【正文】 of feminine consciousness。 on the other hand, the skillful use of expression techniques makes the dilemma of heroines vividly shown. In Chapter Three, we conduct the woman’s selfredemption under unequal subordination and analyze the cost of selfawakening to highlight and sublimate the theme of the thesis. 河北工程大學(xué)學(xué)士論文 3 Chapter I The Background and Narrative Strategy of Feminist Literature In the 19th century, the authority of the patriarchy dominates America and the traditional moral code of “True women” was remended. The mon central creed is to imprison the women to act as daughter, wife and mother, the roles designed by society. It is intangible chains hindering the individual liberation of women. Feminism concentrates on the gender difference to explore the possible equivalence. With the advancement of feminism, the relevant literary creation emerges at the right moment. The feminism consciousness is reflected in two aspects: one is the literary criticism in the pure sense. The feminist trend is presented in the text content. The other is the literary creation itself. Female writing is regarded as a kind of subversive and resistant power. The Male Discourse and the Yoke of Matrimony The cultural disfigurements such as the male discourse, gender stereotype and gender bias were prevailing in the 19th century. The dominant patriarchy culture is typical evidence. Patriarchy culture is a kind of tendering culture with the representative characteristic of male chauvinism believing that men are superior to women. In the gender relations, males’ value is dominant。 meanwhile, females are subordinative (Zhu Li 20xx). This is a systematic, structured and inequitable institution where females are the accessories for males. With its historical origin and realistic condition, patriarchy as a kind of mighty culture makes it difficult for women to realize the social value. Consequently, it contributes to the resistance of women. In marital relations, the wife is defined as a character that stays at home to take care of family and housework. “Wealth, power, social distinction, fame, not only these, but home and happiness, reputation, ease and pleasure, her bread and butter, all, must e to her through a small gold ring” (qtd. in Hu 27). The traditional women leech on 河北工程大學(xué)學(xué)士論文 4 to men who in turn restrict the movement and actions of them. In the marriage bond, the social status of each is obviously unequal. Husband is the head of the family, and the wife, however, is considered as the slave. For the material wealth belongs to the husband, just as the twicetold saying: the economic basis determines superstructure. The economic capability facilitates the dominant position of male. To ensure smooth progress of work performance, the strong backup force is indispensible. It is taken for granted that the wife bees the victim of domestic affairs. To summarize, the traditional notion, as stumbling block on their selfsaved way, brings women a great deal of sorrow. And women bee the victims to be manipulated for pleasure and benefit. As an individual, she receives no respect from the society。 as a wife, she receives no equality in the marital relation。 as a woman of independent mind, she receives no freedom to express herself. The immoderate suppression finally contributes to the revolt of women. The feminist literary creation, under such social background, has to conform to the trend and have accurate orientation. The Narrative Strategy of the Selectedpieces The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper are two representative short stories in America in which the feminist trend is vividly reflected. With special social condition, the feminist creation is under pressure from all sides. As a result, the proper narrative strategy is indispensable: male discourse is skillfully challenged by the reasonable choose of narrative person。 with weak foundation, the expression of both is vague to some extent to avoid confrontation。 the narration of plot is replaced by the description of surroundings and internal monologue to add information to the awakening of female consciousness. Ambiguous Expression and Insane Narration At the end of the nieenth century, woman’s liberation movement was of small scale. The writers under the oppression of male discourse have no courage to publicly express the dissatisfaction of patriarchy in their works, so the ambiguous expression and insane narration are applied to convey the suffering of women under maledomination. 河北工程大學(xué)學(xué)士論文 5 The selfawareness of the heroine in The Story of an Hour, from insensitivity to awakening and final evaporation, occurs in an hour. The length of the story is no more than two thousand words, but the tragedy of “Mrs. Mallard” is described fully. Without too much description about the oppression, the author just concentrates on the mental activities of “Mrs. Mallard”, but the suffocating and inequitable oppression is most incisively expressed. The everchanging inward world shows us a series of life bits, full of imagination, thought and subconsciousness. The author even describes the male character as a scrupulous and considerate gentleman. However, pondering the description of the character, we can conclude that the praise is actually sarcasm. Furthermore, the narration about the shackles of marriage is ambiguous. “Free, free, free”, the repeating word bees the most powerful denouncement. It is not only the call of freedom but also the denouncement of marriage. From beginning to end, the author does not employ any details about the “powerful will”, but she skillfully provides enough imaginary space for readers. Between the lines, the ambiguous expression makes the resistance thrown on females disclosed clearly. “The nature of ac