2。2 The Display of Miss Amelia’s Androgyny 7

2。2。1 Miss Amelia’s masculinity 7

2。2。2 Miss Amelia’s Femininity 8

2。3 Inner Entanglement of Androgyny 8

3。 Struggle for Identity 10

3。1 Oppression from Patriarchal Society 10

3。2 A Resistance to Male-dominated Society 11

3。2。1 The protest against the marriage system 12

3。2。2 The Protest against Marvin Macy 13

4。 Failure in the Patriarchal Society 14

4。1 The Reasons of Failure 14

4。1。1 The Oppression from the Patriarchal Society 14

4。1。2 The Betrayal of Cousin Lymon 14

4。2 A Doomed tragic Fate 15

5。 Conclusion 17

References 18

1。 Introduction

Carson McCullers was recognized as a novelist, short story writer, playwright and poet in the South America。 McCullers novels were always set in the Deep South and her oeuvre had a reflection of Southern Gothic, which was influenced by her Southern background。 McCullers’s novels had an eternal theme that was connected with spiritual isolation and loneliness。 Although obsessed with disastrous marriage and physical disease, McCullers had created great works。 Her representative classics were known as The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940), Reflection in a Golden Eye (1941), The Ballad of the Sad Café and other Stories (1943), and The Member of the Wedding (1946)。论文网

McCullers was skilled in portraying queer female characters who were different from traditional southern belles。 She challenged the values and standards of traditional male-dominated society by depicting the struggles of marginalized female eccentrics。

 The Ballad of the Sad Café and other Stories was one of Carson McCullers’ best works, and in this thesis, I will focus on one of the short stories, “The Ballad of the Sad Café”, hereafter this text will be abbreviated as “The Ballad”。 The story is set in a very small and enclosed southern town where Miss Amelia, Lymon Willis and Marvin Macy lived。 Miss Amelia has a perishing marriage of ten days with Marvin Macy, who is humiliated by Amelia and leaves the town。 The another narrative line is the love triangle between Miss Amelia, Cousin Lymon and Marvin Macy。 Miss Amelia falls in love with Cousin Lymon and treats him as her beloved。 However, Lymon adheres to Marvin Macy after Macy comes back to the town and helps Macy defeat Amelia。 Lymon and Macy destroy Amelia’s factories and leave together。 The story ends up as Miss Amelia living alone in her enclosed café。 

This thesis concentrates on the female character, Miss Amelia, and analyzes Amelia’s characteristics of androgyny。 As for her appearance, she is very tall like a man with bones and muscles。 She always dresses in the swamp boot and overalls。 In consideration to her temperament, she doesn’t care about love from men and she is proud of her muscles。 She is the most competent and richest person in the town with the ownership of chateau, factories and shop。 Amelia is totally different from traditional southern lady。 Take William Faulkner’s Emily for example, Emily belongs to the nobility with elegant and graceful manner and she doesn’t get along with people。 Emily is a typical American Southern lady while Miss Amelia is different from Emily。 It can be inferred that Miss Amelia has a sense of masculinity。 This thesis will focus on Amelia’s androgyny to discuss her predicament in the patriarchal society。