文化偏见的世界

梁晴

【摘 要】文化偏见是跨文化交际的重要理论之一，主要体现在个体和集体在文化意识上的分歧。哈代的名篇《德伯家的苔丝》同样存在着不同角色之间、角色对资本主义社会意识形态、资本主义和封建主义意识形态之间的冲突。正是这些冲突引发的偏见导致了苔丝悲剧人生的形成。

【关键词】文化偏见 个体-个体的偏见 个体-集体的偏见

Ⅰ Introduction

According to analysis in intercultural communication， the prejudice can be parted into individual prejudice and collective prejudice. The individual prejudice can be precisely separated as individual-individual prejudice and individual-collectivism prejudice. In the novel Tess， all kinds of prejudice are reflected.

The protagonist is a young woman who comes from low social status， yet she endows with the good personalities such as beauty， benevolence and diligence. She gets informed with the flirty young man named Alec on the road to call kinsnap with Durbervillies. The young man seduces her and subsequently Tess pragnants， however the infant dies. After a long-time release of spirit， Tess goes to a farm to earn money. There comes the Angel， who loves Tess and persuades her to marry him. Tess confesses her past wrong dids and pursues Angels forgives， yet Angel leaves and what leaves to Tess is endless waiting. At that time， Alec insists on persuading Tess giving up waiting and lives with him. With the burden to raise her family she finally agrees. However Angel comes back to Tess. The novel ends with the inevitable ending that Tess kills Alec and finally be justified by law.

Ⅱ Individual-individual prejudice

The term means a person has biased idea on other people because of his learning and understanding.

1 Prejudice on Alec

Tess， comes from a lower social status， born with the heavy burden to raise her younger sisters and brothers， and the loss of the only living（the horse） adds to her sadness. Under such circumstance， she develops the constrained characters. As she is constrained， she is reluctant to contact with these people with distinctive characters， such as Alec.

In readers opinion， Alec is the negative person who seduced Tess， while with a close reading of the whole novel， the readers can not definitely negate that Alec also loves Tess heartedly.

“The man is smoking， about thirty years old”， this is Tesss first impression on him. Actually Alec is just 24 or 25 years old. Tesss prejudice comes out that such bad-conducted man does not deserve further attachment.

And Tesss prejudice on him deepens after he seduces her. She believes that the man maltreated her and will not shoulder the responsibility on her. However， from details， we can see that Alec loves her sincerely and almost plays a role of protector. When Tess is required by his mother to sing to the hens， he comes to teach her willingly. This does not come out of sexual intention but of hearted care. He pursues her and shows his sincere offer that he will accept her whenever she wants to go back.

Tesss prejudice on Alec burst out in the last chapter of the novel， with the thought that the forever loss of Angel comes from his continual persuasion on her to give up waiting for Angel and live with him， she finally kills him and her prejudice on him burns down.

Actually we can say that Alec is the newly-born representative of capitalism， who are bold， realistic and full of thoughts. He will try his best to achieve what he desperately wants. While Tess is backward-looking， her prejudice on him always appears when their conductions go to different sides.

2 Prejudice on Angel

Angel is the reasonable man meeting Tesss expectations， who is humble， knowledgeable and shares the same sentiment with her. So from the first impression， In Tesss opinion， Angel deserves believe on. However this is also a kind of prejudice， what people take for granted will deceive herself.

In the past and pursues his forgiveness， while what left to her is the departure of her husband and the endless waiting.

Boldly speaking， Angel should shoulder the responsibility of Tesss tragic destiny. He is the representative of the conservative class， who can not accept new ideas， value standards. His prejudiced value on man and woman directly lead to the desperation of Tesss hope.

However， Tess never clearly see the obstinate character of Angel， his meek communion and kind words deceive her that she will be forgave by such kind people.

Ⅲ Individual-collectivism prejudice

In Hardys ages， the capitalism is in rapid development， In accord with the main stream social ideology， peoples values also changes. The new ideas， values are gradually accepted by people and the old ones diminish. While Angel， who is the prototype of conservative class， can not put away the prejudice on ethics， that is to say， he can not accept a deduced woman as his wife. His value on the equality of man and woman always appears in his mind while never put into action.

Although Angel clearly senses Tesss deep love and recognizes that her wrong dids is not conducted intentionally. Yet he can not put away the prejudice that a woman should faithful to her husband from both mind to body.

Ⅳ Collectivism-collectivism Prejudice

In Tess the Durbervilles， Angel and Alec actually do not stand on the platform at the same time， there is no conversation between them. While the contradictions still exist， and focus of the contradiction can be analysis as the contradiction between the conservative class and the progressive capitalism.

Angel， the stereotype of constrained class， he can not a wife who is not pure. Alec， the representative of progressive capitalism， he ignores too much details. Thus the prejudice between the two ideologies leads to incompatibility of the people. Thus Angel leaves Tess， which is the real reflection of his hating towards progressive capitalism， On the contrary， Alecs acceptance of Tess is the prove that the progressive capitalism has thrown away the obstinate values which controls constrained class.

Ⅴ Conclusion

Prejudice， whether a born nature of person or a gradual-developed one， may leads to some unreasonable results. Tesss prejudice on Alec， leads to her reluctance to contact him. Her prejudice on Angel， leads to the credulity of his generosity on sex. Angels prejudice on the ethnic standards or the inequality of man and woman， directly leads to the tragic destiny of Tess. The communal prejudice between the two ideologies， the conservative class and the progressive capitalism， makes Tess， a miserable woman go between two men without concerning her own desire.Tesss tragedy is the tragedy of prejudice， so the prejudice between one another or ones prejudice towards social ethics should be changed.

参考文献

[1]胡文仲.跨文化交际学概论[M].外语教学与研究出版社，1999

[2]Thomas Hardy. Tess of Durbervilles[M].Penguin Books， 2006

[3]陈国明.跨文化交际学.上海华东师范大学出版社[M].2009