Writing Man as Woman-The Gender Construction of You Ruilang in A Male Mencius’s Mother
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61173/yvhh9y09Keywords:
Li Yu, A Male Mencius’s Mother, Silent Operas, Ming and Qing Novels, Gender StudiesAbstract
A Male Mencius’s Mother is a Storytelling Script Fiction written by Li Yu, who is a dramatist and novelist in the Qing Dynasty,and it is included in the Silent Operas. The fiction mainly tells the romantic relationship between You Ruilang and Xu Jifang, alongside You Ruilang’s nurturing of Xu Chengxian akin to a mother figure.You Ruilang emerges as a distinctive character characterized by a blend of male biological sex and pronounced female social and biological traits within the text.While existing analyses predominantly concentrate on character depiction and plot progression, overlooking the structural elements of the Storytelling Script Fiction and the author’s narrative influence.This paper examines Li Yu’s gender construction of You Ruilang through narrative intervention, story structure, and textual content, highlighting how Li Yu crafts this character akin to his female characters.
References
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to female characters in both the story structure and the [7] Wang, S.F. (2006) The Romance of the Western Chamber. actantial configuration.Within the text, You’s biological Annotated by He, Q.S. and Bai, S.Q. Shanxi Ancient Books and social genders are ascribed female attributes, and his Publishing House, Taiyuan. p. 133.
masculine traits are consistently elided by both the novel’s [8] Oakley, A. (1985) Sex, Gender and Society. Gower characters and the author. Publishing Company Limited, Aldershot. pp. 158, 173. Consequently, although Li Yu labels You Ruilang as a
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