semester paper 【DOC精选】.docVIP

1. Introduction Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a prominent American social activist and theorist in the 20th century. She is also one of the famous female writers in the American literary history. In her masterpiece Herland, three men from a bi-sexual society enter Herland--one place that is clean and tidy, filled with singing birds and fragrant flowers. Surprisingly, this perfect land is created by a group of females who are pretty, refined，independent and talented. The men’s unforgettable journey to Herland leaves us readers with lots of contemplations about real society. Cao Xueqin, living in the late Qing Dynasty, is remembered for his everlasting novel Dream of the Red Chamber, in which the “grand view garden” has all the time been a topic people take great delight in talking about. This monumental work, starting with the myth of “Nu Wa patches up the sky” and developing with the “Twelve Maidens of Chin Ling” as main lines, describes the various aspects of social life. What is particularly worth mentioning is the “grand view garden” a pure female land where some brilliant females can escape from the repressive society for the moment. Noticing both the similarities and dissimilarities of the two women’s worlds in the two writings, the paper will compare females in these two feminist utopias from such perspectives as appearances, intrinsic characteristics, independence degrees and their life-focuses and so on to further analyze the deep reasons for these differences. 2. Different feminist utopias in Herland and Dream of the Red Chamber In Herland and Dream of the Red Chamber, Gilman and Cao Xueqin both have described a desirable feminist utopia. The utopias here are the kingdoms only belonging to the pure females who are pretty, refined, and talented. However, though having many points in common, the two feminist utopias reflect a number of different feminist characteristics. 2.1 Different appearances Though being in similar feminist utopias, the females