Xie Baohua
Dichong Middle School, Dongguan Guangdong 523270
Abstract: One of Mansfield’s novel has been elected in Book Five of College English. In order to help the students fully understand the spirit of Mansfield’s works, further expanding would be necessary. As a female writer, Katherine Mansfield was very concerned about the future and destiny of women, so she was called as a cultural feminist. Her works are good at describing details, and show the living situation and emotional world of women, revealing the passive position of women in the family, as well as the oppression and humiliation suffered by the patriarchal society. This paper attempts to take her short story "A Cup of Tea" as an example, through the analysis of her works,to probe into feminism as the theme working on the contemporary literature and culture.
keywords: Katherine Mansfield, feminism, a patriarchal society,feminist movement
Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was a cultural feminist, one of British best-known short story writers. Her works point to the living situation and emotional world of women, and focus on the manipulation, fooling and mental distortion at married women by the patriarchal society. Mansfield enjoyed a lot of reputation from the scholars and intellectuals at that time and later generation. Just like this, “On the whole Mansfield’s art is essentially feminine:...Such kind of feminine art can produce sympathetic effect in the readers’ heart.”[1]
Feminism was the social theory and movement based mainly on women's experience. The concept of feminism is based on the fact that the real society is built on the patriarchal system and gives men more privileges than women. Feminists believe that the gender order of "male superiority over female superiority" is not "naturally formed", but artificially constructed by society and culture.
1.Historical and cultural background and the author's life
At that time when Mansfield lived in Britain, the Victorian era had been coming to the end .
The Victorian age was the golden age of England. After the Industrial Revolution, Britain was a political and military superpower internationally. Literature and art flourished unprecedentedly, and the whole society advocated moral cultivation and modesty and courtesy.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the old traditions of the Victorian era had been challenged. With a progressive concept of gender equality formed, the feminist movement put the emphasis on that there is no difference between men and women in intelligence and ability. Its main goal was to achieve the equivalence of family labor and social labor and the equal value of political rights. At the same time, the people at the bottom began to demand civil and political rights, against aristocratic privileges.
During this period, there appeared a group of feminist literary works that were later famous in Britain and even the world. Mansfield is one of the best novelists. Born in New Zealand,she went to London to study when she was fifteen. At the age of 20, she persuaded her father to allow her to settle in London and began a writing career. But life was far from what she thought. She often felt lonely and helpless. The first marriage ended in a day. Her life experience made her fully understand the situation of women of her time.
Taking the short story "A Cup of Tea" as an example, this paper analyzes why Mansfield's novels are called feminist novels. How did her works in fiction echo English literature and cultural trends of the time?
2.Analysis of the short story A Cup of Tea
Rosemary was a fashionable, rich young woman. After failing to buy luxury goods, she met a poor girl in despair and asked her for a cup of tea. To show her dignity, she brought the girl home. But the wealthy middle class and the laboring people had diffrent status in Britain, so her husband Philip manipulated her with praise of the girl’s beauty to let the girl go. Surprised, Rosemary immediately sent the girl away and dressed herself up to meet her husband.
Rosemary was not beautiful. By virtue of her youth and fashion, she won her husband's favor. The fact that 28 guineas were needed for a useless and delicate piece of furniture that she longed for was enough to turn her back on. She had to ask her husband for the money.
The novel goes like this: "......gazing at the winter afternoon. Rain was falling,...There was a cold bitter taste in the air, and the new-lighted lamps looked sad....Rosemary felt a strange pang. She pressed her muff against her breast; she wished she had the little box, too, to cling to.“[2]
With no fear of cold and hunger, Rosemary’s desire of something must rack her brains to please her husband, in exchange for money, to realize. Why did she feel a strange pang?Actually,she felt something like frustration.
At that moment, the girl who was cold and hungry came trembling to ask for money for a cup of hot tea. Rosemary became sympathetic. And the frustration she had felt in her own life could be made up for by the girl who was more unfortunate than her. She invited the girl to her house. And the novel says: "She had a feeling of triumph. ... She was going to prove to this girl that... rich people had hearts... "[3]
Taking pride in her openness and grace, Rosemarry boasted of her proximity to the lower classes as a trendy people."...with a charming, protecting, almost embracing movement, Rosemary drew the other into the hall. ... It was fascinating. ..." [4]It shows Rosemary's superiority in enjoying the wealth, status, education and other aspects brought to her by the disparity between the two classes.
The author did not express her feelings directly to criticize, but adopted the approach close to the pursuit of conciseness, using the meaning beyond the words. Rosemary was considerate with condescension, and hypocritical from her affectation in words and deeds,just like other people of the middle class.
As the novel draws to a close, the host finally makes his entrance.
Rosemary's husband, Philip, was back. At the sight of the poor girl, he "stopped and stared".He called his wife out and asked for her plan.Heard of her intention of helping the gril," My darling girl," said Philip, " you're quite mad, you know. It simply can't be done."[5]
It was an illusion that Rosemary felt she was the mistress of the house and could decide anything.Here her husband called her a darling, and then accused her of madness immediately. She didn’t deserve respect of her husband just like an unreasonable child. And her husband knew how to manipulate her.He said he “was bowled over “for the girl’s “ astonishingly pretty”.
Surprised,Rosemary did not even feel angry, but regretted her thoughtlessness. She gave the girl three pounds, sent the girl away, and dressed herself up to meet her husband. Her husband was now extremely pleased with her performance. So "dreamily",Rosemary asked if she was ”pretty” .
With no income, not beautiful enough, she was liked by her husband, for her?personality was controlled by him firmly. A Cup of Tea showed the manipulation, fooling and mental distortion at married women by the patriarchal society. Of all Mansfield's novels, this one is better known. In the 1960s, the novel was chosen as a grammar exercise by two of the most authoritative English textbooks.
3.the conclusion
Mansfield made her name in the 1920s for her short stories. Both the form of fiction and the narrative style of her novels were very different from the traditional short stories in Britain. Her novels were focused on the record of daily life,with the theme showing concerns on the future and destiny of women. The plot was always not complicated, but it was good at detail description. It could reveal the inner process of women and describe the relationship between characters in a profound and penetrating way. All these promoted the change of English literature at that time, indicated a certain trend of English literature after the end of the Victorian era. Thanks to her pioneering works, the British short stories had a new look and were widely noticed by the world.
In the late Victorian era, one of the most important themes of the times in Britain was the humiliation and psychological trauma brought to women by the patriarchal society. As a result, the voice of equality between men and women became increasingly louder and finally developed into a vigorous feminist movement. Mansfield's novels, closely related to the theme of the times, can be seen as the most appropriate and sober commentary on the prevailing British attitudes,moral values and culture.
Works Cited
[1]戴桂玉.“On Katherine Mansfield’s Miss Brill——An analysis of Lesson Sixteen in Book Five of College English”，郴州师专学报1994年第4期，总第36期. Doc88.com.Web.3 May 2017.
<https://www.doc88.com/p-3189687455500.html>
[2][3][4][5] Mansfield,Katherine. ”A Cup of Tea”, Doc88.com.Web.15 October 2015.
<https://www.doc88.com/p-3857772673338.html>