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论《已故上校的女儿们》中的身份缺失

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第37卷第4期 长江大学学报(社科版) Vo1.37 No.4 2014年O4月 Journal of Yangtze University(Socia1 Sciences) Apr.2014 On the Daughters’Loss of Self-identity from The Daughters of the Late Colonel Wang Zhe (The Scho01 of Foreign Languages of Huazhong Normal University,Wuhan Hubei 430079) Abstract:The Daughters of The Late Colonel is one of the classics written by British female writer Katherine Mansfield,which tells the tragic life of two sisters,Constantia and Josephine,af— ter the death of ther father.This article analyses the sisters’morbid psychology due to the father’ s sev-ere indoctrination and their self—identity loss,going deeply into the causes from economic’ discoI】rse and emotional aspects,pointing out patriarchy kills the independent personality of the daughters. Kev words:The Daughters of The Late Colonel;self-identity loss;father and daughter rela— tionship Chinese Librarv C1assification:I512 Document code:A Article ID:1673--1395(2O14)04一OO43一O4 The Daughters of the Late Colonel stands as can’t handle their life at al1.They can hardly envis— one of the best achievements by Katherine Mans— age their inner feelings about the world and they field,admired by Thomas H ardy as the“milestone have to live to rely on others but for themselves. in the history of English short story’’[ .Divided in Their dependence on their late father and even twe1ve sections,it narrates the story of two sisters, their servants is indicated in their every interaction Constantia and Josephine,whose father,an authori— with others. tative and dictatorial figure,has j ust passed away- Although the colonel is no longer existence, Josephine is more active and practical,whilst Con— there are many mementos left for the daughters to stantia is more dreamy and evasive,but both of miss him,to think of him and to be controlled spir— their thoughts and behavior presents immature due itually by him.They find it difficult to believe that to their father’s repression upon them for years. he is really dead and not somewhere waiting to This oppression is so intense that,even after his criticize them. death。these women are unable to 1iberate them— Constantia wonders whether“father would se1ves from his authority.They are unable to deal mind if we gave his top hat to the porter”.Hat is to with the challenges of the everyday life on their be weared on the head,the top part of one’s body. own until the end. It symbolizes the maj esty of their father.Will fa— ther be happy if they send his crown to a porter? 一、The Daughters’Self-identity Loss and When Constantia and J osephine attempt to go Their Ef fects through his possessions,merely opening the door After the death of the colonel,the daughters to his room without knocking takes almost more 收稿日期:2014—01—10 作者简介:王晶(1991一),女,湖北荆州人,硕士研究生 ・ 44 ・ 长江大学学报(社科版) 2014年O4月 courage than they possess.Even Josephine,who seems to he the braver sister,cannot open the chest of drawers.Typically,the decision that Constantia makes,and which she considers one of the boldest of her 1ife.is a denia1 of action:She 1ocks up the wardrobe and thereby postpones real action.To Constantia and J osephine,however,it is like 1oc— king up their father. Whenever the colonel feels not happy or impa— tient,he will slam the ground by his stick.The stick also hit the sisters’heart deeply at the same time and left them an indelible impression.When comes to the sounds of a barrel—organ,which their father detested,j osephine’s first response is asking Constatia to run to stop it.“Then they remem— bered.It didn’t matter.’’It no longer need to be suppressed by giving money to the organist and asking him to go away. No longer burdened with serving their father, the two sisters 1et their minds wonder into a pri— vate territory that the rigid norms of their society do not allow them to access in’normal’times—the territory of simple,impractical contemplating. Constantia worries about what to wear during the mourning period,and she suggests to wear black because it is propriety.But the truth is that she is afraid of that when Kate(the maid,who is proud and insolent before the two sisters)or the postman might see them,they might think she is not polite.They dare not to ask Kate for more jam from her“burst open the sideboard”,put the emp— ty jam pot on the table and“stalked off”.Kate e— ven questions the sisters in a“bold voice”on how to cook the dinner,and“bounces back leaving their door open and slamming the door of her kitchen”, thus openly showing a careless and rather disre— spectful attitude towards her polite,humble and rather frightfu1 landladies.There seems to be a re— versa1 of roles:the maid looks down upon her em— ployers evidently and explicitly while the latter sometimes prefer to do things on their own in or— der not to“disturb”Kate.They are incapable of as— serting themselves as the ladies of the house.Lat— er,although they have proved to themselves that Kate snoops in their bureau,and although they are the victims of her consistent impertinence,they cannot summon up the resolution to dismiss her, although Josephine firmly says they should“come to a definite decision”. Their self—identity loss also presents when they are with Nurse Andrews who is expected and invited to be a helpful lodger during the funeral time but turns out to take advantages of their kind— ness and not daring to say“no”. 二、The Culprit of the Loss of the Daugh— ters’Self-identity——Father’s Re- pression Father,as an important ethical role ,occu pies an important position in a family,which stands the basic structure in the human society.Traditiona father is not only to supervise,to educate and pro— tect the family members,but also to do punish— ment,which makes him the embodiment of author— ity.“Lacan has pointed out that the image of fa— ther,as a pure signifier,is the source and basis of all the binding rules.To the subiect,it is an estab— lished symbol of unconditional acceptance and obe— dience.”[ As for the poor sisters.the 1ate colone1 is the biggest abuser.We can actually find it j ust from the title of this story.The title uses“of’’to strengthen the affiliation between the late colonel and the daughter directly,which implies that the daughters are possessions of the colonel,and they are totally controlled by him. We can see the father’s repression from the following aspects 三、Economic Repression——“Do you ex pect me to pay for this gimcrack ex。 cursion of yours?’’ It is obvious that Josephin and Constatia al— ways have no pocketbook except their father,that is to say,before their father’s death,they can hard— ly use money on their own mind.The flashback of their nephew Cyril’s visit proves it.Companying Cyril to tea iS“one of their rare treats”.It is pa— thetic to read that they sacrifice their needs to buy 第37卷第4期 Wang Zhe:On the Daughters’Loss of Sel ̄identity from The Daughters of the Late Colone1 .45. the delicaeies which he doesn’t even taste.“…the rich dark cake that stood for her winter gloves or the soling and heeling of Constantia’s only respect— able shoes.’’ Another evidence comes at that they torment themselves with thoughts of their dead father reap— pearing to scold them for burying him and to go in— to a fury about the expense of the funera1.Jose— phine“heard him absolutely roaring,‘And do you expect me to pay for this gimcrack excursion of vours?…Could it be said that the eolonel is a poor father without much money?Or a miser who sel— dom permit anyone to spend his money or even himself?We are not sure about it,but at least we beheve that under the economic repression ulti— mately ftom father.the two sisters can’t deal with money independently,they might be lacking of money,but what they really lack is the self-affir— marion to make decisions. This deficiency also presents when they are discussing on whether they shall keep Kate or not. Josephine first tries to persuade themselves that they don’t need Kate anymore because“there’s not father to cook for.”How craven they are to put father forward as a shield to hide their weak ego.It is father that is dependent on Kate.They are atta— ched to father to have a finger in the pie.Now fa— ther is dead,they lose the host’s power to ask for more j am.But what if they dismiss Kate?It comes to the economic question again.If they lose Kate, thev have to dea1 with food which are“considered so very expensive.”Hence,to the end,they still have to endure Kate’s impoliteness and continue to pay her wages. 四、Discourse Repression——“I can’t say what 1 was going to say.’’ In the story,there are many times when the two sisters want to say something to express their instant true feelings,ellipsis always appears.Their voice stops abruptly,so as their pursuit for their self—identity.Everyone is born with the power of discourse,but when it is oppressed,when people get no chance to express oneself,their mind will be gradually imprisoned. Though there are only two sections describing their 1ire before the colone1’s death,his discourse repression to the sisters undoubtedly exposes.The stick is his second mouth to thunder out his or— ders.The authoritative father,without much words.thumps his stick when he talks.Sometimes even“waved Josephine away with his stick.’’No wonder that people who are in the face of him fears a lot to say anything.What’s worse,at this mo— ment he will cry“out with it!”testily and begin to thump again.This series of actions of him is suf— fered by Cyril who is an outsider j ust coming to visit him.One can imagine that how much torment the sisters bear for those years. Two days after the funeral,Josephine and Constatia feel relief and they“forgot to be practical and sensible’’which was what conventions called for.They allow the sun to come in and stay for a while and release their hidden feeling of freedom by longing for“this other life”.They both seem to have something important to say to each other,a— bout their future lire.But neither of them speaks out.They let their 1ives slip back to the daily rou— tine their father had forced them into,again. 五、Emotional repression——“He never even looked at them when they came in.’’ “How Father approaches life wil1 serve as an example for his daughter to build off of in her own life.even if she chooses a different view of the world,”says Michael Austin,associate professor of philosophy at Eastern Kentucky University.“A fa— ther’s involvement in his daughter’s life is a cruel— al ingredient in the development of a young woman’s self—esteem.” In this story,the sisters’mother died when they were very young.H ence,from the beginning, the sisters only have father to rely on.Though fa— ther is a ruthless dictator,he is stil1 a kinsfolk who performs responsibilities and obligations to raise them and protect them,to some degree.The sisters have got accustomed to him and identified with 长江大学学报(社科版) 2014年O4月 him.Their love to father is another repression for wound 1n their poor ego. them tO lose themselves.They are infatuated with It is grieved to read this story without hope. father’S authority,in a sense,and eager to receive But from the tragic life of the daughters in The acknowledge from father.They know what father Daughters of the Late Colonel,we can summarize like or dislike very well and try their best to cater the features of a tyrant father in a family,which to them.They feel astonished when Cyri1 doesn’t are always controlling his family,restricting chil— knOW which kind of cake his father 1ike to eat, dren’S rights tO freedom of speech and of making which reflect how much their father occupies in choice,not allowing children to develop their per— their heart.However.the colone1 seems never be sonalities,tO grow free from misconceptions about touched by the daughters,he is still that fearful, life,and not permitting their feelings tO beex— .cold,intolerant and authoritarian father.On the pres;sed.We should educate our children from posi— daughters’last sight of the father on his dead bed. tive side and make them have clear self—identity, “He lay there,purple,a dark angry purple in which is the basic factor to help them grow up and the face,and never even looked at them when they be independent.Let US not make the similar trage— came in.Then,as they were standing there,won— dy happen again. dering what to do,he suddenly opened one eye.” The father even doesn’t take a 1ook at his 参考文献: daughters before death!What a totally negation to [1]徐晗.英国短篇小说研究:凯瑟琳・曼斯菲尔德[M].北京:N-ge8i the poor sisters!The closest father underestimate 版社,2013. [2]范荣.父亲是一种隐喻——试析拉康的“父亲之名”在杜拉斯作品 them from the beginning tO the end.Do they have 中的能指作用EJ].外国文学研究,2006(5). any excuse to find themselves worthy?They deny 责任编辑袁咏心E—mail:yongxin610@163.corn themselves,as father did,which is another deep 论 已故上校的女J L tf3))中的身份缺失 王酷 (华中师范大学外国语学院,湖北武汉430079) 摘 要:《已故上校的女儿们》讲述了两个姐妹的悲惨生活。两姐妹的病态心理源于父亲的严 厉教导友自我缺失。从经济、话语和情感诸方面入手,深入分析作品,可以看出,正是父权扼杀了女 儿的人格。 关键词:已故上校的女)L(fI;自我同一性;丧失 

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