Feminist Utopia in Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness and Russ's The Female Man

• Main Authors: Chiung-Fen Hsieh, 謝瓊芬
• Other Authors: Shu-Shun Chan
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/79544984462292151894

碩士 === 世新大學 === 英語學研究所(含碩專班) === 97 === Feminist science fiction genre has developed since the 1970s. The genre uses the theme of utopia to present the vision of gender equality. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness creates an androgynous world. The human beings in Gethen planet have no gender discrimination and gender oppression. The protagonist of the novel Genly Ai, a human, is shocked by the culture on this androgynous planet, which serves as criticism of patriarchy. Russ’s The Female Man creates an all-female utopian world. The women of Whileaway planet use “genetic surgery” to produce their generation. Whileaway’s women have independent personality and they honestly face and control their sexuality. The behaviors of Whileaway’s women can reflect the women’s myth and shortcomings in patriarchal society. Chapter one includes two parts; the first part, how the second wave feminists propose the theory of androgyny to deal with women’s gender difficulties, and the second part analyzes the origin and vision of feminist utopia. Chapter two analyzes the protagonist’s personality and the elements of feminist utopia in The Left Hand of Darkness. Chapter three analyzes the four female protagonists’ culture shock and the elements of feminist utopia in The Female Man.