ABSTRACT:Cao Xueqin’s A Dream of Red Mansions and Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind are first two works which focus on feminist issues and biographies in the American and Chinese literature history. Although the two female characters Wang Xifeng and Scarlett come from different cultural background, as the main and typical representatives of feminist consciousness in the two works, they undoubtedly have some similarities. This paper attempts to make an analysis of the similar conditions before two female characters’ awakening and the similarities and differences of the two female characters in the awakening of feminist consciousness with the aim to explore the reasons why they have different fates, better understand the two female characters and the differences between Chinese and western culture reflected by them and reveal the important effects of the social environment on the awakening of feminist consciousness.
Keywords: Awakening; Similarities; Differences; Feminist Consciousness
中文摘要:《红楼梦》和《飘》是中美文学史上较早关注和率先为女性立传的作品。尽管两部作品中的女性形象根植于不同的文化土壤，然而作为两部作品中女性意识集中体现的代表——王熙凤和斯嘉丽，她们在女性意识觉醒方面却带有明显的相似性。本文试图通过分析王熙凤和斯嘉丽在觉醒前面临的相似的境遇以及她们女性意识觉醒的共性与差异，来探究她们最终命运相异的原因，更加深刻地理解这两位女性和从她们身上反映出来的东西方文化差异，揭示出社会环境对女性意识觉醒的重大影响。
关键词：觉醒；相似性；差异；女性意识
