A Comparative Study of the Image of "Tainted" Women in Autobiographical Feminist Literature: A Case Study of Memories of a Female Thief by Dacia Maraini and The Glass Bug by Lin Bai
Abstract
This article focuses on the "tainted" images of women in autobiographical women's literature. The so-called "tainted" women are those whose behaviors and characters deviate from the general perception and moral requirements of women in traditional society. In this paper, I will choose Teresa, the heroine of Maraini's Memories of a Female Thief, who was forced by the “patriarchal” society to live on the streets and steal for a living. She was then transferred to all the Italian prisons with countless trials and tribulations, and finally released from prison after half of her lifetime wasted. Nonetheless, she still retained a pure heart and kind nature, embracing life with passion and hope, and resisted the cruelty she faced with resilience and strength. At the same time, I will choose Lin Zhuzhu, the heroine of Lin Bai's The Glass Bug as another object of my comparative study, who, seeking to establish new relationships between men and women, ventured alone into the studio during the golden age of cinema, entangled with four men and even had ambiguous relationships with women.
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