Abstract:Katherine Mansfield is widely regarded as one of the brilliant and creative female short story writers of the early 20th century in English literary world. In her brief life, she created nearly one hundred short stories, among which more than 60 stories take New Zealand as the background and subject. She not only depicted the charming scenery of New Zealand and expressed her infinite nostalgia to the land, but also created many vivid children images. Their nature is naive, good, pure and innocent. On the basis of textual analysis, and combined with analysis of the author’s diary, letters and life experience, this thesis will take children images as a breakthrough point to explore Mansfield’s childlike ideal. 

The thesis consists of four parts. The first chapter studies Mansfield’s life, her literary achievements, writing style and current research. The second chapter selects Mansfield’s three classic short stories, including “The Little Girl”, “Sun and Moon” and “The Garden Party”. Through analyzing pure, kind and good children images, like Kezia, Laura and Sun, this paper explores the author’s childlike ideal. The third chapter, by referring to the author’s own happy childhood and her later alienated life experience, explores the background and cause of Mansfield’s childlike ideal. The last chapter makes a brief summary of this paper.

Keywords: Katherine Mansfield  children images  short stories  childlike ideal

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Mansfield’s Life-1

1.2 Mansfield’s Literary Achievements and Writing Style-1

1.3 Literature Review-2

Chapter Two Children Images and Themes in Mansfield’s Short Stories-4

2.1 Children Images in Mansfield’s Short Stories-4

2.1.1 Kezia in “The Little Girl”-4

2.1.2 Sun in “Sun and Moon”-4

2.1.3 Laura in “The Garden Party”-5

2.2 Themes Reflected in Mansfield’s Children Stories-6

2.2.1 Innocent Child World-6

2.2.2 Degenerated Adult World-6

Chapter Three Mansfield’s Life Experience and Her Childlike Innocence Ideal-8

3.1 Mansfield’s Life Experience-8

3.1.1 Her Early Childhood Life-8

3.1.2 Her Later Alienated Life-8

3.2 Mansfield’s Childlike Ideal-9

3.2.1 Seeking for Harmony-9

3.2.2 Seeking for a Sanctuary for Painful Soul-9

3.3 Connections between Mansfield’s Life Experience and Her Children Stories-10

Chapter Four Conclusion-11

References-12