论文总字数：33032字

摘 要

西奥多·德莱塞是二十世纪美国文学史上第一位杰出的作家，也是美国现代小说的先驱，《珍妮姑娘》从一出版就受到了一致好评。鲁迅是中国当代文学的先驱，对五四运动以后的中国文学影响深远，作品《伤逝》被公认为其唯一一部爱情小说。鲁迅的《伤逝》和西奥多·德莱塞的《珍妮姑娘》叙写了两个女人的悲惨人生。近年来，许多学者分别对两部小说中女主人公的悲剧及相关因素做了大量研究，但很少有人将这两个女主人公的悲剧因素进行对比研究，而这也是本文的重点。本文首先简要从环境、生活与爱情这三个角度介绍珍妮和子君的悲剧，然后对比分析导致两女主人公悲剧的成因所在。悲剧成因的相似点主要包括父权社会、他人观点的影响以及对男性的依赖感，而悲剧成因的不同点主要包括社会背景、经济状况和对男性的需求这三个方面。本研究表明，女性应该追求自由与经济独立。其次，女性应把自己放在与男性平等的地位。最后，女性必须不受他人意见左右，要坚持自己的正确选择。因此，希望此次研究能够激励更多的学者对这两部举世闻名的作品进行相关研究。

关键词：珍妮 子君 悲剧因素 对比分析

1. Introduction

1.1 Research background

1.1.1 A Brief Introduction to Theodore Dreiser and Jennie Gerhardt

As the first prominent writer in the American literary history of the 20th century and the pioneer of American modem fictions, Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) takes the lead in faithfully describing the new city life full of hardships in the history of American literature. American critics consider Dreiser true to life and made bold innovations. In addition, he breaks through the traditional durance in thought, liberates American fiction and brings a revolution in American literature. As a result, Dreiser is regarded as American Zola in Forerunner Times and one of the three great writers in America after the First World War besides Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. His major works include Sister Carrie (1900), Jennie Gerhardt (1911), The “Genius” (1915), An American Tragedy (1925), and Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928).

Based on the early life of Dreiser’s sister, Mame, Jennie Gerhardt is set in an American big city. After the completion of the industrial revolution, America enters into the industrial age and becomes one of the world powers. Meanwhile, people’s mindset changes accordingly. This novel narrates a tragic character-Jennie, a kind and honorable woman with many virtues. She devotes to her common family by having illicit sexual relationships with two wealthy men from the upper class. In 1964, it was adapted into a movie Jennie Gerhardt with Sylvia Sidney playing the leading role.

1.1.2 A Brief Introduction to Lu Xun and Regret for the Past

Lu Xun (1881-1936), the chief commander of China’s Cultural Revolution, is not only a great man of letters but a profound thinker and revolutionary. As a pioneer of the contemporary Chinese literature, Lu Xun makes literary achievements and has profound influence on Chinese literature after the May Fourth Movement. Lu Xun focuses on the bottom rung of societies, describing the daily life and mental state of those living at the bottom of the society. His novels have been translated into many languages as well as filmed. For instance, AHQ and The New Year’s Sacrifice profoundly expose some problems of the feudal society. Works such as Cry Out, Hesitation, Diary of a Madman, Wild grass, and Ascends towards Flowered Evening represent the fundamental interests of most Chinese people and reflect their true life under oppression of Three Big Mountains (imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism). Loneliness and sadness of human life have deeply infiltrated the short story collections, Cry Out and Hesitation.

Regret for the Past has been widely recognized as the only love novel written by Lu Xun. Chinese feudalist ideology still has a great influence on the public after the May Fourth Movement, which is the setting of Lu Xun’s Regret for the Past. What it narrates is the process of the love between two awakening intellectuals- Juansheng and Zijun, who live together out of love and feel disillusioned at last. Juansheng and Zijun once frantically chase the individual liberation and marital freedom, but their experiences in love is doomed by the powerful feudal forces. In 1981, the adapted opera Regret for The Past was performed for the first time by Yin Xiumei and Cheng Zhi at People’s Theater of Beijing, which proved a big success. In the same year, it was adapted into a movie with Lin Ying and Wang Xingang playing the leading roles, whose performances reached a wide audience.

1.2 Need for the study

As for the need of study, firstly, few critical works make a comparison of causes of the two tragic heorines. This paper will on one hand interpret in detail the reasons for the heroine’s tragedies. We can see there are some similarities and differences concerning the causes of two female characters' tragedies. In addition, after the analysis of these causes, we can get some inspirations to avoid what has happened to the two heroines. In detail, females must purse equality between men and women; if not, they may face possible discrimination. Anyway, freedom and independence are of great significance for females, which can help them attain genuine happiness.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Previous studies on Jennie Gerhardt

Jennie Gerhardt has been the subject of widespread praise since its very publication in 1911, which is quite different from Sister Carrie. According to Henry Louis Mencken, Jennie Gerhardt is the best American novel he has read except The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin. The mass media and critics speak highly of Jennie Gerhardt, considering Dreiser should gain respect and the novel makes readers feel pain and sympathy.

Some articles focus on the tragic character of Jennie, such as Wang Lan’s (2004)Tragic Character of Jennie Gerhardt. Others prefer to compare Jennie with female characters from foreign literary works. Zhang Jing’s (2009) Character Decides Destiny-The Comparison between Jane Eyre and Jennie Gerhardt tells us that different characteristics determined different destinies. Other critics center on some new perspectives. For instance, Chen Xiuyuan (2013) reads this book from the ethic perspective and Wang Qiaoxian analyzes Jennie Gerhardt from consumption ideology. These articles mainly analyze Jennie’s tragedy in one aspect and the explanation has been specific.

2.2 Previous studies on Regret for the Past

In the semi-feudal China, Lu Xun sees that there are many tragedies to which people showed indifference; as a result, he writes a love tragedy of Juansheng and Zijun.

Regret for the Past has drawn much attention from the public. For instance, Shi Yaxi and Wang Xiangyun (1981) analyze the story of Zijun and Juansheng from two perspectives, causes of the tragedy and the practical significance of the novel. Critics tend to analyze the causes of tragedies between Juansheng and Zijun, i.e. Feng Ming (2000) considers it is difference of ideas and character that leads to their love tragedies. Huang Jiangying (2003) makes a comparative analysis of Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre and Zijun in Regret for the Past from three points, resistance consciousness, cultural attitude and social background. Jane Eyre and Zijun have distinct destinies due to the internal and external factors. It is true that Huang’s discussion bears some resemblance to the present study, but there still exists difference, i.e. the causes which lead to Jennie’s and Zijun’s tragedies will be listed and the similarities and differences concerning the causes will be analyzed. In addition, in Huang Jiangying’s paper (2003), Jane Eyre gets happiness at last for her strong character and rebellious struggle for equality whereas Zijun dies due to Juansheng’s abandonment so they have different fates: Zijun dies and Jennie lives in solitude. In addition, Han Xin (2011) analyzes Zijun’s tragedy and summarizes some causes and Wang Chengxia (2014) researches Zijun from the practical significance of her tragedy.

Not many articles conduct a comparison between two heroines; however, there are several studies on Jennie and Tess. For instance, Li Min (1998) realizes the significance of female self-consciousness by analyzing Jennie’s and Tess’ tragedies; Zeng Qingmei (2013) mainly discusses the tragic connotations of their tragedies; Liang Songyu (2014) compares Tess and Jennie Gerhardt from the perspective of feminism.

There are a few studies about the comparison between Zijun and other female characters, e.g. Liu Huan (2011) describes Nora’s and Zijun’s resistance from their roles as dolls. Yuan Guoxing (2012) tries to explore Sister Xianglin’s and Zijun’s suicide.

2.3 Tragedy

In Poetics, Aristotle comments that the ending of a tragedy is a katharsis (purgation, cleansing) of tragic emotions of pity and fear, a term that has generated considerable debate. The word means “purgation”, and by employing a medical metaphor-tragedy. Aristotle seems to arouse the emotion of pity and fear so as to purge away their excess, and to reduce these passions to a healthy, balanced proportion. He also talks of “pleasure” that is proper to tragedy, apparently meaning the aesthetic pleasure one gets from contemplating the pity and fear that are aroused through an intricately constructed work of art. This is the original definition of tragedy in the social sense.

In the Webster's Dictionary, tragedy has three separate meanings: a very bad event that causes great sadness and often involves someone's death; a very sad, unfortunate, or upsetting situation: something that causes strong feelings of sadness or regret; a play, movie, etc., which is serious and has a sad ending (such as the death of the main character). In the Youdao dictionary, tragedy has two meanings: an event resulting in great loss and misfortune; drama in which the protagonist overcomes by some superior force or circumstance excites terror or pity.

This paper intends to adopt the first meaning according to Webster's Dictionary, that is to say, tragedy means a very bad event that causes great sadness and often involves someone's death, for both heroines suffer sadness and death.

Literary critics have made numerous comments on Dreiser’s writings for about one century. However, we must acknowledge the fact that Dreiser is a great writer for his distinct creative style. The key to his success lies in his creation of many tragic scenes and the tragic beauty draws plenty of readers’ attention.

Tragedy, as one kind of drama, reveals itself in the social life to the attendees with stagecraft. Dreiser writes the social tragedy, and shows the sufferings and deaths of leading roles by means of tragic conflicts. Just as Lu Xun says, “To destroy something valuable in life before other people”. In this way Dreiser expresses his ideas concerning American reality and aesthetic evaluation. On one hand, Dreiser’s tragedy is mainly related to the social forces and people of good moral qualities; on the other hand, it can be defined as the failure, destruction and death in the course of inevitable social conflicts. In Sister Carrie, Carrie satisfies her own lust by means of degeneration and loses the virtues of the laborers. Carrie, born in a rural family, becomes several men’s lover to pursue wealth. At last, she seems to enter into the monde; nevertheless, she doesn’t attain happiness but feel lonely. Her seeming success is actually a tragedy. Jennie Gerhardt is a complete tragic figure. She pursues happiness; nevertheless, when happiness is coming, it disappears quickly followed by heavy tribulation. Two men, Brander and Lester, mainly bring tragedy to Jennie. Brander makes Jennie pregnant when they are not married, which is the beginning of Jennie’s tragedy. Brander promises to marry Jennie, but he dies suddenly. Lester, another rich man, lives with Jennie and her daughter. However, Lester is faced with a tough choice; at last, he abandons Jennie and marries Letty, a wealthy woman from the upper class. Jennie’s daughter dies after they move to the countryside, which is the peak of Jennie’s tragedy. In Jennie Gerhardt, the tragic feature is mainly reflected in Jennie’s misery, such as her premarital pregnancy, abandonment by Lester and the death of Jennie’s daughter.

Lu Xun delineates a lot of tragic characters. To say he is the greatest tragedian in the history of modern Chinese Literature is no exaggeration. If we compare Lu Xun’s novels to a treasure, A Madman's Diary and other eight novels can be the most fascinting parts. As Lu Xun puts it, a tragedy destroys something valuable in life, which reveals its features and reflects his unique understanding of tragedy and a strong tragic sense. Most of Lu Xun’s novels are tragedies, which can be divided into five types according to the theme, i.e. tragedies of the whole Chinese people (in A Madman's Diary), tragedies of the poor peasants (in Homeland and The True Story of Ah Q), tragedies of the Chinese working women (in Blessings and Divorce), tragedies of Chinese lower-class intellectuals (in Kong Yiji and Regret for the Past) and tragedies of participants of the old democratic revolution (Medicine). Medicine is a good case in point to explain Lu Xun’s views on tragedy. It reveals the lines dividing working masses and bourgeois revolutionists just through a steamed bun with human blood. Xia Yu, a revolutionist, dies a heroic death for the people, but his behavior isn’t understood by the people. What’s worse, those superstitious people make steamed buns with Xia’s blood. In Regret for the Past, tragic features are mainly reflected in two aspects: sincere and passionate love between Zijun and Juansheng ends in failure due to some subjective and objective factors; failure in love leads to Zijun’s direct death.

3. Jennie’s and Zijun’s Tragedies

This chapter will introduce Jennie’s and Zijun’s tragedies from the perspective of the environment, life and love.

3.1 Jennie’s Tragedy

Firstly, Jennie is a victim of the patriarchy-centered culture. The patriarchy-centered culture determines her father William Gerhardt has the absolute authority in the large family; her mother and the children must obey his orders. Gerhardt is quite strict with his children due to his Lutheran proclivity. Jennie can’t have her lover without his permission. When there is the rumor concerning Jennie and Brander, he is very angry. Even when Brander decides to marry Jennie, he still sticks to his guns and refuses Brander’s offer of marriage, which indicates that the father has the supreme authority in the family and Jennie doesn’t have any independent option at all.

Secondly, Jennie is a tragic character from the perspective of life. Though born in a poor family, Jennie still has a natural beauty and kind heart. Her dedication to her family isn’t understood by her family members. For instance, when Jennie’s brother has been imprisoned for stealing coal, Jennie has no way but to turn to Brander for help. It is in this accident that Brander makes Jennie pregnant without marriage and Jennie is kicked out of the house by her father. Her family members are ashamed of Jennie instead of considering the reason for her behavior. What’s worse, Jennie loses her daughter who dies of illness, and has to live a tragic life at the end of the story.

Last, the two love affairs in which she involves herself in succession are tragedies. As a matter of fact, there is no real love between Jennie and two men, Brander and Lester. Just attracted by her beauty, neither of them takes Jennie into consideration. Senator Brander offers her plenty of help, for Jennie is a kind and tender girl. From her angle, she just feels grateful for Brander’s help instead of really loving him. Lester loves her beauty and all virtues she has. Jennie accepts Lester’s suggestion and lives with him. After Jennie and Lester have lived together happily for several years, Lester has no way but to abandon her for a large fortune. If Lester really loved Jennie, he couldn’t desert her just for material wealth.

3.2 Zijun’s Tragedy

Regret for the Past describes Zijun’s tragic death. Her tragedy can be classified into three phases. To begin with, Zijun is representative of those who pursue free marriage and individual liberation in the feudal or patriarchal society but end in failure. Like other women living in the feudal society, Zijun is bound to have no right to do anything. Just like a bird kept in the cage, she should obey the requirements of parents and words of matchmakers concerning marriage. When returning home, her feudal family can’t embrace her for her cohabitation.

In addition, Zijun is a loser in life. Everyone should be responsible for his or her choice. At first, Zijun doesn’t make a right choice for her life, thus doomed to be a tragedy for her cohabitation with Juansheng. After living together, Zijun doesn’t think about the new ideas which she had pursued before. Becoming a common housewife, she often disputes with others for some trivial things and makes lots of complaints after Juansheng comes home from work. Therefore, Zijun should be a failure in life.

Finally, Zijun is in an inferior position concerning love for Juansheng, who means everything to Zijun, and whom she can’t live without. Once Zijun loses Juansheng’s love, death is the only end for her. At the beginning of the story, they pursue true love; however, after living together for some days they have more and more contradictions; they even have little time to communicate with each other. When two lovers have nothing in common, their love is unstable. In this sense, Zijun is a tragic loser in love.

1. Causes of Jennie’s and Zijun’s Tragedies: Similarities

After describing Jennie’s tragedies, this paper will analyze similar causes of their tragedies.

4.1 The patriarchal culture

Both Jennie and Zijun live in the patriarchal society in which the female status is lower than the male’s. Women, mere appendix to men, have no right to do anything. If they do something violating men’s interest, they will severely be punished for their action. Nobody can help them and even nobody wants to help them. Females have to act just as males order, or they will be caught up in grim situations. As a result, their tragedy is inevitable.

More specifically, in Jennie Gerhardt, Jennie’s father has the supreme authority and the right of speech; his wife and children must obey him. Another two men, Brander and Lester, also consider Jennie their property. They can abandon her at any time if they want. In detail, In Regret for the Past, Juansheng plays the decisive role all the time. It is Juansheng that teaches Zijun the new ideas and urges her to leave her family; Juansheng is the provider of material life and the dominator of Zijun’s emotion after they live together. At last, Juansheng comes up with separation; Zijun doesn’t resist but accepts the result unwillingly.

4.2 Others’ view on them

Their behavior at that time is not accepted by the society. Both Jennie’s and Zijun’s lives are affected by their relatives and the other people. For example, Jennie is scolded by her father for keeping a close relationship with Brander, and later she is kicked out of the house by her father for her unmarried pregnancy. The humble Jennie chooses to live with Lester without marriage, which is bound to be criticized by other people such as their neighbours and Lester’s family members. Lester finally marries another rich woman due to the pressure from others.

In Regret for the Past, Zijun decides to live with Juansheng without her parents’ agreement, which is also scolded by their neighbors. At the end of the story, the author doesn’t describe how Zijun’s family members react to her return home; however, we can imagine that her family can’t warmly receive her because her action isn’t tolerated in their eyes. Therefore, Zijun’s return to her feudal family is doomed to be a tragedy.

4. 3 Dependence on men

As mentioned above, patriarchal culture decides women’s dependence on men. Both Jennie and Zijun lose their lovers, or we can say that Jennie and Zijun are deserted by them. Brander can help Jennie’s family and Lester can provide her with a comfortable life so that she does not need to do a part-time job or work hard. Jennie chooses a shortcut i.e. dependence on men, to achieve her aim.

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