Abstract: Harper Lee is an American modern writer famous for her first book To Kill a Mockingbird which was published in 1960. The novel deals with the issues of racism and feminism through the perspective of a child called Scout. It depicts people’s life situation during the period of the Great Depression in the United States and reflects the survival condition of Southern women and the social status of black people at that time. This paper tries to reveal the awakening of female consciousness and the female’s social status through analyzing the behavior of some female characters in the novel from feminist perspective, exploring Harper Lee’s new perspectives on female and her appeal for the independent woman and summarizing that females are still in the status of “The Other” which manifests the limitation of Lee’s female view in her depiction of a new generation of women.

Key words: Harper Lee; To Kill a Mockingbird ; Feminism; female; The Other

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird-1

1.2 Literature Review-2

2. Feminism-3

2.1 Introduction to Feminism-3

2.2 Feminism in Literature-4

3. Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird from the Feminist Perspective-5

3.1 Female Characters Lacking Feminist Thought-7

3.1.1 Aunt Alexandra—The Model of Southern Lady-7

3.1.2 Mayella Ewell—The Victim of Patriarchy Society.-9

3.1.3 Helen Robinson—The Slave of Male Authority-10

3.2 Female Characters Having Feminist Thought-11

3.2.1 Scout’ s Awakening of Female Consciousness-12

3.2.2 Miss Maudie’ s Struggle against Old Traditions-14

3.2.3 Calpurnia’ s Independent Consciousness-15

4. Conclusion-19

References-20