The Little Sister's Struggle: Sibling Conflict in "Brother and Sister" and "The Mill on the Floss"

小妹的反抗：〈兄弟姊妹〉及《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》中之手足衝突

10.30095/SYJH.201101.0004

陳昭芳(Chao-Fang Chen)

手足競爭 ； 「家庭理論」 ； 「心理發展理論」 ； 〈兄弟姊妹〉十四行詩 ； 《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》 ； sibling rivalry ； family theory ； developmental psychology ； "Brother and Sister" sonnet sequence ； The Mill on the Floss

中山人文學報

30期（2011 / 01 / 01）

69 - 90

英文

喬治‧艾略特（George Eliot）在完成〈兄弟姊妹〉（”Brother and Sister”）十四行詩之際，曾告訴出版商，兒時的兄妹情誼是她最鍾愛的寫作主題之一。然而，艾略特的著作中，包括〈兄弟姊妹〉及《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》（”The Mill on the Floss”）兩部被視為她的自傳書寫的作品，鮮少有兄妹之間深厚且融洽的情感描述，反之，在艾略特的刻劃下，兄妹間暗藏著看似平靜實則波濤暗湧的緊張關係。小說家艾略特所言與她作品中表達的差距著實耐人尋味。本論文關注艾略特筆下緊張的兄妹關係，試圖分析〈兄弟姊妹〉及《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》兩部作品中，手足衝突及問題的起因，以及小說家筆下的人物及作家本身在手足問題造成的影響之下，是否有可能在情感上完全的切割兄妹關係。為探討家庭中手足衝突的源起、特性及其衍生的後果，筆者擬採用社會心理學的進路，挪用「家庭理論」（family theory）中關於父母親/家長偏袒心理的討論，以及「心理發展理論」（developmental psychology）中尤其是有關孩童及青少年發展的論點。本論文並進一步探討手足關係在其特定的社會氛圍中展現了父權制度對女性作家的影響，使其在面對性別歧視時女性作家如何採用某種競爭策略。簡言之，艾略特作品中的兄妹衝突反映也挑戰了女性在其偏袒男性文化中的從屬地位。

After she had written the ”Brother and Sister” sonnet sequence, George Eliot told her publisher that one of her ”best loved subjects” was childhood affection between brothers and sisters. There are, nevertheless, but scanty descriptions of loving sibling affinity in her works. Not even those depicted in the ”Brother and Sister” sonnet sequence and ”The Mill on the Floss”-supposedly her most autobiographical writings-really count as such when carefully analyzed. Underneath the seemingly loving relationship between brother and sister, we detect quiet but constant struggles between the siblings. The discrepancy between the novelist's claim and practice is indeed very peculiar. In focusing on George Eliot's general representation of strained relationship between brothers and sisters in these works, this paper considers the causes and effects of sibling conflict and questions if it is psychologically possible, for both Eliot's fictional characters and the novelist herself, to disassociate oneself from one's sibling. Essentially a close textual, biographical and cultural analysis, this paper also employs socio-psychological approaches such as family theory and developmental psychology, whenever applicable, to trace the origin, nature and outcome of domestic discord between siblings. The paper proposes that the difficult sibling relationships, with their broader cultural implications, illustrate the source and power of patriarchy and its detrimental impact on women writers, who had to adopt certain coping strategies in the face of sexual discrimination. In short, sibling conflict in these works reflects and challenges women's subordinate status in their culture resulting from its favoritism of males.

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