analyze those similarities and differences in which the aesthetic value of literary works could be excavated and the inner links embedded are to be discussed. In addition, in terms of the different study objects, the parallel study has been separated into genology, thematology, comparative poetics and imagology (Chen et al, 2007). According to Chen (2007), in general, thematology is to study the ideas and understandings reflected by the images, plots and imagery of the literature works. Since this dissertation is aimed at comparing the female images and the feminist consciousness behind the female images in the works of Zhang and Woolf, the process of utilizing parallel study in the analysis is the study of thematology.

Furthermore, there are three main reasons to explain why the parallel study is appropriate for this dissertation. First, Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf were two female writers from different countries in the twentieth century so it satisfies one of the requirements of comparative literature study which has been explained at the beginning of the last paragraph. Secondly, the parallel study pays little attention to the real contacts between the writers which provides more possibilities of making comparisons of the two writers, for example, in Xiao Tuanyuan, Zhang Ailing applied “stream of consciousness” writing skill to portray a tragic picture which contained a comparison of future and present and Virginia Woolf was renowned for her creativity in “stream of consciousness” writing skill. In other words, there is no need to study whether there are real contacts between the two writers but only to see the same writing skill utilized in their works to study the similarity and difference of their works. Thirdly, domestic comparative studies of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf mainly include: a comparison of female consciousness and the male images and tragic consciousness in the writing of Zhang and Woolf by Liu ling in 2015; a comparison of female view of the two writers by Du Juan in 2010; a comparison of the self-awareness and subjective awareness of the female images in the writing of the two writers by Pan Hualin and Li Juhua in 2004 and a comparison of the cultural difference and patriarchal clan system in the works of the two writers by Chen Zhijie and Pan Hualin in 2004. Therefore, it might be possible to say that there are not so enough studies on analyzing the differentiations of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf so a further study from another perspective is essential not only to the study of comparative literature but also to the further study of both Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf— to put each writer in a different culture could discover the additional value and meaning of their literature.

3 Female Images in Zhang Ailing’s Works and Virginia Woolf’s Works from the Perspective of Motherhood

The purpose of studying Oedipus Complex and Mother-Daughter relationship is to respectively study how mothers behave when dealing with their sons and daughters which can be exactly regarded as the motherhood. Meanwhile, the study of the mother images plays an important role in studying the female consciousness reflected by those mothers.

3.1 Female Images Relating to Oedipus Complex of Motherhood

Motherhood has been divided into “Patriarchal Motherhood” and “Feminist Motherhood” (Green, 2004). Females are expected to behave like good mothers in the patriarchal world and they are subject to the rules that set by males. Mothers are responsible for the cultivation and behavior of their children, and they are inclined to be blamed when children do the wrong things. In most cases, patriarchal mothers do not have their own minds but live under the influence of males. However, with the development of feminism since the 60s in the 20st century, females are more likely to decide what they want and what they do. According to Green (2004), as regards to feminist motherhood, females choose to be mothers in ways that challenge the masculine rules, driven by their feminist consciousness and their intense love for their families. That means feminist motherhood is not under the expectation by patriarchy and females can decide what they should do as a mother.

The Oedipus Complex is a concept of psychoanalytic theory coined by Sigmund Freud in 1910 which refers to the sexual desire of a son for his mother (Freud, 2010). Although Oedipus Complex is criticized by feminist literary criticism because feminists hold that it is the embodiment of patriarchy and contains sex discrimination (Xu, 2013), it might be necessary to combine Oedipus Complex with motherhood so as to explore what the female images as mothers look like in the patriarchal world and the possible underlying female consciousness of those mothers.

3.1.1 Female Images Relating to Oedipus Complex in the Writing of Zhang Ailing

In Zhang’s most renowned fiction, The Golden Cangue (Zhang, 2006), Oedipus Complex could be found between Qiqiao and her son Changbai in which Qiqiao tries to control Changbai and keep Changbai stay away from his wife Zhishou, especially as Qiqiao is unduly keen to pierce the sexuality of Changbai and his wife and insults Zhishou ferociously (He, 2006; Zhang, 2006). And meanwhile, Changbai also seems more prefer to stay with his mother rather than his wife when he should go back to his bedroom with his wife at night. Misfortunate marriage makes Qiqiao suffer long-time sexual repression which brings her terrible interference to Changbai’s marriage. The abnormal and distorted Qiqiao makes the private sexuality between Changbai and Zhishou expose to the entire family. Qiqiao is envious of her daughter-in-law and scares that Changbai, the sole male in her world, would be robbed of her. She crushes everything that may seem to be blessed but have never ever happened in her life to make her abnormal psychology satisfied. As a result, the misfortune was passed to the next generation by the distorted mother.

In Jasmine Tea (Zhang, 2006), Zhang also applied Oedipus Complex in depicting Nie Chuangqing (Song, 2007). Nie feels a large amount of animosity towards his father and has indulged himself in missing his mother since his mother died when he was four. It is seemed that Nie holds the view that her mother died because of the decaying traditional family from which he is also suffering (Zhang, 2006). It is through Nie’s dreams his mother Feng Biluo are appeared to be an elegant and tender female who also born agony from the traditional decaying family and cannot grab her destiny on herself. The mother Biluo kept her love for another male but not for her husband. What she gave to her son is the hatred towards his father and a miserable melancholy inner world. This female image appears to be a very typical female in the society in which a female cannot decide her own life but only sow the seeds of hatred and her son would undertake the consequence and became abnormal.

The author has analyzed two typical mother image in the writing of the Zhang Ailing. Qiqiao represents the psychologically distorted mothers who live under the repression of money and sexuality and would continue to pass on the misfortune to their next generation. Similarly, Biluo is also an embodiment of tragedy who represents the most females who live in the patriarchal world. The mother died but lived in the memory of her son and passed on the hatred to his son which to some degree leads to the tragedy of the son Nie Chuanqing. Motherhood here plays a negative role in the growing process of the children which is different from the traditional mother images as considerate. To trace the reason why the mothers have been altered from the traditional ones, it may be the patriarchy.

3.1.2 Female Images Relating to Oedipus Complex in the Writing of Virginia Woolf

In To the Light House (Woolf, 2011), Oedipus Complex can be seen clearly in the relationship between Mrs. Ramsay and James. At the very beginning of the novel, Mrs. Ramsay has already sorted out her six year old son James into “the other great race” (Woolf, 2011: 1). Although Mrs. Ramsay has expectation on James, she is very clear about the fact that James could not be together with her forever and he belongs to patriarchy no matter how old he is. And when she finds her husband Mr. Ramsay suffer from agony, “she pats James on his head and passes on the feeling to her husband” (Woolf, 2011: 28). She might want to console her husband under this circumstance but she is also afraid if her husband would accept her comforts because of the difference of the two race. Therefore, to some extent, it seems that Mrs. Ramsay considers James as the substitute of Mr. Ramsay. Furthermore, “She had common interests with James so it is harmonious and pleased to stay with James” could explain that from the inner world of Mrs. Ramsay she still keeps James in her world but Mr. Ramsay is in another world (Woolf, 2011: 54). Meanwhile, “She never wants James to grow a day older! (Woolf, 2011: 56)” “She would have liked always to have had a baby. (Woolf, 2011: 56)” Those feelings signify that Mrs. Ramsay plays a predominant role in motherhood and the attitude towards James indulges and encourages James’ Oedipus Complex (Perdesen, 1958). At the same time, it also reflects that Mrs. Ramsay is afraid that James will grow to be the kind of person belonging to the patriarchal world like his father and leave her world. For Mr. Ramsay, he can only watch the son and mother through the window rather be together with them (Woolf, 2011 31). Mrs. Ramsay would rather prefer to be a mother when she should be a wife. The intense contrast between the two kinds of relationship suggests that in this family Mrs. Ramsay is a predominant mother figure and an indifferent wife despite the fact that she is also needed by Mr. Ramsay. According to Johnston (2007: 5), Mrs. Ramsay’s commitment to motherhood is unquestioningly conforming to the normal female attitude that is concluded in “normal feminity”.

The author has made the analysis of one mother image in the writing of Woolf’s writing. Mrs. Ramsay is resistant to the patriarchy from her inner world as she seems not so fond of being together with her husband and do not like to lead a lifestyle that may conform to the expectation of patriarchy. She prefers to stay with her little son because she refuses to admit that James is part of patriarchy though she may clearly know the fact. It precipitates her to play a dominant role in James’ growing process and further makes James to hate his father who belongs to the patriarchy. Motherhood here facilitates the growing Oedipus Complex and plays an influential role in forming the attitude of the child who is originally part of patriarchy but turns out to be closer to the feminine race.

3.2 Female Images Linked with a Mother-Daughter Bond of Motherhood

To study the female images from the perspective of motherhood, there are not only needs to examine those mothers’ relationship with their sons but also to center on their relationships associated with daughters. The difference mothers show to sons and daughters is also an important aspect deserving discussing. According to Xu Zidong (2012), the description of mother-daughter bond in modern Chinese literature culminated in Zhang Ailing’s works. He also mentioned that the mother-daughter bond in Zhang’s works formed the kind of multilayered distorted but normal humanity. Zhang (2013) said that the “‘ugliness’ of maternity has become the starting point of many writers to embark upon the criticism of patriarchal motherhood and the self-examination of ‘womanhood’” which exactly explained what Chen (2009) held that mothers controlled by money and sexual repression in a patriarchal world became ugly and distorted and passed on the misfortunes. Besides, to make comparison of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf, mother-daughter bond could not be neglected. In the letter Zhang Ailing wrote to her friend Song qi, she expressed the reason why she wrote Xiao Tuanyuan was to record the experience that she was familiar to (Xu, 2012: 4). So in the autobiography Xiao Tuanyuan, Ruiqiu and Jiuli was the projection of Zhang’s mother and herself. Similarly, Woolf (1925) wrote in her diary that To the Lighthouse will record the whole characteristics of her fathers and mothers and her childhood. Meanwhile, in To the Lighthouse, the struggle of Lily Briscoe is indicative of Woolf’s own struggle (Innamorato, 2016: 4). Mrs. Ramsay and Lily could also be seen as the projection of Woolf’s mother and herself. This dissertation is aimed at making comparisons of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf, so the female images concerning with writers’ real lives are significant for analysis.

3.2.1 Female Images Linked with a Mother-Daughter Bond in the Writing of Zhang Ailing

Xiao Tuanyuan (Zhang, 2009) is considered Zhang’s autobiography in which mother image and the mother-daughter bond have been studied heatedly. Xu (2012) said that all of Zhang’s works were under the shadow of her parents, especially being influenced by the relationship with her mother. The comment is quite objective when we focus on the specific content of Xiao Tuanyuan (Zhang, 2009). The mother Ruiqiu in the novel is fashionable in her age. She spends little time with her daughter which makes Jiuli feel kind of shortage of mother love. “Jiuli feels pity that no one is here to have a look at her mother” expressed the sincere admiration of Ruiqiu. However, what Ruiqiu passes on to Jiuli makes her numb. Jiuli studies very hard and strives to earn scholarship and shows it to Ruiqiu but what she has received is mere shame. Ruiqiu not only feels skeptical about how Jiuli gets the money but also she grabs the money to gamble. “Since then, she feels extremely indifferent towards her mother and would not think about her” (Zhang, 2009: 77), which shows how chilly and desperate the mother makes the daughter feel. When Jiuli suffers severe typhoid fever, she is also blamed by her mother “You are alive to hurt! You are letting yourself die and no one will help you!” (Zhang, 2009: 149). Although later Jiuli gets to know that her mother sold her body to have the doctor cured her, she still does not feel any touched or show any gratitude. Especially, when Jiuli meets her mother years later, she wants to pay back the money to her mother with the hope of cutting off the relationship with her mother (Xu, 2012: 34). The mother-daughter bond in the novel breaks the stereotype of the traditional relationship between mother and daughter in which there is always a tender and considerate mother with a cute and obedient daughter. This kind of mother-daughter bond has revealed the “ugliness” embedded in humanity which could be what Zhang (2013) said that the “‘ugliness’ of maternity has become the starting point of many writers to embark upon the criticism of patriarchal motherhood and the self-examination of womanhood”.

Xin Jing (Zhang, 2006) is another novel of Zhang Ailing in which the mother-daughter bond is clearly depicted. It talks about the love between a daughter Xu Xiaohan and her father Xu Fengyi. Xiahan’s mother Mrs. Xu knows everything between her daughter and her husband but she could not compete with her daughter because her husband does not love her, neither could she unveil everything. So Mrs. Xu just pretends to perform like a good mother and a qualified wife. She bears the betrayal of her husband. But she could not leave him not only because she loves him but also for that she could not support herself without the financial aid from her husband. Xiaohan avoids mentioning her mother when chatting with her friends and grabs the love of her father from her mother. Therefore, to some extent Xiaohan is a rival to Mrs. Xu. However, when Xiaohan says “why you do not prevent me from doing that, why you pretend to be blind (Zhang 116)”, She begins to have introspection and asks for mother love. At the same time, because of the love for Xiaohan, despite the fact that Xiaohan is once a rival to her and makes her lose her husband and family, the mother chooses to forgive her daughter and helps her step out of the abyss of misery.

While contrast to the return of mother love and tolerance of motherhood, it is clear to see the omission of a mother in Xiaohan’s life and in the family from a dialogue of Xiaohan’s friends.

‘She always talks about her father. Where is her mother? Living?’

‘Aive.’

‘Is her biological mother?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you ever see her mother?’

‘No, I come here very often but she seems seldom see visitors.’

‘I once saw her.’

‘How was she?’

‘An ordinary person, a little fat. (Zhang, 2006: 93)’

Mrs. Xu is not in her mother position in the eyes of Xiaohan’s friends and creates the environment for Xiaohan’s distorted love for her father. Xiaohan herself is a distorted person who becomes mature and sensitive at a very early age but has to disguise to be a child to occupy the father love. Under this circumstance, the tragedy of a misfortune marriage of Mrs. Xu is caused by Xiaohan but the mother has to tolerate her daughter because she loves the daughter more than her husband and the family. The silence of Mrs. Xu precipitates Xiaohan’s love for her father but the tolerant motherhood would either rescue her daughter from the abyss of misery because her father just moves to love another girl. As a result, both the mother and the daughter have suffered the betrayal of love.

  The author has analyzed two kinds of mother images in the two works of Zhang Ailing. Ruiqiu herself is not a traditional female and mother but the western culture brought by Ruiqiu does not play a positive role in forming a healthy mother-daughter relationship with her daughter Jiuli. On the contrary, the daughter feels isolated from the mother because of the selfishness and affectionlessness of her mother. The daughter grows to psychologically rely on males in front of love and suffers a lot. While Mrs. Xu is different from Ruiqiu, Mrs. Xu is a typical traditional Chinese mother and wife who has no thinking of self-independence. Facing the betrayal of husband and daughter, the only thing she has done is to bear and forgive. But she shows great tolerance to her daughter. Motherhood here finally plays a positive role in helping the daughter in her future life.

3.2.2 Female Images Linked with a Mother-Daughter Relationship in the Writing of Virginia Woolf

In To the Lighthouse (Woolf, 2011), two female images are associated with Mrs. Ramsay in terms of a mother-daughter relationship. One is Mrs. Ramsay’s biological daughter Cam and the other one is Lily Briscoe, the artist. “Cam is an artist in her own right” (Innarmorato, 2016: 7). Lily is very special because of her resistance to Mrs. Ramsay’s promotion and attempts to have her own identity (Innarmorato, 2016). Through the experience of Cam, the influence Mrs. Ramsay has exerted on people surrounding her is obvious. That is to say, the motherhood of Mrs. Ramsay is not only confined to the requirement of the patriarchal rules but also she is beyond the rules and shapes her own motherhood by potentially influencing her daughter.

The relationship between the artist Lily and Mrs. Ramsay is also considered a mother-daughter relationship. According to Innarmorato, Mrs. Ramsay admires Lily’s independence but Mrs. Ramsey could not struggle for her own independence (2016: 5). “She (Lily) loves keeping individuality; she loves to be herself; she is born to be single; Then, she has to be faced with Mrs. Ramsay and listen to her kind words (she looks like a child)” (Woolf, 2011: 48) Lily is like a child when she listens to Mrs. Ramsay. But Lily is totally independent while Mrs. Ramsay is oppressed by patriarchy in which she conceals to be a good mother following the patriarchal rules. Woolf projected herself and her mother on the two characters (Woolf, 1925). In her writing, Lily finally achieves the androgyny and the thinking of Mrs. Ramsay is eternal which has been proposed by her in A Room of One’s Own (Woolf, 1999). Furthermore, Lily who is the embodiment of herself has finally completed her painting and achieved the consensus with the dominant patriarchy under the influence of Mrs. Ramsay. And at the same time, she has maintained independent and accomplished something that Mrs. Ramsay could not do (Innarmorato, 2016).

The author has explained the mother-daughter relationship in the writing of Woolf. Mrs. Ramsay has exerted great influence on her biological daughter Cam who has been encouraged to grow her own identity. But when she tries to deal with relationship with Lily in the way she used to do with Cam, it does not take effect. The part of motherhood influenced by patriarchy of Mrs. Ramsay is not acceptable by Lily who is an entirely independent female. Motherhood here indeed has its illuminating aspect though it is at the same time confined to patriarchy.

3.3 Feminist Consciousness behind the Female Images in the Writing of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf

3.3.1 Feminist Consciousness and Motherhood

Green (2004) reckoned that motherhood has been separated into “Patriarchal Motherhood” and “Feminist Motherhood”. Feminist consciousness is about female awakening to resist oppression and pursue self-reliance. If there is no feminist consciousness, there would not be such kind of “feminist motherhood” to break the patriarchal rules. Therefore, to study female images in literature from the perspective of motherhood, it is natural and significant to think about the female consciousness hidden. “Contemporary western female movements has been beyond the hope of the equal rights of males and females; they have switched to emphasize female subjective consciousness and applied the female subjective consciousness to reexamine the whole social culture and historical tradition” (Chen et al, 2008: 338). How females behave on motherhood is part of the social culture and historical tradition. So it not only has impacts on female consciousness but also can be used to review the past traditions like the traditional patriarchal motherhood.

3.3.2 Comparisons and Contrasts of Feminist Consciousness in the Writing of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf

To associate the female images in the literature with the life experience of the two writers, it is reasonable to see the relevant characteristics of their feminist consciousness which has been projected on the female images. In Xiao Tuanyuan, Zhang depicted the mother Ruiqiu as a fashionable and independent female but a selfish and altered parent. The mother teaches her daughter Jiuli to study harder and achieve self-independence in a patriarchal society but because of the inappropriate attitude she shows towards love between males and females, the daughter has not learnt any good enlightenment from her mother and the daughter suffers from love later in her own life. It is possible to say the kind of female consciousness has not dealt well with the patriarchy and did not achieve the purpose of teaching female to have their own individuality and not to be hurt by males.

In Zhang Ailing’s The Golden Cangue, Qiqiao is a character that is distorted psychologically by patriarchy. She does not believe in anything but money and only money could promise her the sense of respect and vanity. Due to the desire for sexuality and money, her motherhood became not compatible with the traditional motherhood in which mothers should be kind and tender.

Mrs. Ramsay is different from Qiqiao. Her spirit dominates her families and finally makes her husband who is the representative of the patriarchal world recognizes her spirit which makes the two sexes mixed together. As the witness of the whole process, Lily Briscoe is an ideal character created by Woolf. Through the depiction of this character, Woolf wanted to express her attitude on feminism and the relationship between the two sexes—males and females are not in the opposite position but only when they integrate with each other everything turns out to be right (Lv, 2002: 65). Despite the fact that under patriarchy, Mrs. Ramsay could not realize a self-independent life. We could see from the characters that Zhang only wanted to reveal the dark social environment in which females are distorted and this kind of tragedy would not be avoided in their next generations which is totally pessimistic while Woolf put her ideal positive presumptions on the characters and she pointed out the right direction for feminism.

However, apart from the different feminism ideas, Zhang and Woolf also have something in common in terms of their similar family background and growing experience. Zhang Ailing wrote a story of love between daughter and father in which she applied the Oedipus Complex (He, 2006: 18). From the image of Xiaohan, readers could find that when Xioahan was young she adored and admired her father but the mother image was neglected which is similar to the experience of Zhang (Xu, 2012). Still, although these female images have their own minds when facing love but they all subject to males and would not like to be independent. Distorted family relations brought the distorted desire for sexuality. Again, Zhang just unveiled the sexual repression without empathy but did not pierce out how females should do. She held total negative attitudes towards the future of females.

Compared with Zhang, Woolf seemed more radical in sexuality and feminism but could not be circumvented by the influence of childhood (Cramer, 2010: 182). In To the Lighthouse, Lily finally understood Mr. Ramsay which could be projected as the embodiment of Woolf’s attitude towards her father (Woolf, 1925). At the same time, Woolf also advocated androgyny and practiced that in the character of Lily. Woolf is distinguished from Zhang because she not only put her feminist consciousness on her female images but also she proposed her theories of feminism while Zhang kept her objective writing of females in the patriarchal world and did not have the awareness or willingness to advocate females to change the present unequal state of females.

The author has respectively compared the female images in Zhang Ailing’s works and Virginia Woolf’s work from the perspective of motherhood. Meanwhile, she also pays attention to the female consciousness embedded behind the female images. In Zhang Ailing’s works, there are female consciousness under patriarchy. The female consciousness can be seen obviously by the reflection of mother Ruiqiu but later it also proves to be poor by the attitude daughter Jiuli held towards males in love. Females in Zhang’s novels could not decide their own lives even if they have the awareness of keeping individuality. However, in Virginia Woolf’s novel In the Lighthouse, no matter Mrs. Ramsay or Lily Briscoe they have the consciousness to resist the repression from patriarchy. Lily is an ideal and radical image in terms of this aspect while Mrs. Ramsay struggled to show her charm within the certain circle and made compromises to her husband.

Therefore, feminism in the writing of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf are in two different kinds of level. If feminism in Zhang’s writing move forwards, it will catch the level of feminism in Woolf’s writing. In terms of this, over the past development of feminism in China since 1980s, feminism in China has changed a lot and it is essential to see whether there are possible implications for the future development of feminism in contemporary China concerning some relevant social realities.

4 Implications for the Development of Feminism in Contemporary China

Through her works, Woolf clearly pointed that females should keep complete individuality but it is not to entirely deny patriarchy. They can live harmoniously with the other side. Zhang Ailing did not answer the question how females live in a patriarchal world but she depicted the alienation of humanity which to some extent did not follow the tradition and meanwhile gave rise to the inspiration of female consciousness in China. However, over the past half century, it seems that the present female consciousness has not been raised to reach to that in the writing of Woolf but still remains at the level of that in Zhang. Nowadays, there are increasing numbers of Females Moral Codes’ Courses around China aimed to teach females how to be a good wife and a good mother (Zhang, 2016: 90). Although it sounds ridiculous that females take the initiative to participate in the courses and are very willing to learn the masculine rules, it also enlightens the public of what has happened to our females and where feminism is going on with this trend. University female students are said to work in bars and do sex trade to earn their tuition fee with sex industry not being prohibited (Zhou, 2004). Females are forced to do prostitution in most cases, for making money but not for the happiness of sexuality; they suffer from the patriarchal sex industry manipulated by males (Zhou, 2004). Similarly, successful males are able to have mistresses because they are rich to purchase substance for those females. To trace the origin of all these phenomena, it should be contributed to the patriarchy and money worship under which many contemporary females are keen to pursue the famous brand and extravagant materials so they are willing to get these things from males by prostitution or marriage with rich people (Xu, 2013). Such marriage attitude and life value of females could also be found in Zhang’s fictions. In Love in a Fallen City, Bai Liusu approached Fan Liuyuan with the purpose of seeking a reliant husband to support her living; in terms of this, their marriage could be considered prostitution (Zhang, 2006); In Ban Sheng Yuan, Manlu had to be a social butterfly to support her family—in a patriarchal society, females only could survive depending on sexual trade. However, nowadays, even though more females are accessible to higher education, Chinese females do not have enough female consciousness and they still tend to rely on males. It is possible for a society to advocate females to become financially independent by creating more jobs for females but it is so hard to change the underlying consciousness of subjection.

Liu Jianmei (2015) mentioned in an interview about feminism that in a society dominated by business and economy, females were sensitive to be materialism and alienation by money and that caused the regression of feminism in contemporary China. Zi Zhongyun (2015) also criticized the prevalent regression of feminism in China. Apart from the decadent ideas about female marriage in mainstream media and the rising females’ moral codes seminars or the scandal of mistresses of high officials, she also pointed out that some deputy to the People’s Congress once proposed to marry young females who were around 20 years old to 40 years males to solve the problem of housing which led to controversies. As media, officials and even the deputy to people’s Congress, if they do not guide the public to the regressive feminism, the faint few who are for feminism like Liu Jianmei and Zi Zhongyun cannot take effect. Furthermore, to associate it with the feminist consciousness advocated by Woolf, the conspicuous characteristic that Chinese females lack is the psychological independence. In To the Lighthouse, Woolf depicted a female Mrs. Ramsay who could not shed the influence of her family and husband but subject to quitting her self-independence. She created another female Lily who was totally independent and at the opposite position to patriarchal world but finally she achieved androgyny by recognizing the symbol of patriarchy (Innarmorato, 2016: 5-7). What contemporary Chinese females need to do is not to be against males but be self-reliant not only in money but also in psychology. Only the whole environment and female themselves make joint efforts to precipitate the development of feminism could females become respected and independent and be equipped with the equal rights of males.

As for what we could learn from Zhang Ailing’s and Virginia Woolf’s writing, besides to improve the environment of the whole job markets, females need to learn from Mrs. Ramsay who bears a lot of inequality and makes sacrifices to the family but still she is very confident about showing her kindness and charm to others. Another thing we could obtain from Zhang’s works is that marriage based on money and interest is no different from prostitution. To win the same respect and rights as those of males, the first thing female needs to do is not to be subordinate to males psychologically. If females have enough awareness to avoid being induced by money and substance provided by males, they will achieve their self-independence as well as the development of feminism in China will make progress.

5 Conclusion

This dissertation has analyzed the female images in the writing of Zhang Ailing and Virginia Woolf from the perspective of motherhood. It finds that female images in Zhang’s writing are inclined to be subject to males and do not have the awareness to change the present situation. At the same time, marriage are closely associated with money which are considered prostitution. Motherhood of these females are seemed distorted which is different from the traditional ones. Although females in the writing of Woolf have the awareness to keep individuality, to some degree they cannot completely shed the influence of patriarchy. But luckily, they finally get to live with males harmoniously by achieving the stage of androgyny. Meanwhile, the thinking of the motherhood has also been eternal. The dissertation has also shed some light on the implications for the development of feminism in contemporary China since feminism in China has been proved to be stuck in regression because females are indulged in materialism despite the rapid development of the economy and increased number of college girls. It simultaneously suggests that female consciousness behind female images in Woolf’s literature has not been realized by Chinese over nearly one century and only with the effect of the whole public and the insistence of self-independence by females could women’s liberation in China keep moving forward.

This dissertation contains shortages for it has not provided powerful suggestions for changing the regressive situation of feminism in China. It also pays little attention to the theory of feminism that was proposed by Virginia Woolf which could have contributed significantly to this dissertation. The most obvious limitation of this dissertation is that the author has only adopted one work of Woolf and four works of Zhang which are not sufficient enough to make convincing comparisons of the relevant female consciousness behind the female images from the perspective of motherhood.

（the end）

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