Female consciousness in The Thorn Birds

Yang Miao

Abstract： Colleen McCulloughs significant novels The Thorn Birds causes a tremendous sensation after its publication. This thesis tries to explore the female protagonist Meggie Cleary： a painful and significant process from suspecting and losing transfers into identification of the female consciousness.Colleen McCullough would like to mold female characters to highlight the heroines self-respect， the pursuit of equality and freedom.

Key words：Colleen McCullough； The Thorn Birds ； Female consciousness ； Meggie

Australian novels are impressive and represent a dynamic body of excellent and significant writers， Colleen McCulloughs is one of them. In 1977， Colleen McCullough gains international recognition and fame with The Thorn Birds which is perhaps best known as a giant novel set in Australia when the country was forming”（Richey and Norma Jean， 1994： 632）.

“Due to its romantic nature and entertaining narrative， The Thorn Birds has been termed as Australian Gone with the Wind ”（ Sharon R.Gunton， Gale Research Company： 317 ）.The epic of The Thorn Birds begins with the prelude which is very profound and meaningful， philosophy and ideology， which contributes mystery and significance to this legend. The Thorn emphasizes on humanity and realistic implication as well as classical ones. McCullough reveals for us a true world， which inbound by prejudice and convention， tempted by power and love， and forged by luck and destinies. The Thorn Birds not only depicts a love tragedy around the 20th century， but also actually displays an immigrant nations struggling history.

The Thorn Birds explores not only the twist of conflicts， struggle between soul and body， deity and humanity， rationality and humans primitive instinct.Feminist approaches is vital and useful to analyze this novel.The unique quality of this novel lies in the astonishing sexual deprivation which is the lot of every character in it. Moment of supreme whoopee， we get many other treats — violent death， cunning crafted betrayals， womanly self-sacrifice. （Sharon R.Gunton， 1984：319-20）. Female consciousness is the inner motive of womens development. females main body consciousness as well as self-consciousness can stimulate womens inner motive to be self-reliance，fully exploring of initiative，creativity. Cora Kaplan identifies elements of fantasy and female sexuality in romance literature through analysis of The Thorn Birds. Kaplan draws attention to the novels incest motif， portrayal of seduction， and treatment of sexual identity in light feminist theory（James Donald and Cora Kaplan， 1986：142）.

“As a necessary precondition for social change，it is a critical awareness generated by an examination of womens oppression” （Sharon K. Hom， 1995： 132）. From the beginning a legend about a bird as a thread is well woven in the story— “The best is only bought at the cost of great pain... ” Acting as the central character in the story， Meggies female qualities filled with maternal instinct from her childhood. Meggie Cleary， the heroine， is a vulnerable but persistent woman. Meggies vulnerable， humiliated qualities make her go through countless hardships and pretermission， even betray in her growth； while she has always been struggling against her destiny. With her tough nature and tenacious willingness， Maggie is not stipulated by the patriarchy society； she has strong devotion to the role of woman in pursuing love and persistence.

The perfect female character， passive yet enormously strong” and thinks her “All Meggies life she would obey， move within the boundaries of her female fate（McCullough， 1996： 119）. From suspecting and losing the self， bitterly identifying the self to fully pursuing， Meggie feel the power of life， quiet character， and tolerance with wisdom， therefore she confidently challenges to the exterior world， and calmly faces up to life tests. As a result of this， Meggies destiny is to be a tragic one in man-dominant society， but her independence and love pursuit is the light in the darkness in her life. she is aware that compromise and perseverance， and even sacrifice are real life. Despite being occupied， lost in the shadow， Meggie is always the one who she wants to be.

References

1. Richey， Norma Jean. “Australia-Fortunes Favorites by Colleen McCullough，” World Literature Today，Vol. 68 （Summer 1994）.

2. Sharon R. Gunton. “McCullough，Colleen，” [M] Contemporary Literary Criticism， Gale Research Company， Vol 27，1984.

3. James Donald， Cora Kaplan and Methuen （Eds）[M].The Thorn Birds： Fiction，F(xiàn)antasy， Femininity， in Formations of Fantasy，London： Routledge and Kegan Paul， 1986.

4. Sharon K.Hom and Xin Chunying， English-Chinese Lexicon of Women and Law [M].Beijing： China： CTPC and UNESCO， 1995.

5. Colleen McCullough. The Thorn Birds[M]， Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，1996.

Yang Miao （born November 1981）， Master of English Language and Literature， female， lecturer， research direction： English literature， English linguistics.