英文摘要 |
This paper intensively studies certain characters and events in the Red Chamber Dreams to elucidate assumptions that lead to many previous misreadings of this classic. With close textual reading, and an analysis of women's situatioin in traditional patriarchal and class culture, this study explores the mother-daughter conflicts between Jia tan-chun and Zhao yi-niang and how that shapes Tan-chun's personality. It finds that Zhao yi-niang is no villain, but a pitiful creature under oppression, her relation with the daughter tan-chun being a tragedy noone can save. Tan-chun is indeed ruthless, abiding moral codes and following the sway of human conflicts. She obeys yet resists ethical conventions. Conflicts between Tan-chun and her mother (Zhao) actually makes her mature and competent. The incongruity between moral codes and human feelings further sharpens her sense of the high families' vicious hideousness. Finally, Jia tan-chun's resentment to her natural mother induces her gender reaction, which indeed enhances her various talents. |