Women’s Self-reconstruction With Fromm’s Freedom ConceptTaking The Grass is Singing and The Handmaid’s Tale as Examples

Female’s living condition in the patriarchal society is revealed in The Grass is Singing and The Handmaid’s Tale. The freedom is divided into positive freedom and negative freedom by Fromm. The women’s living plight in the two works is interpreted from Fromm’s concept of freedom. By comparing the self-reconstruction ways of Mary and Offred in the dilemma, it can be concluded that Mary’s self-reconstruction fails due to her pursuit of negative freedom and Offred’s self-reconstruction succeeds thanks to her pursuit of positive freedom. The effective self-salvation ways for females who are caught in plight are provided from the perspective of Fromm’s freedom concept, which is helpful for women’s pursuit of positive freedom through love and creative labor to get rid of their own plight to achieve self-salvation.