On the Female Images in The Boundless Grassland —— What is the Boundless Grassland like?

Abstract: The Boundless Grassland is an excellent masterpiece in Malachin Fu's works. With a strong spirit of realism, the work shows us the picture of the struggle of the Inner Mongolia people for national autonomy under the leadership of the China Communist Party. The creation of many female images in the works makes the works have unique aesthetic value.

Keywords: "The vast grassland" female image

Malaqinfu is a leading figure among contemporary Mongolian writers in China. During his 60-year creative career, he has created more than 40 short stories and a novel "The Boundless Grassland". 1957 On the Boundless Grassland (renamed as Boundless Grassland after being revised by 1963) was published in the first half. The novel reflects the story of Inner Mongolia grassland people's liberation under the leadership of China * * * Production Party in the early days of national autonomy and liberation war. This work, like other literary works in seventeen years, is the product of the era of "fame" and has a strong political color of the times. Under this framework, characterization is inevitably "stereotyped". However, as a writer with profound literary attainments, Malaqinfu still "can't help" retaining the vivid life characteristics of the characters when portraying female images. The female images in The Boundless Grassland can be divided into the following two categories:

First, the image of female leaders

It is common for women to be leaders in seventeen-year literature. Because the liberation of the country means not only political liberation, but also women's liberation. The establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC) marked the liberation of women living at the bottom of society for thousands of years. The state has promulgated a series of constitutions and laws to ensure that women enjoy the same rights as men in politics, economy, culture, education and social family, and that women become masters of the country. Therefore, many writers consciously design the images of female leaders in their works to show the thoroughness of the liberation of New China.

On the endless grassland, Su Rong, the political commissar of the CPC Working Committee and the leader of the Eighth Route Army of Mongolia, was portrayed. Among the many female leaders portrayed by Malachin Fu, Su Rong is the most distinctive and outstanding one. This role has a dual political/gender identity.

First of all, from the political role, she is a leading cadre who is loyal to the party's leadership and resolutely implements the party's principles and policies. As soon as she came to Terike village, she carried out propaganda among Mongolian herders in accordance with the party's ethnic policy, United and mobilized the masses, and at the same time United all forces that could be United, even for the upper class of Mongolia. In Su Rong's appearance, Malachin Fu also wrote "Two men's thick eyebrows" and "Walking like a man", which are similar to the characteristics of men, which is undoubtedly strengthening Su Rong's political identity as a leader. Several "confrontations" with the enemy fully showed her maturity and sophistication as a political leader. Once, when the motorcade just entered the village, Purib, the great shepherd, found several famous Mongolian folk singers to perform a BMW "Song of the Horse" concert for the motorcade. This time, Ma's introduction nominally welcomed the arrival of the working group, but actually gave the working group a scare. Su Rong resolved crisis after crisis with the calmness and wisdom of a political leader, and finally "united" the opponents in turn, and carried out a propaganda campaign against civil war and striving for mass liberation. This shows that women are equal to men in political identity, and their wisdom is extraordinary. So Su Rong is called "the pride of the grassland" and "the heroine of the grassland".

Secondly, from the perspective of gender, she is an ordinary woman with feminine characteristics. If Su Rong, a female leader, is shaped from a political perspective, with some typological characteristics influenced by mainstream political tendencies, then shaping this female leader from the perspective of women's own characteristics will make her flesh and blood. She has the industrious quality of Mongolian women, and her works have written many times that she feeds lambs like a herdsman. She will also miss her husband and children on barren nights; In the face of difficulties and setbacks, there will be a faint light, and she also needs the help of men. These are all concentrated expressions of femininity. It is precisely because of this feature that the image of Su Rong has not become a political symbol, and many critics have reflected on the "masculine" characteristics of the image of female leaders in the past 17 years. However, in the novel "The Boundless Grassland" by Malachin-fu, we see a unique female leader image different from "the heroine image is shaped by male narrator's rhetoric into a character whose gender and heroic characteristics are difficult to identify or contradict".

Second, the image of ordinary women herders

In the vast grassland, the writer Malaqinfu not only created the image of female leader Rong, but also created many ordinary Mongolian female herders, especially young women, which is the most aesthetic image in his works. Malachin Fu is very good at describing grassland women, and paying attention to the fate of grassland women is the remarkable feature of Malachin Fu's novel creation. On the endless grassland, Malachin Fu's description of grassland women is more colorful than his other works. He created many ordinary women in his works, each with a different personality and different experiences. Generally speaking, the image of these ordinary female herders has the following two characteristics:

1. are the protagonists of tragic fate.

With a strong sense of caring for women, Malaqinfu created an ordinary female herder at the bottom of society for us. Under the double oppression of class and men, they walked humbly on the historical stage of Mongolia.

First of all, from the perspective of class status, the main women described in the works belong to the working class at the bottom of society, and they are oppressed and exploited by Mongolian nobles. The work describes the crime of the Grand Shepherd Boy Principality plundering women by virtue of its power. Du Rima originally had a happy family and a gentle and considerate husband. After being occupied by Gong Guoer, she fell into the abyss of pain and despair and became a cold fatalist. Qin Si and her lover Timur were childhood friends, but Gong Guoer's lust and greed destroyed the happiness of the lovers. The old lady Gangaya lived a lonely life in the old society of Mongolia ... all these reflected the inequality of the class status of Mongolian women in the old society, and they were the main groups who were oppressed and hurt.

Secondly, from the perspective of gender differences, these women are victims under the control of traditional patriarchal society. After human society entered the patriarchal society, women gradually lost their existence. They became accessories and accessories of men. They are constructed and have no right and ability to choose.

Because of the differences between Mongolia's geographical location and cultural development and inland areas, the survival dilemma of Mongolian women is more obvious. After being occupied by Gong Guoer, Du Rima tried to fight and escape, but when all this failed to change her fate, she chose to give in. If this submission is only superficial, not internal, then we can say that she is not the real victim of men. However, Marachin Fu surprisingly shows us the psychological distortion of a bottom-level woman under the oppression of male chauvinism. Du Rima hated Gong Guoer, who destroyed his family happiness, plunged himself into the abyss of despair and became a bullied and neglected person. However, this did not awaken Du Rima. On the contrary, in this cruel life dilemma, she has formed extraordinary endurance. Beauvoir once said: "The attitude of resignation brings admirable patience to women." In this long-term patience, she became indifferent and gradually moved towards an extreme psychological distortion. When Gong Guoer liked the new and hated the old, and captured Qin Si, Du Rima projected all her dissatisfaction on her partners with the same fate. She even thought that it was Qin Si's arrival that made her "out of favor", and this psychological description of "self-admission of bad luck in the peach blossom" was so profound.