歌劳莉亚·内勒《妈妈·戴》中的女性力量-英语语言文学专业论文.docxVIP

Female Agency in Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day By Zhu Shanshan A THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Submitted to the School of Foreign Studies of Hunan University of Science and Technology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Supervised by Professor Zeng Yanyu May 20th, 2012 i i Acknowledgements After almost one year‘s endeavor, and with the help of my teachers and classmates, my thesis finally comes out. In the first place, I want to say thanks to my supervisor, Professor Zeng Yanyu. It is her patient guidance, valuable proposals and materials that makes my topic selection and the accomplishment of the thesis possible. Secondly, I want to give my gratefulness to the teachers in the School of Foreign Studies, Associated Professor Ling Jian‘e, Doctor Lv Aijin, Doctor Wang Taohua, Professor Liu Jinming, Professor Zhang Ruihong, etc. During my three years‘ study, they devote themselves to the teaching course, teach me professional knowledge and train my critical thinking. All these become the foundation of the thesis. Last but not the least, I quiet appreciate my parents‘ encouragement and financial support during my three years‘ study. ii ii Abstract Winning American Book Award in 1983 made Gloria Naylor (1950- ) become one of the most important contemporary African American women writers. Naylor has published five novels since 1982. Her works have attracted many American scholars‘ attention. In 1988, Naylor published her third novel Mama Day, which is full of magical elements, focuses on female experiences and portrays a female utopia. Naylor celebrates female agency thus this novel takes African American Literature to a new level. Based on black womanism thought, this thesis expounds female agency in Gloria Naylor‘s Mama Day for the sake of black women‘s positive role in the construction of history despite of marginalized status. Deeply rooted in south, Naylor on the one hand flourishes the rich African American traditional