The Construction of Feminism in “Ten Years of Marriage”
The following essay explores the theme of feminism within Su Qing’s Ten Years of Marriage. It emphasizes the focal character Huaiqing who can be taken as representation of cultural norms in the patriarchal society during the “May 4th period” in China. Su Qing uses feminine discourse and unique narrative strategies to show women’s status as “others” and their survival dilemmas in the patriarchal culture, reveal their physical and mental constraints and refute the misogynistic idea of female being parasites of their husbands. Apart from displaying the physical and mental constraints inflicted on women, the novel makes a portrait of a bunch of pitiful and detestable females, exposing their flaws in an attempt to arouse their self-consciousness. Su Qing in this novel also deconstructed “male mythology” and subverted the supreme image of males in traditional culture by presenting a series of male images in a critical way.