What makes the women in the book go to a common tragic fate? First of all, let's have a rough understanding of the emerging era of ideological change: a group of avant-garde intellectuals in China put forward the slogan of "equality between men and women", with the aim of fundamentally denying the patriarchal concept in the traditional society that has imprisoned China for thousands of years and liberating women from the feudal shackles. Therefore, there have been a series of practical actions to liberate women: such as abolishing foot binding, promoting women's education, opposing arranged marriages, and the emergence of professional women ... These changes have strongly denied feudal traditions and played a very important and positive role in breaking the suppression of women by feudal system. However, in Zhang Ailing's works, all kinds of women are still distressed and sobbing in the male world, and the male and female world is gloomy and dirty, filled with suffocation and decay. "Women under the influence of thousands of years of culture are attached to men with the consciousness of' original sin', and men have become the only sunshine in their lives." 5. Marriage is loveless. Beyond the scope of feelings, wearing a lot of shackles. What caused this? This is because the recent changes in times and ideas have only left them with changes in their lifestyles, and their consciousness is still dominated and controlled by men. The deep-rooted three cardinal guides and five permanent members not only make men feel that women are just one track-minded in their bodies, but more sadly, women themselves have no idea of transcending this cognition. Even if they start to go to college and receive education; Start looking for a job and start a new starting point in life; Even studying abroad, accepting the influence of foreign culture, and finally finding a talent is true. Even the above capital that distinguishes them from ignorant village women has become their bargaining chip in the future. Of course, everyone has the nature to fight against fate, and women in the old days are no exception. Zhang Ailing did not ignore women's own grasp and struggle for fate. They try hard and work hard, but there are too few roads for them to choose from. Limited ideas pin their desire for happiness and self-realization on men, and marriage is the main theme of their lives. Zhang Ailing mercilessly mocked the meaning of marriage. In her pen, "there is no love in the world, only desolation everywhere, the desolation of fighting for marriage and women's greatest career, which is really gorgeous and lively." The women in her novels desperately pursue marriage, and all they get in the end is their bodies. The marriage described by Zhang Ailing is loveless. Marriage with love is painful. Love can't make marriage, but marriage can't stand the temptation of love. Marriage is a shackle, and it is impossible to lock others and love with it. The result can only be ruin. For example, there is no love in several marriages in Eighteen Springs. From acquaintance to love, Man Zhen and the world are pure and sincere, with no interest and no material concern (this is rare in Zhang Ailing's works). However, they can't escape the clutches of bad luck. Man Zhen fell into the trap set by her sister, Manlu, who wanted to use her sister to trap her man and lock her marriage. After escaping from the clutches of humiliation, Man Zhen went to Shi Jun with bitterness and humiliation, while Shi Jun gave up his last effort in despair and married Cui Zhi, whom he didn't love. Poor Man Zhen wanted to cry, so he had no choice but to let the four seasons of life flow silently behind him. Therefore, from the perspective of women themselves, it is not difficult to see that these tragedies are caused by them to some extent, and they pin their hopes of changing their destiny on men, not themselves. But from the social point of view, from birth, the outlook on life and values imposed on women by society are exactly the same. It is impossible for them to achieve the goal they want to struggle on their own from their narrow life background. The backwardness of women's thoughts limits the way to realize self to the scope of marriage. This also forms the common ground of most female characters in Zhang Ailing's novels, that is, they all try to find their lifelong happiness through marriage and realize their lifelong pursuit, including economic status and emotional sustenance. Only when a woman finds a husband who can satisfy herself can she guarantee the possibility of a happy life in the future. Therefore, this is also one of the most direct and fundamental reasons why the female characters in Zhang Ailing's works finally go to tragic fate. After the May 4th Movement, there appeared many so-called "new women" who had received university education and even studied abroad, such as Man Zhen and others in the 18th spring. The west wind spread eastward in the developed areas of old China, which allowed a woman to receive higher education, which can be regarded as a kind of progress, but did it fundamentally free women from the shackles of feudalism? Has it really awakened the female self-consciousness that has been silent for thousands of years? Does this create women's progressive thoughts? The answer is no. There are two reasons for this. First, because all women are bound by traditional moral standards in the old society at the same time. From the beginning, everything showed them that a woman must be attached to their man, the master of their body and soul, in order to get happiness in life. No matter what the process is, a woman's ultimate destination should be her husband. Even if women have the ability to receive education and earn their own living, it is only superficial to analyze these from the root causes. They can make a living by working temporarily, but they can't pin their life's fate on their careers because society can't agree with such a lifestyle. When the first batch of professional women in China appeared in the society, from the strong background of independent women represented by Man Zhen and others, we found and realized endless bitterness and helplessness. Undeniably, after the May 4th Movement, the status of women has indeed changed a lot, such as female college students taking part in the revolution and writing. However, the "three cardinal guides and five permanent members" and "three obedience and four virtues" in old China for thousands of years still bound most people under the banner of old morality. Dressing up and short hair can't fundamentally change the deep-rooted concept rooted in the character consciousness-women should only be attached to men by nature. For men, the wife is just a decoration and an object under the social and moral constraints, and most of them only mean that the family is suitable and the family is passed on. It is this concept that has bound women in China for thousands of years. In the 1930s and 1940s, although there was a new trend of thought against the impact of decadent ideas on traditional ideas, it only started from a few people for all, and did not change the deep-rooted ideas of most people in society. Secondly, another old moral standard is women's concept of chastity. In Europe, the feminist movement broke the shackles of China women's feet and European women's skirts in various drastic ways, striving for women's freedom. In China, women silently and naturally suffer from all kinds of "torture" tailored for them by the patriarchal society based on "male power". The so-called "loyalty" and "chastity archway" are not only deeply rooted in men's ideas, but also indelibly imprinted in women's hearts. For example, when Man Zhen's mother learned that her son-in-law raped her second daughter in the spring of 18, her reaction was chilling-if she wanted her daughter, she would marry Hongcai by mistake. The woman's persistence not only allowed her to acquiesce in this arrangement, but also pushed her daughter into the endless abyss intentionally or unintentionally. Why do such old and decadent moral standards bind women in China for so long? We are thinking deeply: the tassel in Love in a Fallen City was ridiculed by her family because she was almost penniless after divorce; The tragedy of Qiao Qi's life in The Golden Lock also stems from her almost abnormal obsession with gold. In "Eighteen Springs", what Manlu and she want to trap is not only money and the protection of their future living places ... So we can see that another key reason why women rely on men is their passive economic status. After birth, family is the pillar of her life, so she should "follow her father"; When she grows up, she marries someone, and her husband is the guarantee of her survival, so she wants to be a husband. Even if she is old and all the people who have to obey are gone, she still depends on her son. The so-called "obedient" woman has to do all her life, that is, obey the family and be attached to men. All they can do is to survive in an insecure marriage. Therefore, the fate of women in that era will not and cannot be tragic. On the other hand, why can women now create their own independent sky with their own hands? It is precisely because of their high economic status that they can strive for the happiness they want with the knowledge and ability equal to or even beyond that of men. At that time, women could not stand on their own feet because their thoughts were bound by the old moral standards and their behavior was constrained by the passivity of their economic status. In order to survive, they have to rely on men who can support them financially, and in order to gain social respect, they have to live according to the rules given to them by society. This is the root of the tragic fate of female characters in Zhang Ailing's novels.