Shen Congwen's objectified writing of female characters in romance novels

Abstract

As a representative of modern Chinese literature, Shen Congwen's works have the brilliance of pure and simple human nature. Shen Congwen's works are mostly written during the "rising period" of China's feminist movement, and through his works, we can glimpse the thinking and consideration of female images and even gender relations by literary representatives at that time. As a representative of an important literary field in an important period of the alternation of old and new ideas, Shen Congwen portrays a female image with a certain modern significance based on the traditional male-centric perspective, showing the harmony of human nature, while revealing the specific form of male ideology ignoring female subjectivity and the specific form of male power to female otherization - objectification. Through Shen Congwen's romance novel's objectification of female characters, readers can have a more comprehensive understanding of the social thought and collective unconsciousness of that period, which provides a certain reference for women to resist the otherization of women by patriarchy and get further obtain gender equality. This paper re-examines Shen Congwen's works from a female perspective, aiming to expose that "male power objectifying women" has become the collective unconsciousness of the whole society and has evolved into an important link in social value standards, and improve society's sensitivity to the hegemonic behavior of "objectification".