美国文学学期论文-作业

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关于美国文学的论文

关于美国文学的论文

关于美国文学的论文美国梦作为美国文学中一个永恒的主题,始终贯穿于美国文学之中。

下文是店铺为大家搜集整理的关于美国文学的论文的内容,欢迎大家阅读参考!美国文学的论文篇1浅析美国文学中的旅行与美国梦摘要: 对于美国人而言,上路旅行不仅是自由和美国梦的隐喻,而且是实现“显明的命定”(Manifest Destiny)的物质手段和方式。

本文以惠特曼的《草叶集》和克鲁亚克的《在路上》等作品为例,说明旅行以及过路仪式表现了典型的美国经验,表达了对美国梦的追寻、实现和传播,成为美国文化传统的重要组成部分。

关键词: 旅行;美国梦;《草叶集》;《在路上》一道路将人们从一地引向另一地,它是不同地点彼此沟通的不可或缺的桥梁。

原本各自独立、互不关联的两地因而被连接起来,产生互动,拥有了更加丰盈的生命。

几乎所有的文化都赋予道路以特别的价值,对之倾注了连绵不断的情感。

在美国,道路四通八达,如同一张网把人们的日常生活联系起来,而由于美国人生性“不安分”,不愿久居一地,加上酷爱户外活动,上路旅行便成了美国生活的一种实现方式,同时也成为美国文化的一大隐喻。

这一隐喻对于美国有着特别的意义,因为美国毕竟是由旅行者创建的:当初,清教徒远离家国,跨越大西洋来到这片陌生的土地;后来,他们从偏居美利坚东北一隅的新英格兰逐步西进,扩展畛域,奠定今日美国之格局。

毫不夸张地说,道路在美国的建立和发展过程中建立了不朽的功勋。

此外,美国幅员辽阔、地域广袤,加上经济繁荣,汽车工业发达,美国成为举世闻名的车轮上的国家。

出于工作和生活的需要,美国人花费不少的时间“在路上”,驱车出行几乎成为他们的必需。

旅行不仅是指从出发地到目的地的跨越,而且常被视为对某种历程的经历,例如,它可以象征性地指代个人的成长,或者是对某种信仰(如宗教信仰)的追寻。

穿越全美、尤其是跨越大片未开发地区的旅行,是勇气和冒险精神的体现,这种对未知领域的探索伴随着美国向西部的扩张而被放大甚至神化。

英美文学论文范文

英美文学论文范文

英美文学论文范文英美文学是一种重要的文化艺术表现形式,虽然是文学,其实也是反映当时时期的是思想文化和社会现实,体现的是西方文化的发展过程,也反映的是西方文化和思想。

下面是店铺为大家整理的英美文学论文,供大家参考。

英美文学论文范文一:历史文化在英美文学中的作用摘要:在诸多历史、社会、文化、政治、经济、生活方式、地域、宗教、价值观等因素差异下,英美文学作品势必出现千姿百态的形式和文学风格,只有深刻地理解上述因素对于英美文学著作的影响作用,才能够透析英美文学著作的实质,才能更好地理解英美文学著作中机智隽永的内涵。

关键词:历史文化;英美文学一、历史与文化差异影响下英美文学著作所具有的特点(一)历史与文化差异影响下英国文学著作的特点英国文学源远流长,经过了漫长的时间和时代的演变。

在这个过程中,文学本体以外的各种现实的、历史的、政治的、文化的力量对英国文学产生着影响。

英国文学是对于当时社会环境的一种映衬与写照。

文学内部遵循自身规律,历经不同历史阶段。

如盎格鲁-萨克逊史诗《贝奥武甫》;中古英国文学著作时期,代表作乔叟(Chaucer)的《坎特伯雷故事集》;文艺复兴下的莎士比亚代表作《威尼斯商人》《罗密欧与朱丽叶》《哈姆雷特》《暴风雨》等;新古典主义下的英国文学著作,浪漫主义时期,华兹华斯的《抒情歌谣集》;现实主义下的英国文学著作时期,代表作为夏洛蒂•勃朗特的《简•爱》,哈代的《德伯家的苔丝》,大作家查尔斯•狄更斯的《大卫•科波菲尔》《远大前程》《双城记》;现代主义下的英国文学著作康拉德的《黑暗的心脏》(1899)。

语言和风格的“标新立异”是英国现代派的最大特点。

战后英国文学代表作约翰•福尔斯的《法国中尉的女人》大致呈现从写实到实验和多元的走势。

从厚重的文学底蕴出发,英国文学著作发展到今天正在朝着百家争鸣、百家齐放的方向发展。

(二)历史与文化差异影响下美国文学著作所具有的特点美国的文学历史与美国资本主义的发展如影随形,虽然早期的文学著作隐约还有英国文学的痕迹,随着美国资本主义的民主与自由的不断演绎升华,美国的文学著作也大放异彩,形成了美国民族的特有色彩。

美国文学史论文

美国文学史论文

美国文学史课程论文A Brief Summary of the Historyof American Literature From Romanticism to Postmodernism姓名:叶红立学号:2011212831班级:2011级3班分数:2013年12月21日IntroductionAmerican is a multi-national country because of its history. Just like a big container, it puts in various kinds of elements. When different cultures mixed together, that can not only be co-existed but also form a sharp contrast, which makes American literature has a flavor of distinct and various aesthetic feeling.The history of America literature began with the swarming in of immigrants with different background and cultures. After that, American literature had been greatly influenced by the European culture for a long period. It was not until America’s independence, did Americans realize that they need national literature strongly, and American literature began to develop. Romantics emphasized individualism and intuition. This was an exciting period in the history of American literature. Like the flowers of spring, there were suddenly many different kinds of writing at the same time. The Civil War was a watershed in the history, after which American literature entered a period of full blooming. Influenced by the Civil War, the American society was in a turbulent situation. The writings about local life, critical realism, unveiling the dark side of the society and yearning for nature were increased. After the First World War, Americans were at a loss postwar, and the Modern American literature and Postmodern American literature began.This passage will have a further discussion on this period by dividing them into several parts: Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, Modernism and Post-modernism.1.Romanticism PeriodRomanticism is a movement of the 18th and 19th centuries that marked the reaction in literature, philosophy, art, religion, and politics against the neoclassicism and formal orthodoxy of the preceding period. And the American Romantic period stretched from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War.Romantic Period is one of the most important periods in the history of American literature. When Americans were constructing their country, they also began to realize their differences from their European counterparts. They began to hope to see an entirely different literature model which expressed American cultures. Great writers of that period captured on their pages the enthusiasm and the optimism of that dream.There were plenty of good historical reasons why literature was so prominent during that period. Politically the time was ripe. After the 1812 war against England, the United States was finally free. Economically America had never been wealthier, but the Industrial Revolution and the nation’s change in status from a small, agricultural country to a major commercial and industrial power led to a massive impulse towards rapid urbanization. Culturally American own value emerged. There were American publishers and copyright laws to protect the writers from having their works printed. And also there were readers eager to expand their minds.American Romanticism shares many characteristics with British Romanticism. It was greatly inspired by Wordsworth’s poetic encounter with nature in The Prelude. However, developing as it did, Romanticism in America exhibited features of its own. It was mainly in the American romantic writers’ works. For examp1e, the American national experience of "pioneering into the west" proved to be a rich source of material for American writers to draw upon. They celebrated America's landscape with its virgin forests, meadows, groves, endless prairies, streams, and vast oceans. The wilderness came to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral 1aw. The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature. Such a desire is particularly evident in Cooper’s Leather Stocking Tales, in Thoreau's Walden and, later, in Mark Twain’s Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn. With the growth of American national consciousness, American character types speaking local dialects appeared in poetry and fiction with increasing frequency. Then the American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values and American Romanticism. One of the performances is the fact that American romantic writers tended more to moralize than their English and European counterparts. Here are going to introduce two representative writers and their works:Washington Irving(1783-1859) was the first American storyteller to be internationally recognized as a man of letters and the first great prose stylist of American romanticism, and his familiar style was destined to provide a model for the prevailing prose narrative of the future. His first book A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty (1809), written under the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, was a great success and won him wide popularity. He is best known for his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon,Gent (1819-1820), especially in which two short stories Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow have become American classics. Later he wrote works of history and biographies, such as The History of Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828), A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada and The Alhambra(1832). After that, he spent the rest of his life living a life of leisure and comfort, and writing The Life of Goldsmith (1840) and a five-volume Life of Washington (1855-1859). He died in 1859.James Fennimore Cooper (1789-1851) is respectfully remembered as a master of adventurous narrative and as the creator of an American hero-myth. According to a charming legend, Cooper’s first novel Precaution(1820) was a response to his wife’s challenge to improve on the current British society fiction, and the failure of this work turned him to historical novels. Later, The Spy, a tale of the Revolution he wrote, became a great success in America and Europe. In 1823, Cooper published The Pioneers (1823), which together with other 4 novels The Deer slayer (1841), The Last of the Mohicans(1826), The Pathfinder(1840) and The Prairie(1827) became his well-known Leather-stocking Tales. Cooper went on to write over thirty novels,including exciting adventures of the sea like The Pilot. Cooper created the American historical novel using authentic American subject.2.Realism PeriodAs the economy developed, the nation witnessed an incredible expansion, among which the most influential one was westward expansion. The conquest of the new territories opened new horizons, but the country was also torn by the risk of internal division, which led to American Civil War.By the end of the Civil War a new nation had been born, and it was to demand and receive a new literature less idealistic and more practical, less exalted and more earthy, less consciously artistic and more honest than produced in the age when the American dream had glowed with greatest intensity and American writers had created a great literary period by capturing on their pages the enthusiasm and the optimism of that dream. Gradually, the Romanticism era in the United States was surpassed by another entirely different age.At about 1900s, American literature came to another entirely different age—the age of Realism. Realists searched for the social and human nature more directly. In part, Realism was a reaction against the Romantic emphasis on the strange, idealistic, and long-ago and far-away. It has been mainly concerned with the commonplaces of everyday life among the middle and lower classes.American realism was the outcome of the Civil War from all the aspects of politics, economy and culture. Politically the Civil War affected both the social and the value system of the country. America had transformed itself into an industrialized and commercialized society. The war also brought some obvious changes to the American economy. It had stimulated the technological development, and new methods of organization and management were tested to adapt to industrial modernization on a large scale. As far as the culture was concerned, the harsh realities of life as well as the disillusion of heroism resulting from the dark memories of the Civil War had set the nation against the romance.As a new literature, Realism emerged for an age. Under the influence of the Civil War and industrialization, Realism surely formed its own features. Realism aims at the description of the actualities of the life and free from subjective prejudice,idealism or romantic color. The writings are about local life, critical realism and unveiling the dark side of the society, and focuses on commonness of the common people, settings and events. Mark Twain is one of the representatives.Mark Twain (1835-1910) was the true father of American literature. He was an American humorist, lecturer, essayist, and author. His primary works are The Innocents Abroad, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. He intentionally deviates from classical genteel and tends to use local dialects, colloquial language, even Black English, slang, clipped structures and ungrammatical sentences. He was a combination of realism with romanticism. His works combine American folk humor and serious literature, characterize a local culture, elements such as speech, customs, and more peculiar to one particular place. The physical settings, and people’s behavior and thoughts are different from the other places.There are many other great writers in this period, such as William Dean Howells, Henry James, O. Henry, and so on. They have made great contribution to the world’s literature.3.Naturalism PeriodAfter the Civil War, it seemed that overnight the rapid industrialization of American society changed an agrarian nation into an industrial giant. As the westward expansion continued to push the frontier nearer the Pacific coast, the settlers found themselves subject to the ruthless manipulation of forces including the railroad, as can been seen in Frank Norris’wheat novels. The rapid social changes caused by industrialization brought serious social problems. While the captains of industry piled up huge personal fortunes, the ordinary man became the victim of industrialization. The harsh reality of the industrialization period changed man’s understanding about himself and the world in which he lived in. Living in a cold, indifferent, and essentially godless world, man was completely thrown upon himself for survival. During this special period, the literary naturalism was transplanted from France to the United States and became a very important literary movement in America.Naturalism was a literary movement of the late 19th century that yielded influence on the twentieth. It was an extension of Realism, a reaction against the restrictions inherent in the realistic emphasis on the ordinary, as naturalists insisted that the extraordinary is real, too.Naturalism, with its new techniques and new ways of writing, appealed to the imagination of the younger generation like Crane, Norris, and Theodore Dreiser. They tore the mask of gentility to pieces and wrote about the helplessness of man, his insignificance in a cold world, and his lack of dignity in face of the crushing forces of environment and heredity. They reported truthfully and objectively, with a passion for scientific accuracy and an overwhelming accumulation of factual detail. They painted life as it was lived in the slums, and were accused of telling just the hideous side of it. In naturalistic literature, man is always subject to the law of nature, which may not only be indifferent but also hostile. Therefore, gloom and despair characterize American literature of this period.American literary naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths. They attempted to achieve extreme economic classes who were determined by theirenvironment and heredity. In presenting the extremes of life, the naturalists sometimes displayed an affinity to the sensationalism of early romanticism, but unlike their romantic predecessors, the naturalism emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that lives were controlled by heredity and environment, that the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death. The pessimism and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of such American writers as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser.Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is the first American naturalism work. Norris’s McTeague is the manifesto of American naturalism. Dreiser’s Sister Carrie is the work in which naturalism attained maturity. These writers’ detailed description of the lives of the downtrodden and the abnormal, their frank treatment of human passion and sexuality, and their portrayal of men and women overwhelmed by blind forces of nature still exert a powerful influence on modern writers.Without satisfying people’s needs and refl ecting social conditions, Naturalism the same as Realism no longer stood on the historical stage. Although naturalist literature described the world with sometimes brutal realism, it sometimes also aimed at bettering the world through social reform. This combination of grim reality and desire for improvements is typical of America as it moved into the twentieth century, and paved the way to modernism.4.Modernism PeriodIn the year of 1914, the World War I broke out. World War I produced great misfortune to all human beings, but brought big fortune to Americans. Since the war was not fought on the American soil, by the second decade of the 20th century, the United States had become the most powerful industrialized nation in the world, outstripping Britain and Germany in terms of industrial production. After the war there was an economic boom and a deceptive affluence. American entered the era of big industry and big technology, a mechanized age that deprived individuals of their sense of identity. Along with the changes in the material landscape came the changes in the non-material system of belief and behavior. The war destroyed not only the lives of many promising young men, but also the early innocent beliefs of a whole generation, casting them into an age of disorientation, alienation and dissent. At the beginning of the 1930s, the economic crisis in America left a mark in the literary creations of this period. In addition, in Europe, there had been a big flush of new theories and new ideas in both social and natural sciences, as well as in the field of art which played an indispensable role in the conversion of American ideologies. The era of 1914 to 1945, marked by tremendous social upheaval and economic and political transformation, gave gave rise to modernism.Modernism originated at the end of the 19th century. It was a complex and diverse international movement in all creative arts: painting, novel, poem and play. It spread worldwide, particularly in the years following World War I. Towards the 1920s, these trends converged into a mighty torrent of modernist movement, which swept across the whole Europe and America. Modernist literature in America reached its peak in the 1920s up to the 1940s when this period ended.Literature of this period struggled to understand the new and diverse responses to the advent of modernity. Some writers celebrated the changes; others lamented the loss of old ways of being. Some imagined future utopias; others searched for new forms to speak of the new realities.The most recognizable "modernist" figures i n fiction are “the Lost Generation.”They were permanent expatriates living in Europe such as Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. The Lost Generation writers all gained prominence in 20th century literature. Their innovations challenged assumptions about writing and expression, and paved the way for subsequent generations of writers. Ernest Hemingway once took part in the First Would War, so many of his works deal with war or injury, and nearly all of them examined the nature of courage. By suffering from the violent of war, he felt that he was cut off from all his old beliefs and assumptions about life. He thought “The War had broken America`s culture and traditions, and separated it from its toots”. The works he wrote—The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea—inferred the state of mind, and they became the representatives of the feeling of this generation.Along with the greatest figures in “the Lost Generation” are famous poets such as Ezra Pound, Thomas Stearns Eliot, William Carlos Williams, and Robert Frost. African Americans also made significant contributions to the American modernist movement. Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot and E. E. Cummings are three poets who opened the way to modern poetry. Ezra Pound started the “Imagist” movement, and his The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock has been called the first masterpiece of modernism. The Waste Land of T. S. Eliot particularly comments on the inhumanity and decadence of large modern cities.5.Postmodernism PeriodThe period after World War II has witnessed great changes of the United Stated of America in many aspects. The war, on the one hand, provided the base for the country to grow into a dominating superpower both in the western world and in international affairs on the global scale; on the other hand, it brought about tension and crisis within the country. Because the politics of America were influenced by two great fears. First, there was the fear of the Bomb; many Americans were sure there would be a war with the Soviet Union using atomic bombs. Also, in the late forties and early fifties, fear of Communism became a national sickness. Against such background emerges and develops the postmodernism in the 1970s.Postmodernism is regarded as a term encompassing all the new critical theories since the late 1960s. It is, accordingly, more reflective about what is subject, truth, metaphor, and human. Postmodernism is a literary experimentation focused mostly on fiction in the United States from the mid-1960s till about 1975. It became aligned with Post-structuralism and deconstruction between 1975 and 1985. Postmodernism became a general term for the cultural logic in post-industrialist society or the late stage of capitalism that is service-oriented and information-oriented.Post-modernism seems to grow or emerge from Modernism. Post-modernism involves not only a continuation, sometimes carried to an extreme, of the counter traditional experiments of modernism, but also diverse attempts to break away from modernist forms which had, inevitably, become in their turn conventional, as well as to overthrow the elitism of modernist “high art” by recourse to the models of “mass art”. In this regard, Postmodernism is a movement against Modernism.Postmodernism as a new development of literature was believed to be nothing, this group of postmodernists created some new rules for the game. For them, existentialist angst should not be what defines literature; instead literary imagination shows a virtual geography.The term of Post-modernism is in fact not an inclusive description of all literature since the 1950s or 1960s, but is applied selectively to those works in widereference to fiction. Firstly, war novels become an important genre after World War II, represented by Norman Mailer. Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead has been held as the masterpiece of its category. James Jones’ best novel From Here to Eternity is a powerful story of army life in Hawaii just before the attack on the Pearl Harbour. Secondly, metafiction as Chris Baldick puts it, is “more especially a kind of fiction that openly comments on its own fictional status.” A notable modern example i s John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman, John Barth’s The Floating Opera, Barthelme’s Snow White, etc.EpilogueRomantic period stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. Then the Civil War brought the Romantic Period to an end. The Age of Realism and Naturalism came into existence, which were against the lie of romanticism. The period between World War I and World War II is referred to as the era of Modernism. During that period, a large number of artists and literary movements are totally different from those of the 19th-century’s in style, form and content. Since 1945, the United States of America experienced some successive social, political and racial upheavals. Against such background emerged and developed the postmodernism.American literature has gone though the progress of development over 200 years. It is characterized by the distinct individualism, which is optimistic, free and always creative. The living American literature has been providing potent thinking headsprings for the writers past and nowadays, and it will continue reanimating the talents to bequeath and enrich the tradition of American literature, of which deserved to be proud.Bibliography1.Malcolm Bradbury, Richard Ruland, Published in Penguin Books 1992, AmericanLiterature From Puritanism to Postmodernism2.李权文,王卓,华中师范大学出版社2010年8月第一版,《美国文学史》3.王守仁,《<新编美国文学史>简介》。

美国文学毕业论文

美国文学毕业论文

美国文学毕业论文美国文学记录了美国人民不断探索、向西拓展、追求幸福的历程,艺术地再现了美国200多年的发展历史,并在不同时期以不同的表现形式表现出来。

下文是店铺为大家搜集整理的关于美国文学毕业论文的内容,欢迎大家阅读参考!美国文学毕业论文篇1浅析美国文学中的美国梦摘要:美国梦是美国文学中贯穿始终的主题。

不同历史时期美国文学中的美国梦有着不同的表现,如殖民时期的开拓致富梦、建国后的自由民主梦、内战后的扩张发迷梦,而到一战后传统美国梦开始出现迷茫与失落、二战后则走向了绝望与反叛。

关键词:美国文学;美国梦;本质;资产阶级美国文学从诞生到现在虽然只有200多年的历史,却产生了一大批对世界文学有着巨大影响的作品,在这些作品当中美国梦是一个贯穿始终的主题。

美国梦是目前国内人文社会学科的一个研究热点。

本文试图从论述美国文学中美国梦的演变过程人手,研究其变化的原因及在文学中的表现,进而揭示其本质。

一、美国梦产生的历史背景美国梦的产生有其特定的历史背景。

自从哥伦布发现新大陆之后,欧洲人就梦想着到这块土地上去掠夺财富,开拓疆域。

英国清教徒更梦想着到这里来建立起新的耶路撒冷&mdash;上帝在人间的王国。

而当时的士著印第安人尚未建立国家,整个“新大陆”都是“无主土地”,无边无际、任人开垦和占有的无限土地带来了无限的机会,许多在旧世界中不可想象的事情在这里发生了。

如果说得天独厚的自然条件是美国梦形成的基础,那么《独立宣言》的发表便使美国梦有了思想依据。

《独立宣言》不仅宣布了人“生而平等”,还将追求幸福规定为不可剥夺的天赋人权。

在欧洲旧大陆的封建等级制度下,灰姑娘只是童话里的人物,而在美国,白手起家“从破衣烂衫到腰缠万贯”的大亨则比比皆是。

在一个尚未定型的国度中,尚未定型的年代里,只要抓住机会,梦想就会实理。

于是,在美国文学中,美国梦也就成了一个贯穿始终的主题。

二、不同历史时期的美国梦一部文学史也可以说是一部美国梦的历史,有着200多年历史的美国文学记录了不同时期美国人的梦想。

美国文学期末论文

美国文学期末论文

美国文学学期作业(2016-2017学年度第一学期)年级:姓名:学号:论文成绩:An Analysis of Scarlett’s Character inGone with the WindA war swallowed a beautiful woman, a perfect family and a love. Everything seemed to be a dream, going with the wind.Recently,I have just finished reading a famous novel written by Margaret Mitchell—Gone with the Wind,which is one of the most popular works among American novels.It took the author about 10years.Gone with the Wind is one of the most popular American novels. W hen it was published, its sales broke many records among the publishing circles, and it is famous all over the world. The novel mainly describes th e life of Scarlett who is the daughter of Tara’s master during the American Civil War. Meanwhile with the hint of a triangular love between Scarlett, Ashley and Rhett, the novel depicts a wide and prosperous picture of the social life of the South in America. Not only the rich content of the novel but also the complex plots and the contradictions between the figures of t he novel have an important artistic effect on shaping the characters in the novel. Among all the roles, Scarlett, is the most successful one who is full of conflicting and complicated features.Before the Civil War, spoiled and beautiful Scarlett is a proud prince ss. She is also naïve and carefree for she is brought up in a rich family, in which they have many large fertile fields to grow cottons and many slave s that work for them. It is no necessary for her to think about anything butjust to dress in new costumes to attract the sights of the boys and to join t he balls.Wherever she goes, she is always the focus and center among the young girls, and she is adored by many men, which irritates the other girl s. So she gradually becomes a girl who is coddled, undisciplined, egotisti c, fractious and narcissistic. She believes every man around the village will fall in love with her, and she can‟t endure the talk without a topic of her. But her self-centered and exclusive character causes the tragedies of her love. After her failure to confess to Ashley, she doesn’t fall down or le ave away which shows her courage for life at the first time.With the outbreak of the war, she loses everything she owns. In the summer of 1864, Sherman starts to attack Atlanta and everyone is fleeing the city. But Scarlett has to stay at Atlanta with Melanie for she has made a promise to Ashley to look after Melanie who is going into labor,she even braves the life danger to escort Melanie and her newly-born baby to go back to Tara in the flames of war. Her kindnessconquers theselfishness, which shows her nice aspect. She is so horrible but she sticks to go back home, but what she sees in Tara is only the endless loneliness and desolation.The war absolutely changes the way of her life and her affectionate h omestead, Tara. Scarlett can‟t lead a life comfortably as a child any more , for the reason that no one can protect her from threat. Scarlett changes h er concepts for the new life. She lays down her position of a lady of noblebirth and changes her concepts of the old Southern life. She wants to fee d her family and herself through her own work, which shows her realistic character towards life. When her sisters and the house servants complain, Scarlett even works in the fields of Tara herself to ensure a good harvest o f cotton. To her, the memory of hunger is clearer than the memory of brai n. She vows her famous line, "As God as my witness I will never be hung ry again.”The transition of the living environment is the exterior reason for Sc arlett‟s changing her character, which causes Scarlett‟s distinctive charac ter. Before the war, Scarlett lives in the traditional and conservative planta tion and the life style forms her plantation master‟s character of loving la nd than anything else in the world and her rebellious character spontaneo usly. She leads an extremely poor life during and after the war, and that a bominable environment molds her character to confront the reality bravel y; and her independence and selfishness to overcome difficulties. The rich life experience before war; the unstable life during the war and the extre mely poor life after war provide the foundation to form the character of S carlett. And thus in such environment, Scarlett’s character can be complic ated.Scarlett has the strong courage to face fresh and blood and to overco me difficulties, but this wish of independence is not accepted by the socie ty at that time. But in modern society, Scarlett is definitely an independent female who has strong will. She has the spirit of not admitting failure ev en it is at present.Scarlett is a hybrid who exhibits more of her Irish father’s hard-headedness than her mother’s refined Southern manners. Although initially she tries to behave prettily, her instincts rise up against social restrictions. Scarlett’s mother Ellen and Mammy also teach her all that a gentlewoman should know, but Scarlett never learns nor does she see any reason for learning it. Scarlett shows her distain for the artificial manners. She does as what she says with the development of the novel. Scarlett does not like the other girls at that time, who lead a life of waiting, they wait for men’s allegiance and acceptance; they wait for love and they wait for appreciation and compliment. Scarlett is completely different from them at all; instead, she strives for love and happiness actively. Her action is not different from the modern people.Scarlett hates the rules of the society. When she becomes a widow who has to wear black weeds and can’t show her face in the public, she is very displeased. After the war, in order to rebuild and protect Tara, she even goes outside to manage a sawmill herself and does other business successfully. People at that time can’t endure women to appear in public for earning money, and the men can’t tolerate the women who can defeat them. But Scarlett disregards of what people say, but just does what she believes.As f or Scarlett’ view of love and marriage spends most of her life being adored and loved by others. Wherever she goes, she is always the center and focus among the girls. Although she marries three times, she never understands the meaning of love or gets the true love. Scarlett divides love and marriage into two parts, which proves that she is a character full of contradictory and complexity. In the novel, Scarlett has been thinking that she loves Ashley and some decisions she made are also related with Ashley. However, she never considers marriage as a serious matter but just treats it as a play game, and she marries with the men she doesn’t love just in order to resolve living problems.Life is filled with various contradictions, and when a contradiction is over; another is coming, so the plots of the story will develop further and the portrayed image will be more charming.As readers, in my opinion, we don’t browse it, but peruse mind of it and apperceive it. To learn how to depict a character and to deliver a mind though the character is what we should do after perusing it.。

美国文学选读 期末论文

美国文学选读 期末论文

美国文学选读期末论文英文学院11级13班1101011302陈欢A Rose for Emily----William Faulkner1.Introduction of the authorWilliam Faulkner (1897-1962), American novelist, born in an old Southern family in the town of Oxford, is regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.Faulkner trained in Canada as a cadet pilot in the Royal Air Force in 1918, attended the University of Mississippi from 1919 to 1920, and lived in Paris briefly in 1925. In 1930, he bought a pre-Civil War mansion, “Rowanoak” in Oxford, Mississippi, where he lived,a virtual recluse, for the rest of his life. As a writer, Faulkner’s primary concern was toprobe his own region, the deep South. One of his primary themes is the abuse of black by the Southern whites. As a master of a rhetorical, highly symbolic style, Faulkner was alsoa brilliant literary technician, making frequent use of convoluted time sequences and ofthe stream of consciousness technique. Though, his work was published as early as 1919, and largely during the 1920s and 1930s, Faulkner was relatively unknown until receiving the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature. Two of his works, A Fable (1954) and his last novel The Reivers(1962), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked his 1929 novel The Sound and the Fury sixth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century; also on the list were As I Lay Dying (1930) and Light in August (1932). Absalom, Absalom! (1936) is often included on similar lists.2.Summary of the storyA Rose for Emily is Faulkner's published short novel in April 1930, which seems asthe most famous short fiction among his works. The story happens in a southern town-Jefferson after the civil war in the United States. Emily is a member of a family in the antebellum Southern aristocracy. After the Civil War, the family has fallen on hard times.She and her father, the last two of the clan, continue to live as if in the past. Neither will consent to a marriage for Emily to a man below their perceived status. Her father dies when Emily is about thirty. After her acceptance of her father's death, Emily revives somewhat and she becomes friendly with Homer Barron, a Northern laborer who comes to the town as a contractor to pave the sidewalks. This gives Emily's dull and stuffy life a little warm color. But Emily can't get rid of the constraint from family's dignity and the influence from her father. So, when she finds out that Homer doesn’t want to marry her, she kills him with arsenic. She thinks only this way can save her love and reputation.From that time, Emily lives a life of insular in her shabby closed house and sleeps with Homer's dead body for 40 years till she is died. The residents of the town know this amazing news till in her funeral.3.Writing Style of the storyFaulkner’s work is noted for its complexity partly because he deliberately places a considerable burden upon the reader. Instead of telling a simple straightforward story, he often exploits vague sequences, ambiguities, symbolism, experimental points of view, jumbled time sequences, avoidance of clear transition, withholding of vital information to compel the reader to join in the writer’s search for truth. Some of these techniques are used in A Rose for Emily.Faulkner’s chronology is unlike that of other writers of his time. He does not tell his story in linear fashion, but rather jumbles the sequential order. This technique builds suspense for the reader as the plot unfolds bit by bit. The whole story is a portrait of Miss Emily’s refusal to change. To highlight the thematic concern, Faulkner constantly shifts the focus of the attention to the retrospect of Emily’s life by way of flashbacks. Emily Grierson dies at the very beginning of the story. Then there goes to the recollection of Emily’s refusal to pay tax in 1926. The time of the second part jumps back to some thirty years ago, during which her father dies and she kills Home Barron two years after that.When Emily buys arsenic, the time is over a year after they have begun to say “PoorEmily”. Then for six months she does not appear on the streets. The fourth part deals with things that happen in 1987 and after 1897. In the last part, the time turns back to the year of the 1940 when Emily dies at seventy four. After the funeral, the town people go to her room and all the secrets are revealed. The displacement in the chronological time sequence allows the narrator to tell story in a most dramatic way and to fill in useful background details.4.My understanding of the storyThematically, this story is not as simple as it seems. The conflicts in the story can be interpreted on different level, just as can many of his longer fiction works. On the superficial level, it is a murder story with elements of Gothic literature—an eccentric woman living in isolation, an old decaying mysterious house that other people had not been in for decades, and, of course, a dead body in the house finally discovered after so many years. On another level, the story explores the inner world of human beings, or the inner struggle in the human heart. But what gives me the deepest impression is the conflict between the South and the NorthThe novel A Rose for Emily is written at a background of social change of the south after war in America. It tells a tragic lifelong story of a noble seed Emily Grison to show that the contradictions of people in South America when the north became to replace the south. Emily as a protagonist of the novel has complicated means. Firstly she stands for tradition, social model as an aristocrat. Secondly she represents romantic love when she falls in love with Homer. And when she is refused by Homer, instead of crying, she kills him with poison. Now she stands for a person who is cruel and callous. Emily is a character who stands for a victim in the confliction between the traditional south and new conception of north.The mentality of residents of the small town in the novel of respecting Emily is the symbol of common mind of the south people to the traditional south culture after civil war.People respect and call for her Miss Emily. In the long time to them, the Emily family is like the characters living in a picture. They see Emily as the tradition, obligation, even a monument which reveal a nostalgic emotion to a gradually fading away traditional culture.The residents send their children to Emily to learn ceramics and painting punctually and devoutly just as to the church in Sunday. We can see clearly that the residents are so struggling with helping Emily in her income to maintain her noble image. They use a nostalgic, protecting tradition mood to pay attention to Emily, even prevent Emily and Homer to get married to maintain her noble position. They hope to see a no corrupting, real kingly noble. The differences reflect a condition that south tradition is coming to be replaced by north. That the old colonel prevents Emily's tax to help her reveals the old generation's attention to vulnerable group. But, new senators are dissatisfied with this. They call a meeting especially for tax, send letters to Emily and make a delegation to visit Emily for tax. When new generation was sent to Emily to learn painting, they knew they can't learn something from Emily. So they stop to send their children to Emily. Actually, compared to the old generation, new generation thinks more about themselves instead of others. To some degree, it is their selfishness and indifference that cut the relation between Emily and outside. All these show the deep confliction between the traditional south and new conception of north.。

[美国文学的论文]美国文学论文选题

[美国文学的论文]美国文学论文选题

[美国文学的论文]美国文学论文选题美国文学的论文篇1浅析禅文化在美国文学中的渗透和发展一、渗透阶段:从爱默生到狄金森,异曲同工的超验主义和禅爱默生及其同伴梭罗是美国第一代热爱佛学的人物。

早在1820年爱默生的日记中多次提到印度宗教思想,他熟读《薄伽梵歌》,并且向朋友们推荐。

1844年在其主办的刊物《日晷》上发表了《法华经》的译文,这是美国第一部佛教经典译作。

作为美国文化的精神领袖,爱默生终其一生想摆脱欧洲的文化束缚,因此,他转向古老的东方文化以寻求帮助,中国儒家思想和印度哲学成为其超验主义学说的重要源头。

爱默生的超验主义有许多内容与禅宗思想不谋而合,如万物一统、活在当下、热爱自然、自立、修身等精神。

①禅宗完全摆脱了外来偶像崇拜和繁琐教义的束缚,爱默生也竭力推动美国的文化独立和个性的解放。

百丈禅师说:“日日是好日”,爱默生宣称:“如果我们能始终‘活在当下’,我们应该受到祝福,我们懂得利用每一降在我们身上之事……”②受爱默生影响,狄金森写了五百多首描写自然、探讨自然与人的关系的诗篇(约占她全部诗作的三分之一)。

除此之外,她的诗歌主题多是对死亡的独特理解、对自身的反省、对内心直觉的描述,甚至对“无我”之境、对“空”的领悟。

梭罗、惠特曼的作品也或多或少有禅的影子。

二、借鉴阶段:从庞德到史蒂文斯,从禅诗到诗禅19世纪末禅宗被介绍到西方之前美国文坛对禅的关注从对中国古典诗歌和日本俳句的关注中开始了。

唐代诗人接受禅学影响,导致了在一定程度诗的禅化。

禅诗在唐朝达到高峰,流传到日本后又与日本文化相结合形成了具有日本特色的俳句,这两种诗歌形式都成为禅的重要传播媒介,尤其在20世纪初意象主义诗歌运动的上升时期,大量的意象和简洁的俳句手法成了意象派诗人们借鉴的首选。

以意象派的压轴之作、庞德的《在地铁站内》{1}为例:这些面孔在人群中幽灵般地显现:湿漉漉的黑树枝上朵朵花瓣。

意象主义诗歌运动对以后的英美诗歌创作走向产生了深远的影响,它把禅的人生态度和处理题材的方式植入了西方诗歌。

美国文学学期论文格式

美国文学学期论文格式

Term Paper学期论文许昌学院2012-2013学年第二学期外国语学院美国文学学期论文论文题目:姓名:班级:学号:阅卷人:交论文时间:2013-6-4titleAbstract: F.Scott Fitzgerald is firmly regarded as one of the greatest writers in the history of American literature of the 20th century. His The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a classic works in his magical short stories. It tells a curious story of Benjamin Button who is born as a seventy-year old man and turns younger as the time goes by, and finally lonely died as a baby. The paper is intended to interpret the tragedy and reality of the story, and then further probes the reasons of the characters’ tragedy, the collapse of the American Dream and the characteristics of the Jazz Age reflected in the story.Key words: Fitzgerald; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; tragedy; realityF. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the greatest writers in America, because not only he created a lot of works in his life but also these works are greatly popular among readers. During his lifetime, he finished four novels, including The Great Gatsby (1925), This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beautiful and Damned (1922), Tender Is the Night (1934), with another published posthumously, The Last Tycoon(published posthumously, 1942). He also wrote more than 160 short stories, and some of them were collected in his short story collections, like Flappers and Philosophers(Short Story Collection, 1920), Tales of the Jazz Age (Short Story Collection, 1922), All the Sad Young Men (Short Story Collection, 1926), and so on. The theme of the majority of his works was the collapse of the American Dream.The 1920s were also called the Roaring Twenties and the Boom and the Jazz Age that is invented by F. Scott Fitzgerald himself. It was an economic boom, culture flourishing and mores shaking age (Wu, 2001: 45). Especially for the history of American literature, in the 1920s, there were a large number of great writers producing a great amount of brilliant literary works. And Fitzgerald was one of the greatest writers in that time (quoted in Wei, 108).Honestly speaking, Fitzgerald was an indelible literary giant in the history of American literature. He was called the spokesman of the Jazz Age, and also regarded asthe member of the “Lost Generation”who “caught in the war and cut off from the old values and yet unable to come terms with the new era when civilization had gone mad”(Wagner, 86). Meanwhile his tremendous literary works and…Fitzgerald used simple language to tell a curious case of Bebjamin Button, but the tragedy and reality of this story leave a deep impression on every reader.Every character in this story is a tragic image. Even though their tragedies are different, they have a common reason that is Benjamin’s backward life. Just because of Benjamin’s inverse-growth, his father is laughted at by others, and his wife suffers the sorrows of his betrayal. It is Benjamin that is the biggest tragic figure in this story. He has to accept his fate from his birth, even thoug he wants to find the way to cure his curious desease. He finds that he becomes younger and younger than before, but he can’t do anything just to accept it. However, on one hand, he is indulged in his youth. On the other hand, he has to accept the truth of becoming a baby who can’t remember anything. He forgets his past and even his current.This magic story shows the consistent theme of Fitzgerald’s works: the collapse of American dream. Just as the paper analyzed, the characters in the story had different kinds of dreams. Na matter what they were, they collapsed finally. The story also shows a deal of realitic things of the 1920s such as the worship of money and the new objects emerging in the 1920s. And the flappers were the obvious characteristic in the 1920s, which is also showed in the paper.Bibliography:[1] Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Shanghai: ShanghaiTranslation Publishing House, 2009.[2] Fitzgerald, F. Scott. This Side of Paradise. New York: Pocket Books, 1995.[3] Wagner, Nathan. “Turning Back Time: Duration, Simultaneity, and the Timeless inFitzger ald and Fincher's Benjamin Button”. English Theses. 2010: 85-86.[4] Wilson, Edmund, ed. Fitzgerald, F. Scott: The Crack Up. New York: New DirectionsBooks, 1964.[5]成丽.“浅析菲茨杰拉德短篇小说《本杰明·巴顿奇事》中的魔幻现实主义色彩.”延边教育学院学报.(2) 2011:12-14.[6] 李斌. “传奇具备真实,魔幻饱含情理—《返老还童》评析兼与原作比较.”贵州大学学报(艺术版). (3) 2009: 59-62.注:1.文中请勿出现I, we, you等人称代替,如需表示论文中的作者,请使用the authorof the thesis;2.请勿使用口语来撰写论文;3.课从中国知网、万方数据库(可下载硕士论文)下载文章作为参考,但严谨抄袭;4.该模板的页码设置不合适,同学们请选择A4纸的自定义模式,行间距为1.5倍,从左侧装订。

美国文学论文 Catcher in the Rye

美国文学论文 Catcher in the Rye

Catcher in the Rye: the Naivety of ChildhoodSummary: Discusses J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye." Describes main character Holden Caulfield's fixation on childhood. Details how he struggles through teenage life because he cannot accept the responsibilities that come with growing up.In the novel, "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D Salinger, the main character, Holden, is a teenager who refuses to grow up because he is naively fixated on childhood. Throughout the novel, Holden struggles through teenage life because he cannot accept the given responsibilities that come with growing up. Holden is obsessed with childhood because he chooses to be wedged between a world of the innocence of children and the complex world of adulthood. Holden deities his two younger siblings as if they're candidates for sainthood because of his fixation.Holden is a teenager who refuses to grow up because he is afraid of gaining the responsibilities that come with it. So, Holden struggles hard to stay childish. For example, throughout the book, he does not want to take responsibility to communicate with others that may want to help him. He refuses to go home and confront his parents and face the consequences. Along with this, he also pulls the childish silent treatment toward his parents; because that's the only knife he has to hurt them: ."..she wouldn't've been the ones that answered the phone. My parents would be the ones. So that was out." (pg. 59) He is afraid to talk to people close to him because they'll be critical to him. This would also explain his lack of interaction with Jane Gallagher: ."..I kept standing there, of giving old Jane a buzz- I mean calling her long distance at B.M... The only reason I didn't call him was because I wasn't in the mood." (pg. 63) Since he is afraid of interaction with people close to him, he tries to get strangers to talk to, so the conservations he has with them won't go too into depth. He does not want to face the world of reality. For example, in chapter nine, Holden asks his cab driver, who is a complete stranger to him, for a cocktail once he's done driving Holden to the Edmont Hotel: "Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail"" (pg. 60) Therefore, Holden will try to get some random stranger for a beer, as they won't criticize him.Among other responsibilities, Holden tries to set rules up for himself like an adult, but ends up breaking them right away: "Last year I made a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ass. I broke it though, the same week I made it- the same night, as a matter of fact." (pg. 63) Holden cannot maintain his rules, and ends up acting like a child, who needs someone else to set the rules up for him.However, Holden does show some transition toward adulthood. For example, he has a sexual temptation toward things he also considers perverted. When he stays at Edmont, he admits: "It's really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes." (pg. 12) In some aspects, he does show that he is growing up into an adult, even if he doesn't want to. Holden's strong focus of the ducks in the lagoon is also symbolic to his life. He is constantly concerned about where the ducks will go when the lake freezes: "I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away." (pg. 13) Just like the ducks, Holden is wondering where he's going to go in life. He wonders if someone will guide him to the right direction, or if he'll guide himself through it by instinct. In addition, the lake itself is also somewhat symbolic toHolden's life. When Holden visits Central Park to see if there were any ducks still around, he mentions: "Then, I finally found it. What it was, it was partly frozen and partly not frozen." The lake is transitioning into two different states, frozen and not frozen, while Holden is transitioning between childhood and adulthood. Since Holden chooses to be frozen between the transitions, Holden hates change. When Holden goes to visit the Museum of Natural History, he states that he likes the museum because it will always be the same each time he visits:"The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deer would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and their pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket." (pg. 121)Therefore, Holden would love to live in a world where everything stays frozen, where nothing changes. This way, Holden can never grow up to be an adult.Holden is a growing teenager who chooses to be frozen between a world of the innocence of children and complex world of adulthood. He is wedged between these two worlds because he possesses a fixation with childhood. Throughout the novel, Holden sounds like he is some grumpy old man who's angry about everything in the world as he narrates his story. However, when Holden constantly shows his curiosity for the ducks in the lagoon at Central Park, we see his genuine, more youthful side: .".. I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go." (pg. 13) This shows that Holden does have thoughts and concerns that others would consider being childish. At the moment, he is fastened between the world of innocence and the adult world.Holden finds the adult world very repulsive. In chapter ten, when he is in the lavender room of Edmont, he makes several comments that support this. For example, he finds the band, which consists of adults, as putrid: "The band was putrid." (pg. 69) Among this, he also states that the older guys in the lavender room were old and show-offy: "They were mostly old and show-offy looking guys" (pg. 69) He looks around the room, and sees these adults around home, and all he could state, is negativity toward them.Since Holden has a strong attraction to the innocence of childhood, Holden struggles to stay as a kid, and ends up doing childish things. For example, in chapter ten, in the lavender room, he looks like a kid trying to act grown up when he tries to impress the three thirty year old at the table: "I started giving the three witches at the next table the eye again. That is, the blond one... I just gave all three of them this very cool glance and all." (pg. 70) To try and impress the ladies, he tries to create a cool façade of himself by trying to act older. However, even if Holden thinks he knows what's going on around him, he ends up knowing nothing, which shows innocence in his character. Throughout his time in the lavender room with the three girls, he says the trio is of lower intelligence than him: "You could hardly tell which one is the stupidest of them." (pg. 73) However, at the end of the chapter, they leave him to pay for their drinks, which actually is prettywitty: "I think they should've at least offered to pay their drinks they had before I joined them..." (pg. 75) So, in the end, due to his innocence, Holden is left as the dumb one, with a bill to pay.Holden wants to be the "catcher in the rye." In chapter twenty-two, Phoebe asks Holden what he's going to do in his life. Holden then states:"Anyways, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around- nobody big, I mean- except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy." (pg. 173)Metaphorically, Holden wants to be the person to save the children before they fall out of their innocent knowledge into the repulsive world of adults.Throughout the book, Holden constantly praises his two siblings, Allie and Phoebe, as if they were candidates for sainthood. This is a very big example of Holden's attraction for childhood. In chapter 5, Holden is writing a composition for Stradlater, and states many wondrous things about Allie: "He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent. He never got mad at anybody." (pg. 38) Holden exaggerates that Allie is fifty more times as Holden is, but, how smart can one kid really be? Also, he says that he never got mad at anyone, but, every kid has been mad at least once to their friends and family, unless they're not human. When Holden was up in his hotel room, she explains for the first time in the book, what Phoebe is like: "You should see her. You never saw a little kid so pretty and smart in your life. She's really smart." (pg. 67) Similar to Allie's description, Holden deities his sister as if she's a child prodigy. Seven if she was smart for her age, it really doesn't say much. Again, how smart can a ten year old really be? Holden overrates his two siblings considerably, which is because of his fixation of childhood.However, Phoebe is the only person alive that he seems to actually love throughout the novel. Phoebe is the family connection to Holden, and becomes the catalyst for Holden's metamorphosis to adulthood. She is the only one throughout the book that is actually critical toward Holden and tries to push him to do better by agitating him: "You don't like any schools. You don't like a million things." (pg. 169) When Holden hears this, he becomes very upset: "'I do! That's where you're wrong-that's exactly where you're wrong! Why the hell do you have to say that"' I said. Boy, was she depressing me." When Holden's only connection of comfort is lost, he becomes knocked back into reality, and ends up saying that he's going to apply himself better at the end of the novel:."..this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I'm going to apply myself with I go back to school next September. It's such a stupid question, in my opinion. I mean how do you know what you're going to do till you do it? The answer is you don't. I think I am, but how do I know"" (pg. 213)Holden cannot accept the responsibilities and consequences that come with growing up, so toavoid the painfulness of maturing, Holden struggles to remain childish. He finds the adult world perverted and repulsive, but does not realize that he is slowly growing into the world. Due to his struggle to remain immature to society, he is fixated on the incorruption that children possess. He wants to be the 'catcher in the rye', which is a person who will catch kids that unintentionally run off a cliff covered in rye. Metaphorically, he wants to save the kids before they fall into the corruption that the adult world will entrap them in. Since Holden has a strong attraction to the innocence of childhood, he then worships his two younger siblings as if they were mini gods. When he finally gets to talk to the only close person he has, he is rudely awakened back into reality, by his kid sister, and is pushed to succeed.Work Cited:Salinger, J.D. "Catcher in the Rye"。

美国文学论文

美国文学论文

美国文学课程学期论文论文题目:(中文)从写作技巧分析《厄舍府的倒塌》(英文)A simple analysis of TheFall of the House of Usherfrom Writing Techniques学生姓名冶延菊学生学号201107050201411学生班级2011--2班学科专业英语学年学期2013--2014学年第二学期指导教师杨华所在学院语言文化学院2014年7月1日摘要作为爱伦坡恐怖小说代表作之一,《厄舍府的倒塌》不仅成功地塑造了典型的“不正常的”人物角色,而且在文章的框架结构、情节安排上有很多巧妙的设计。

文章中有许多对外界环境以及人物心理的细节描写,作者以娴熟的写作技巧将它们融合,并生动地创造了一个充满恐惧的氛围。

读者明知恐怖氛围是“被安排”好的,且其目的性显而易见,但是读者还是被恐惧紧紧包围,这就是爱伦坡所强调的“预期效果”。

关键词:写作技巧;恐怖氛围;预期效果AbstractAs one of the masterpieces of Edgar Allan Poe’s horror fictions, The Fall of the House of Usher in which the author not only successfully creates some typical characters who are usually “abnormal”, but also builds the whole essay through a clever design,especially in frame structure and organization of plots. Based on the skilled writing techniques, the writer make a horrific atmosphere vividly by lots of detail description about the outside environment and characters’psychology. Although it appears that this atmosphere is managed from “deliberate policy”, the readers are still wrapped by a great fear, which is emphasized by Poe---”the expected effect”.Key words:writing technique; horrific atmosphere; “the expected effect”A simple analysis of The Fall of the House of Usher fromWriting TechniquesWe all know, The Fall of the House of Usher is one of the most successful works of Edgar Allan Poe is considered the father of the modern short story. As to this writing, which is also an example of psychoanalytic criticism. And there are something meaningful and interesting worthing our efforts to study and appreciate, so I want to share some my own analysis about this great work with you.First of all, a great peculiarity of the writing is based on a clever structure design. On the one hand, the author does his utmost to create an impressive outside world (or we call it natural environment). And the author not only takes advantage of adjectives and adverbs in order to build a mysterious and scary atmosphere, but also relies on repetition of these key words. For instance, “During the whole of a dull, dark ,and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low the heavens,... within view of the melancholy House of Usher. ”At the beginning of the story, Poe is eager to create a depressive scene for us, and like these adjectives “dull”“dark”“soundless” whose appearance has decided the keynote of the whole article. When you read the first sentence, you can be grasped by the potential scare instantly as if you tended to be out of breath. And with the constant duplication of those main words, the environment is depicted more and more specific, vivid and appealing. All of these preparations provide a perfect setting for the characters’ activities.On the other hand, at the same time, the writer also creates an inner world of the leading character----” I”. When it comes to the inward world, there are also a lot of significant words are used, such as adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverbs, and so on. Especially, the writer is apt to use adjectives and adverbs to describe the subtle changes of the character’s mood, feeling and expression. For example, the writing is started with “...but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.”“...with an utter depression of soul which I can...”“...above all things startled and even awed me”, and the last reaction of the character is , “From that chamber, and from that mansion, I fled aghast”(Allan Poe, 2005). Throughout the entire story,actually, the reactions of the inner world are always changing with the variation of the outward world. What’s more, with the rapid changes of the outside environment, the changes of the inner world become more and more fierce and shaper, of course, catching our more eyes.Secondly,Allan Poe achieves his purpose of creating fear with the help of muti-pronged approach that is an effective writing technique to get an “the expected effect”. Because Allan Poe proposes that “It is only with the denouement constantly in view that we can give a plot its indispensable air of consequence or causation, by making the incidents, and especially the tone at all points, tend to the development of the intention”(2013: P17), there is nearly no redundant words in his work. In order to quickly bring about a terrific air for readers, the author depicts the environment through visual sense. For instance, in paragraph five, “The discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread ... web-work from the eaves”, “No portion of the masonry had fallen... the individual stones”(Allan Poe, 2005). All those descriptions of objects provides the receivers with a visual impact through which can make an impressive picture.paragraph twenty-five to the last paragraph, there are several obvious sounds, like “rustled uneasily”“a light step”“the ordinary commingled noises”“a low and apparently distant, but harsh,protracted, and most unusual screaming or grating sound”, and so on, which is mentioned frequently and always designed in a very silent setting. They are so intensive and vivid that the readers have no time to put together their imagination when they are involved in reading, so the writer tries his best to simplify the process of shaping a “expected effect” air, and he shows every details frequently and even deliberately. However, it is not attractive for Poe to build a perfect atmosphere just through the combination of vision and hearing ,as a result. He also adds the psychological description of the characters. At the beginning of the article, “I know not how it was---but , with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit”, and there follows another strange feeling, “It was the manner in which all this,...and I accordingly obeyed forth with what I still considered a very singular summons”(Allan Poe, 2005). With the time passing by, the fierce degree of the characters’inner motion becomes fiercer and fiercer. What’more, the changes of the characters’psychology tends to be more apparent and intensive,which brings the readers a strong feeling of fear. Even though the readers know that all of those plots are organized on purpose, they still can’t get rid of the great fear when they indulge into the wonderful and constant structure design. That is the reason why Poe’s essays are popular in spite of over a century.From what I have discussed, we can know that Allan Poe can not only create plenty of excellent details and plots, but also can make full use of his deliberate arrangement to his readers’ attention, and give them a feeling of “personally on the scene” . So, when you are caught by the fear, Poe’s “expected effect” has been achieved.References1.Allan Poe,Edgar The Fall of the House of Usher, Beijing: China people's Liberation Army Publishing House, 20052. 陶洁编著,《美国文学选读》(第三版),高等教育出版社,2011.63./p-454954734.html, 20124. /article/164bc968-bcfc-4db7-929d-08c922be3db0.htm, 2011。

美国文学论文

美国文学论文

美国文学研究摘要:如同其他所有国家一般,美国的文学是由其独特的发展历史所塑成的。

在早期,美国是由东岸的一系列英国殖民地所形成的,因此美国文学的传统较亲近于英国文学。

不过,随著历史的进展和不断的移民潮,美国文学的特色和宽广度都已经超出英国文学的范畴。

在最早的殖民时期,美国文学主要的题材是赞扬新大陆替殖民者和欧洲母国所带来的利益。

宗教信仰上的争议也是题材之一。

随著革命战争的爆发和美国的独立,催生了新国家的独立意识。

写下了独立宣言.奴隶制度的冲突和接踵而来的内战也对美国文学有深刻影响,到了19世纪末,由于工业化的进展和国土开拓时期的结束,美国文学脱离了原先的边境文学,进入了20世纪,工业化带来的社会转变使美国文学发展的更为多元和复杂。

黑人文学、南部文学、以及现代文学也在同时期兴起。

在第二次世界大战后,新的世代、和新的种族、地区、社会特征都与之前的世代大不相同,大量的移民文学和新兴的女性主义文学也成为美国文学的一部分了。

关键词:殖民地;独立意识;美国文学;黑人文学;后现代主义文学中图分类号:i306 文献标识码:a文章编号:1005-5312(2010)24-0061-02美国文学表现为平民化,多元化,富于阳刚之气,热爱自由,追求以个人幸福为中心的美国梦。

美国文学大致出现过3次繁荣:19世纪前期形成民族文学,第一和第二次世界大战后,美国文学两度繁荣,并产生世界影响,已有近10位作家获得诺贝尔文学奖。

一、美国文学的雏形早期的美国文学是从欧洲文学的样式和风格中衍生出来的。

例如,维兰德和查尔斯·布罗克登·布朗的小说创作就是对英格兰哥特小说的模仿。

麦尔维尔的小说中融入了很多哲学上的思索。

在其代表作《白鲸》中,作家通过对一场惊心动魄的捕鲸历程的描述,表达了对人类痴迷状态、人性中罪恶成分以及人类如何战胜这些天性的思索。

在他的另一部短篇杰作中,梅尔维尔则戏剧性的描写了战争时期一艘船上人们责任和同情心的主题。

美国文学学期论文参考范文

美国文学学期论文参考范文

美国文学学期论文参考范文美国文学的历史虽然不长,但却发展得非常迅速,也涌现出许多杰出的作家,因此美国文学发展中的每个阶段都留下了不少传世经典之作。

下文是店铺为大家搜集整理的关于美国文学学期论文参考范文的内容,欢迎大家阅读参考!美国文学学期论文参考范文篇1浅论当代美国女性文学的特点一、前言美国作为发展速度最快的发达国家,除了在经济、科技和军事领域有突出的建树,在文学领域也取得了不俗的成绩。

考虑到美国属于移民国家的特性,在多文化交流和冲突下,美国女性文学取得了快速的发展,并涌现出一大批风格独特、独树一帜的女性作家,所创作的作品也在美国本土以及世界范围内广为流传。

从美国女性文学的发展来看,美国女性文学的大发展,是文化交流的结果,也是移民文化与美国本土文化相结合后诞生的又一种新文化。

所以,对当地美国女性文学的特点进行分析,有助于了解美国女性文学中所倡导的价值观,对于了解美国文化很有必要。

二、当代美国女性文学的分类经过了解发现,当代美国女性文学取得突出成就的作家,都是具有移民背景的女性作家,按照移民背景分类,当代美国女性文学主要可以分成以下几类:1、亚裔作家创作的美国女性文学。

在美国女性文学的创作队伍中,亚裔作家是重要的创作力量,其中华裔作家更是以独特的视角及东方文化的魅力,提高了女性文学的创作质量,使美国女性文学在整体水平上有较大的提升。

目前亚裔作家最杰出的要属华裔获奖作家汤婷婷、唐恩美和印度裔女作家巴拉蒂·玛克姬等人。

这几位知名作家创作的作品不但在美国文学史上获得了重要奖项,同时推动了美国文学的快速发展,使美国文学更加多元化。

2、黑人女作家创作的美国女性文学。

从美国女性文学的发展史上看,黑人女作家是重要的创作力量。

基于美国种族歧视的社会背景,黑人女作家的数量较少,并且创作的作品主要以关注美国文化发展和种族歧视有关,同时也细致的刻画了美国社会黑人群体生活的人生百态,对研究美国黑人发展史和美国文化具有积极的借鉴意义。

美国文学学期论文

美国文学学期论文

美国文学学期论文推荐文章关于当前语言文字学界几个问题的思考热度:最新汉语言文学专业本科毕业论文热度:有关语言学课程的论文范文热度:乡土文学论文参考范文热度:有关伤痕文学论文热度:美国文学的历史不长,但发展较快,20世纪以来,在世界上的影响越来越大。

下文是店铺为大家搜集整理的关于美国文学学期论文的内容,欢迎大家阅读参考!美国文学学期论文篇1浅论华裔美国文学中的中国人物形象摘要:华裔美国人是美国人中一个特殊的群体,华裔美国文学同样是一个介于中国文学和美国文学之间的特殊的文学现象。

本文通过分析华裔美国文学中的中国人物形象,来研究华裔美国文学中关于中国文学和美国文学的交融和结合。

希望对推动中美两国文学的交融起到一定的积极作用。

关键词:华裔美国文学人物形象关公一引言正如华裔美国人兼具中国人和美国人双重性格一样,华裔美国文学同样跨越了中国文学和美国文学各自的人物性格和审美情趣。

在华裔文学历史上,许多华裔作家通过对原有的中国文学中的经典人物进行改写,添加了更易于美国人接受的故事情节,从而使得中国的文学形象树立在美国文学和美国人心中。

这些在华裔美国文学中出现的中国文学人物形象既体现了中国文化被世界所认可的艰难历程,也肯定了华裔作家在促进中美文学融合所作的艰苦努力。

二关公“关公”是一位在中国家喻户晓的大英雄,他的忠义,他的传奇被人们通过戏剧、评说、小说等形式代代相传。

正因如此,在华裔文学中,“关公”作为中国人物的主要形象被用于恢复中国式英雄的文学构建中。

“关公”的忠勇为华裔作家提供了广阔的写作空间,其代表的男性气质正是华裔作家构建华裔英雄主义作品的不二选择。

早在林语堂的《唐人街》里就有了关于关公的典型描述:“关公是中国历史上最著名的一位将军,是一位真正意义上的战神,他永远保护那些同他一样刚正、善良的人,惩罚那些虚伪、邪恶的人。

”赵健秀的《甘加丁之路》(1994)同样把关公定位为忠义、勇敢、正直的代表,认为关公是中国伟大品质的集中表现。

美国文学方向的论文

美国文学方向的论文

美国文学方向的论文试论美国文学的文学价值【摘要】众所周知,美国是个大熔炉,孕育出来的美国文学自然也是多元素。

尝试简单论述一下多元素美国文学所体现的文学价值。

主要围绕从宗教色彩到世俗色彩的变化,美国梦的出现和发展以及自由民主思想等三个文学价值作简要阐述。

【关键词】美国文学;宗教;世俗;美国梦;自由民主思想“我们要用自己的双脚走路;我们要用自己的双手劳动;我们要讲出自己的思想”——1837年,爱默生在全美大学生联谊会上演讲了《美国学者》,并作出如此的呼吁。

《美国学者》被誉为“美国思想上的独立宣言”America’s Declaration of IntellectualIndependence。

像其他国家的文学发展一样,在爱默生和惠特曼等杰出作家的共同不懈努力下,美国本土逐渐孕育出了美国特色的文学。

正如惠特曼在《草叶集》中体现的一个统一的大美国思想般,大熔炉式的美国造就了多元素的美国文学——美式文学在经历不同的历史阶段中,不断发展创新,走向独立和成熟,成为世界文化中一朵绚丽的奇葩。

那么,当我们的思想畅游于美国文学之时,究竟能激荡出怎样的文学价值呢?随着历史的游历,一路走来,时代目睹了美国文学从宗教色彩到世俗色彩的变化;世界见证了美国梦在其文学中的出现和发展;我们还一直感受着自由民主思想在美国文学中的体现。

一、从宗教色彩到世俗色彩的变化由于种种历史和社会原因,美国早期的文学作品被抹上了浓厚的宗教色彩,世俗色彩甚浅。

长期以来,英国实行殖民掠夺政策,横征暴敛,军政高压,并且利用宗教来禁锢殖民地人们的思想和文化。

特别在清教徒占优势的新英格兰等地,人们的主要文化生活是每个礼拜日去教堂听取牧师的布道。

而且在当时的北美,文化水平较高的是宗教人士。

18世纪40年代,新英格兰地区还出现了被称为“大觉醒”的宗教运动。

于是,当时产生了大量的宗教文学作品,主要以宗教诗篇的形式出现。

在众多作家的作品中都体现出浓厚的宗教思想——例如著名女诗人AnneBradstreet在诗作“Some Verses on the Burning of Our House”中,提出了自己的主张:当跟富裕的天堂之家进行对比时,世俗财富不过是“dunghillmists粪堆上的雾气”。

美国文学史期末论文终极版

美国文学史期末论文终极版

美国文学史期末论文终极版Contents摘要 (1)Abstract (1)Chapter 1 American Romanticism(1810--1865) (2)1.Background reasons (2)1.1 Politically this period was ripe (2)1.2 Economically American had never been wealthier (2)1.3 Culturally American own value emerged (2)2.Basic features and styles (2)2.1 Expressiveness (2)2.2 Imagination (2)2.3 Worship of nature (2)2.4 Simplicity (3)2.5 Cultural nationalism (3)2.6 Liberty,freedom,democracy and individualism (3)3.Influence (3)Chapter 2 American Realism(1865--1914) (3)1. Background changes (3)1.1 Politics (4)1.2 Economics (4)1.3 Cultural and social changes (4)2. Basic features and styles (4)2.1 Truthful description of the actualities of the real life and material (4)2.2 Focus on ordinariness (4)3. Three dominant figures (4)4. Influence (5)Chapter 3 American Naturalism(1890--1914) (5)1. Background information (5)1.1 Cultural and Social Background (5)1.2 Religion and theoretical basis (5)2. Major ideas and features of Naturalism (5)2.1 Determinism (5)2.2 World: godless, indifferent, hostile (6)2.3 Style: scientific objectivity (6)2.4 Subjects and themes (6)3. A representative work that show the ideas and features above (6)3. Influence (6)Chapter 4 American Modernism(1914--1945) (6)1. Background information (6)1.1 Politics (6)1.2 Economy (7)1.3 Cultural and social background (7)2. Characteristics and features of Modernism (7)3. Major genres and a representative of each one (7)3.1 Modern poetry——Ezra Pound (7)3.2 Modern fiction——Ernest Hemingway (7)4. Influence (8)Chapter 5 American Postmodernism(1914--1945) (8)1. Background information (8)1.1 Politics (8)1.2 Economics (8)1.3 Social and international background (8)2. Characteristics and major features (8)2.1 Experimental writing techniques (8)2.3 Irony, playfulness and black humor (9)3.Influence (9)Bibliographies (9)摘要具有自身特点的新文学的出现,是一个国家真正形成的标志。

美国文学论文作业

美国文学论文作业

英诗汉译的“形式”转化摘要:在全球化和跨文化的语境下,翻译和文化传播息息相关,诗歌翻译成为人文和社会科学的重要方面,对文化多元格局的形成,有着举足轻重的作用和影响。

英诗汉译实践中,诗歌的“形式”转化一直是个关注的焦点。

关键词:诗歌翻译形式转化引言诗歌体裁独特,语言凝练,富于技巧,其意境之徜徉,美学之深蕴,耐人寻味,发人深省。

要翻译好英诗并非易事。

有人说诗歌翻译就是“知其不可而为之”。

西方自古就有不可译论,如“翻译者即背叛者所谓”﹑“‘诗’,就是在翻译中失去的东西”。

雅克布逊认为诗在文字﹑音韵﹑隐喻等方面的特性,从本义上说,诗歌是不可译的,而只能进行创造性移植。

“诗歌的不可译正是因为诗歌的音义合一,诗歌的音韵以及由音韵暗示的象征意义都是在翻译中难以传达的,而损失了这些,原诗的译文就乏善可陈了”(商瑞芹,2007:46)。

不管怎样,在诗歌翻译中总有一个“形式”转化的问题。

翻译家在这方面也有着不同的主张。

如用无韵体翻译古体格律诗;自由体,半自由体译诗,也有打破以诗译诗的传统,用散文体译诗;下面就诗歌翻译“形式”转化的角度,从英诗汉译白话诗和英诗汉译古体诗两个方面去谈谈诗歌的翻译。

一.用无韵体翻译古体格律诗在英诗汉译中,对格律诗是的翻译颇具挑战性,不同语言在音、形、义及其句法等方面都有着各自的特征,因此格律诗的韵律在转化成另外一种语言时很难找到对应的韵律替代,处理不好,往往会因形害义。

因此在转化中要具体问题具体分析,能用则用,不能用就不用,绝不能因形害义。

看《西风颂》诗歌中的一个节选:Angels of rain and lighting: there are spreadOn the blue surface of thine aery surge,Like the bright hair uplifted from the headOf some fierce Maenad, even from the dim vergeOf the horizon to the zenith’s height,The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirgeOf the dying year, to which this closing nightWill be the dome of a vast sepulcher,Vaulted with all thy congregated mightOf vapours, from whose solid atmosphereBlack rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear!汉译如下:天使般的雷雨闪电:它们飞溅在波涛汹涌,水雾弥天的海面上,碗如狂女头上竖起的熠熠生辉的发束,从灰暗的天际,到万里云霄,到处都是踏至欲来的乌云。

美国文学英语期末作文范文

美国文学英语期末作文范文

In the realm of American literature, the endofsemester essay serves as a culmination of students understanding and appreciation of the diverse themes, styles, and historical contexts that shape the literary landscape. Here is a sample essay that explores the impact of the American Dream on the characters in F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby.The Elusive American Dream: A Reflection on The Great GatsbyThe American Dream, a concept deeply ingrained in the national psyche, has been a driving force behind the aspirations of countless individuals throughout American history. It is the idea that anyone, regardless of their background, can achieve success and prosperity through hard work and determination. However, F. Scott Fitzgeralds seminal work, The Great Gatsby, presents a nuanced and often critical perspective on this ideal, suggesting that the pursuit of the American Dream can lead to moral decay, disillusionment, and ultimately, tragedy.Jay Gatsby, the enigmatic protagonist, embodies the quintessential selfmade man. He rises from a humble background to amass a fortune that allows him to live a life of opulence and luxury. His journey is a testament to the possibilities that the American Dream promises. Yet, Gatsbys wealth is built on a foundation of illegal activities, reflecting the darker side of the pursuit of success. His story serves as a cautionary tale, illustrating how the relentless chase for wealth and status can corrupt ones values and lead to a life devoid of genuine happiness.The character of Daisy Buchanan represents another facet of the American Dreams allure and its pitfalls. Daisy, born into privilege, is drawn to Gatsbys wealth and the lifestyle it affords. However, her relationship with Gatsby is not based on genuine love but rather on the material comforts and social status that he can provide. This superficial connection underscores the emptiness that can accompany the pursuit of the American Dream when it is detached from authentic human connections.Fitzgerald uses the setting of the 1920s, an era of unprecedented economic growth and social change, to highlight the moral complexities of the American Dream. The Roaring Twenties was a time when the nation experienced a cultural shift, with a focus on materialism and hedonism. This backdrop serves as a microcosm for the broader societal implications of the American Dream, where the pursuit of wealth often overshadows the importance of integrity and genuine relationships.The novels tragic conclusion, with Gatsbys untimely death and the disillusionment ofthose around him, underscores the ultimate futility of his quest. Gatsbys dream of winning Daisys love and living a life of happiness is ultimately unattainable, not because of external circumstances, but because the dream itself is flawed. It is built on an idealized vision of success that is unmoored from the realities of human nature and the complexities of life.In conclusion, The Great Gatsby offers a profound critique of the American Dream, suggesting that while it may inspire ambition and hard work, it can also lead to moral compromise and a hollow existence. The characters in the novel serve as a reminder that the true measure of success is not found in material wealth or social status, but in the quality of our relationships and the integrity of our actions. As we reflect on the American Dream, it is essential to consider the values that guide our pursuit of success and the impact that this pursuit has on our lives and the lives of those around us.This essay provides a thoughtful analysis of the American Dream as depicted in The Great Gatsby, examining the moral implications of its pursuit and the consequences it has on the characters within the narrative. It encourages readers to consider the deeper meaning behind the pursuit of success and the true essence of the American Dream.。

美国文学论文

美国文学论文

美国文学论文美国文学是世界上最年轻的文学之一,从其诞生之时起,就因其尖锐的批判性、持续的独创性和精彩的多元性而独树一帜。

下面是店铺为大家整理的美国文学论文,供大家参考。

美国文学论文范文一:Analysis of the main character Ahab in Moby Dick摘要:«白鲸»讲述了饱经风霜的亚哈船长与他的仇敌白鲸之间惊心动魄的故事,亚哈身上体现了令人敬佩的正义品质:百折不挠、英勇无畏、经验丰富,同时还具有令人恐惧的邪恶力量:偏执、自私、专横。

他集正义与邪恶与一身,具有鲜明的双重性。

关键词:正义;邪恶;性格双重性Abstract:«Moby Dick» tells us a thrilling tale between Captain Ahab and his enemy whale called Moby Dick.Ahab's character is amphibious. On one hand,he is indomitable、brave and experienced. On the other hand, he is bigoted, selfish and presuming.Key words: justice; evil; character's amphibiousness«Moby Dick» written by Herman Melville is regarded as the first American prose epic. It's an encyclopedia of everything, history, philosophy, religion, etc. But it is first a Shakespearean tragedy of man fighting again overwhelming odds in an indifferent and even hostile universe.The story goes roughly as follows. Ishmael, feeling depressed, seeks escape by going out to sea on the whaling ship, Pequod. The captain is Ahab, the man with one leg. Moby Dick, the white whale, had sheared off his leg on the most as a reward for anyone who sights thewhale first. The Pequod marked a good catch of whales but Ahab refuses to turn back until he has killed his enemy. Eventually,the white whale appears, and the Pequod begins its doomed fight with it. On the first day the whale overturns a boat; On the second, it swamps another. When the third day comes, Ahab and his crew manage to plunge a harpoon into it, but the whale carries the Pequod along with it to its doom. All on board the whaler get drowned, except one, Ishmael, who survives to tell the tale. From the story, we can see that captain Ahab is a hero who dares to fight though he failed at last. Ahab is Byronic hero, a man with consuming desire to take revenge against the whale which has crippled him. He is brave. Though he knows that it has difficulty in killing whale, he never gives up. He thinks that man can make the world for himself and he tries his best to kill the whale. Although he fails at last, his spiritual is respectable and we should also be indomitable.We know that Ahab's character is amphibious, and we now more focus on the bleak view. As the author is negative, the story is full of tragedy, including the ending.Captain Ahab is a typical Melvillean “isolato”, and a typical Bartleby whose lips are set ever for an “I prefer not to”. He cuts himself off from his wife and kid, and stays away most of the time from his crew. He hates Moby Dick which is an embodiment of nature. He is angry because his pride is wounded. After the loss of his leg in his encounter with the white whale, he seems to hold God responsible for the presence of evil in the universe. Thus his anger assumes the proportions of a cosmis nature. In his egocentric obsession. He loves his sanity, and humanity and becomes a devilish creature rushing headlong toward his doom.Captain Ahab believed in his own power, he is too much of a self-reliant individual to be a good human being. His selfhood must be asserted at the expense of all else: lives may be sacrificed,and nature may be sacrificed, and nature may have to be vanquished in order that he may do what he wills. Ahab is ,to be more exact, a victim of solipsism, His tragedy stemming in the main from extreme individualism, selfish will, a spirit too much withdrawn to itself to warrant salvation.In conclusion, we should observe the two sides of the Captain's character. We need be brave and confident. We have to remind that man is in society, and we can't live without society. We should respect the nature.美国文学论文范文二:The review about the Literature of RomanticismⅠ. BackgroundFrom the early 1800s to the civil war,American was a land of paradoxes, a land stirred by spiritual dreams and shaped by the realities of a growing materialism. the United States had begun to change into an industrial cause society, technology would bring vast material benefits and cause overwhelming social disorders. Americans had sought new liberties and new ideas in life and art, but conflicts of their society had culminated in a bloody civil war. In the first half of the nineteenth century the proportion of Americans who labored on farms declined as increasing members left the land to work in urban businesses and factories. New York became American’s largest city, supplanting Boston and Philadelphia as the economic and cultural capital of the nation. Though the first half of the century the pursuit of simplicity, utility, and perfection remained an American characteristic.In the years preceding the Civil War relatively few volumes of imaginative literature were published in the United States. Most book were almanacs, schoolbooks, self-help manuals, or workson religion, medicine, or the law. Fewer than a dozen volumes of poetry were published annually. Fiction was a prime component of ladies’ magazines. Novels were increasingly popular, especially historical romances written by Europeans, most notably by “the monarch and master of modern fiction,” Sir Walter Scott. But as the century progressed, native American writers won increasing national and international fame. Washington Irving’s Sketch Book (1819-1820)became the first work by an American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic.Ⅱ. The definition of RomanticismRomanticism is a movement prevailing the 19th century in Western World in literature. art music and philosophy beginning as a reaction and protest against the bondage of rules and customs of neo-classicism. It was marked and is always marked by a story reaction .It returned to nature and plain humanity for material. It brought about a renewed interest in medieval literature. It was also marked by sympathy for poor people and thus a deep understanding toward common people. It was a movement expression of indivdual orignality and different poets realized their variety.A dream of golden age is established against stern realities .Imagination is the key point.Ⅲ. The Characteristic s of the Romantic LiteratureThe main trends of thought of the literature of romanticism is Romanticism, Transcendentation, Anti-slavery. Transcendentation as a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematized. It exalted feeling over reason, individual expression over the restraints of law and custom. They believed in the transcendence of the “Oversoul”, an all-pervading power for goodness from which all things come and of which all things are a part.Romanticism, attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century. Romanticism canbe seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality that typified Classicism in general and late 18th-century Neoclassicism in particular. It was also to some extent a reaction against the Enlightenment and against 18th-century rationalism and physical materialism in general. Romanticism emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental.Among the characteristic attitudes of Romanticism were the following: a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over reason and of the senses over intellect; a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities; a preoccupation with the genius, the hero, and the exceptional figure in general, and a focus on his passions and inner struggles;a new view of the artist as a supremely individual creator, whose creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures; an emphasis upon imagination as a gateway to transcendent experience and spiritual truth; an obsessive interest in folk culture, national and ethnic cultural origins, and the medieval era; and a predilection for the exotic, the remote, the mysterious, the weird, the occult, the monstrous, the diseased, and even the satanic.Ⅳ. Main writer and masterpieceⅰ.Washington Irving(1783-1851)He was the Father of American Imaginative Literature; the Father of American Short Stories. He was the first great prose stylist of American romanticism familiar style.The apparent ease of his writing is not simply that of the gifted amateur; it results from his purposeful identification of his whole personality with what he wrote. He was urbane and worldly, yet humorous and gentle, his great and graceful style combine with American roots shaped his independent literary personality. He was the first great belletrist, writing always for pleasure, and to produce pleasure. In 1819-1820 ,his Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature to write good history and biography as literary entertainment. The most story of his Sketch Book is The Legend of Sleep Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. He introduced the familiar essay to America. His best-known stories awakened an interest in the life of American regions. In 1819, A History of New York by Diedrich Knickerbocker a rollicking burlesque of a current serious history of the early Dutch settlers, has become a classic of humor.Bracebridge Hall followed in 1822;then he first went to Germany in pursuit of an interest in German romanticism, which flavored the Tales of Traveller(1824), in Paris he with John Howard Payne wrote the brilliant social comedy Charles the Second or The Merry Monarch. A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus(1828); A Chronicle of the Conquest of Grandada(1829); Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus(1831) ; a famous volume of stories and sketches—The Alhambra(1832) and Legends of the Conquest of Spain (1835) and so on.ⅱ. James Fenimore Cooper(1789-1851)He was the first important American novelist began his literary career on a dare. In 1821,The Spy was successful, it was a rousing tale about espionage against the British during the Revolutionary War .Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: the sea adventure tale, and the frontier saga. The Pilot is the best of his many sea romances(1824). He wrote the first official history of the U.S. Navy in 1839. His frontier stories Leather Stocking T ales including five novels: The Deerslayer; The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneers, The Prairie. Allan Nevins calls these five novels the nearest approach yet to an American epic. with a vast group of supporting characters, virtuous or villainous, Cooper made the American conscious of his past, and made the European conscious of American. And the Textbooks works is The Last of The Mohicans.ⅲ.Edgar Allan Poe(1809-1849)Poe was born in Boston. He was the Father of Modern Short Stories; the Father of Detective Story; and the Father of Psychoanalytic Critism. He was the jingle man. He won a contest with his story “Ms. Found in a Bottle” .Then he got a job as editor with the Southern Literary Messenger in 1833. He showed his true talents as an editor, a poet, a literary critic, and a writer of fiction. And he also issued The Fall of the House of Usher. In 1840, His first collection of short stories Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. The Raven was published as the title poem of a collection in 1845. In Europe, he was hailed as a pioneer in poetic and fictional techniques. His influence was especially strong on many French writers. The most famous works were To Helen; The Rav en; Annabel Lee; The Fall of the House of Usher. ⅳ. Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882)He was responsible for bringing Transcendentalism to New England and was recognized throughout his life as the leader of the movement. He believed above all in individualism, independence of mind and self-reliance. He admired courage, he was not afraid of changing or clashing ideas. Like many original minds, he was often several jumps ahead of what his followers thought was his position or philosophy. He was one of the most influential American thinkers, yet he had no elaborate, formal system of thought and he never attempted to create one. Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance. In 1836,he issued the first book Nature , which met with a mild reception. However , two speeches in the next two years, The American Scholar and The Divinity School Address ,made him famous. Many of his lectures were later distilled into his famous Essays. Among his most important works are Representative Men (1850)and English Traits (1856).His Poem appeared in 1847. In his day, Emerson’s poems were criticized for their lack of form and polish. In recent years, hover, his poetry has received high praise.His harsh rhythms and striking images appeal to many modern readers as artful techniques. His prose style is sometimes as highly individual as his poetry. Many of his essays were put together from his journal entries, speeches, and random notes, and they are often somewhat disorganized. Yet his skill in polishing each sentence into a striking thought makes his writing memorable. One of his great statements was in The American Scholar. That title is now carried by one of the finest magazines in American. Oliver Wendell Holmes called the speech “our intellectua l Declaration of Independence”. He is the world ’s eye. He is the world’s heart.ⅴ. Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862)He was Emerson’s truest disciple, who put into practice many of Emerson’s theories. Walden, the superb book came out of his two-year’s reside nce at Walden Pond. He explained many of the beliefs that led him to try this kind of life. He thought it better for a man to work one day a week and the rest of the week could be devoted to thought. For Thoreau, as for Emerson, self-reliance and independence of mind ranked above all each should find out his own way of living. In 1849, From his experience in jail came his famous essay” Civil Disobedience”, which stated Thoreau’s belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of a government. His famous book is Walden Where I Lived, and What I Lived For.ⅵ. Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864)The House of the Seven Gables deals with the effects of a curse, and though the tale itself is fiction, the germ of the story sprang from the author’s family history. Hawthorne gathered his material by observing and listening to others whose talk was filled with New England Lore, legend, and superstition. His famous book is The Scarlet Letter.Hawthorne’s unique gift was for the creation of strongly symbolic s tories which touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature. The finest example is the recreation of Puritan Boston, “The Scarlet Letter”. In this novel each word, image, and event works toward a single effect. It is a complex story of guilt, its effects upon various persons, and how deliverance is obtained for some of them. His ability to create vivid and symbolic images that embody great moral questions appear strongly in his short stories. It was Hawthorne’s ability to make a story exist in its own right but at the same time appear as a moral symbol.Hawthorne shares with Edgar Allan Poe the distinction of advancing the art of the short story, giving to the form qualities that are uniquely American. To Hawthorne and Melville, however, the telling of a tale was a way of inquiring into the meaning of life. His stories also have The Blithedale Romance(1852); splendid stories called Mosses from an Old Manse(1846); The Marble Faun(1860)ⅶ. Herman Melville(1819-1891)Moby Dick, a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale. The book is steeped in symbolism, another strong appeal to readers of his century. In 1846, Typee became known as the “man who lived among cannibals”. The book was basically factual but was no dou bt elaborated somewhat and built up from Melville’s reading as well as his experience. Equally successful was a sequel, Omoo(1847),about his adventures on Tahiti and other island. Later Melville based Bedburn(1849) on his first voyage to England, and White-Jacket(1850) on his brief career in the navy. He drew upon his naval experience again for Billy Budd(1891).He has two other philosophical novels Mardi, Pierre. two celebrated short novels Benito Cereno and Billy Budd. The story uses a ship as symbol of society and searchingly examines the problems of good and evil. Ahab’s ship was like a world inminiature with characters from all walks of life.ⅷ. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow(1807-1882)Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, on February 27,1807 and died on March 24,1882 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the most beloved American poet of his time. His main books are Longfellow’s first collection of poems entitled Voices of the Night(1838); Hyperion” the prose romance(1839) ;Ballads and other Poems(1841); Poems on Slavery(1842); Evangeline(1847); Song of Hiawath(1855); The Courtship of Miles Standish(1858)After his death, he became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet’s corner of Westminster Abbey. The gentleness, sweetness, and purity for which his poetry was popular during his lifetime.Ⅴ.SummaryFrom the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of he Civil War. It started with the publication of Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. It is also called “the American Renaissance”. The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature. The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values. Besides, a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of original sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne,Melville and a host of lesser writers. The most clearly defined Romantic literary movement in this period is New England Transcendentalism. This Transcendentalist group includes two of the most significant writers America has produced so far, Emerson and his young friend, Henry David Thoreau, whose writing has a strong impact on American literature. Basically, Transcendentalism has been defined philoso phically as “the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses.” Emerson once proclaimed in a speech, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of you own mind.” Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual isdivine and, therefore, self-reliant. It ranges from the comic fables of Washington Irving to the Gothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe, from the frontier adventures of James Fenimore Cooper to the narrative quests of Herman Melville, from the psychological romances of Nathaniel Hawthorne to the social realism of Rebecca Harding.American romantic literature by western romantic literature influence.19 century, the rapid development of American capitalism, the national consciousness and patriotic enthusiasm, to get rid of the English literature of bondage, pay attention to the human spirit and the pursuit of freedom to create a fill transcendence, thus the romantic literature began to flourish.Bibliography:1. 王长荣. 《现代美国小说史》.上海:外语教育出版社,1992.2. 邵锦娣,白劲鹏. An Introduction to Literature. 上海:上海外语教育出版社,20013. 隋刚.《美国文学旧作新读》. 北京:外文出版社,1998.。

美国文学 毕业论文

美国文学 毕业论文

美国文学毕业论文美国文学:探索美国社会与人性的镜子导论美国文学作为一种独特的文化现象,以其多样性和独创性而备受瞩目。

其作品不仅仅是文学作品,更是对美国社会与人性的深刻反思。

本文将探讨美国文学的特点、主题以及其对社会和人性的影响。

一、美国文学的特点美国文学的特点在于其多元性和包容性。

美国作为一个移民国家,文学作品中融合了各种不同的文化、种族和背景。

从早期的美洲原住民文学到现代的移民文学,美国文学展现了不同群体的声音和经历。

此外,美国文学还以其独立性和创新性而著称。

美国作家们敢于挑战传统文学规范,追求个人风格和独特的创作方式。

例如,华尔登·桑德森的小说《追风筝的人》以其独特的叙事风格和主题深受读者喜爱。

二、美国文学的主题1. 美国梦美国文学中最为重要和常见的主题之一就是“美国梦”。

这一主题探讨了每个人都可以通过努力和奋斗实现自己的梦想的信念。

弗朗西斯·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德的《了不起的盖茨比》就是一个典型的例子,通过描绘主人公盖茨比追求美国梦的故事,探讨了现实与幻想之间的冲突。

2. 种族与身份美国文学中经常涉及到种族与身份的问题。

这是因为美国社会的多元性和种族关系的复杂性。

例如,托尼·莫里森的小说《亲爱的》通过讲述一个黑人女孩的成长故事,揭示了种族歧视对个人身份和自我认同的影响。

3. 社会批判美国文学也经常用作对社会问题的批判。

作家们通过揭示社会不公正、阶级差距和权力滥用等问题,引发读者的思考和反思。

乔治·奥威尔的小说《1984》就是一个典型的例子,通过描述一个极权主义社会的恐怖景象,警示人们对权力的警惕。

三、美国文学对社会和人性的影响美国文学作为一面镜子,反映了美国社会和人性的方方面面。

它不仅仅是一种娱乐形式,更是一种思想的启发和社会变革的推动力。

首先,美国文学通过揭示社会问题和不公正,引起公众的关注和讨论。

例如,哈珀·李的小说《杀死一只知更鸟》通过描述一个种族歧视的故事,促使人们反思和改变对待不同种族的态度。

英美文学学期论文

英美文学学期论文

2012-2013学年第2学期英美文学学期论文题目:《老人与海》中海明威英雄主义研究Title:Hemingway’s Heroism Reflectedin The Old Man and the Sea班级英语1001学号2010110071姓名XXXXXX大学外国语学院二O一三年七月Hemingway’s Hero ism Reflectedin The Old Man and the SeaAbstract: Heroism is one of the themes that arouse interest among its readers. In American literary history, Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea has always been studied on its prominent heroism. There exist diversity views towards the protagonist Santiago who has always been praised by heroic spirit, grace under pressure. Another view holds that Santiago is totally a tragedy since he is trapped both physically and mentally. Thus, my term paper aims at explori ng the connotation of Hemingway’s heroism from perspectives of characters and settings. Further more the paper intends to have its understanding of Hemingway’s hero as well as his philosophy of life through the novel. Enlightenment will be achieved to guide our thoughts.Key words:Hemingway; heroic spirit; grace under pressure;《老人与海》中海明威英雄主义研究摘要:英雄主义是引人关注的主题之一。

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Realism in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist1.IntroductionBeing one of the most prominent critical realists in the 19th century, Charles Dickens gave us a vivid picture of Victorian times. In Dickens’ whole life, he composed lots of works. His works are characterized by literal attacks on social evils, unfairness, and hypocrisy. In Oliver Twist, Dickens attempted to reveal the cruel, unfair, and corrupt society under the control of the capitalist and aroused the society’s concern to the weak groups, including the children, the women and the old.There are many definitions of realism. For example,it is a practical understanding and acceptance of the actual nature of the world, rather than an idealized or romantic view of it; or as opposed to nominalism, the doctrine that genera and species are real things or entities, existing independently of our conceptions.2. Critical realism in Oliver TwistCritical realism is any doctrine reconciling the real, independent, objective nature of the world with a due appreciation of the mind-dependence of the sensory experiences whereby we know about it. In Victorian times, the broad masses lived under severe conditions. As Dickens put it, the poor chose between “being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick o ne out of it.” It is the society, the government that should be responsible for it. No one can escape from their unfortunate fate; no one can break away from these continuous sufferings; and no one can flee from these bottomless abysses.2.1 Criticism of the capitalist societyOliver Twist was famous for exposing the dark sides of people lived out that time (Lu Jianguo 40). The misfortunes of the characters in Oliver Twist had a deep connection to the society. The corruption and indifference of the society made their people not get rid of their misfortunes. The harder they tried to break away from it, the more cost they should pay.In the Victoria capitalist society, there was a big conflict between the upper class and the lower class. No matter how bad the condition the lower class was in, the upper class didn’t do anything helpful to make it better. The hard life made the poor choose an unlawful way or unmoral way to survive, while in some degree, this provided another means to those oppressors who could never satisfy their own desires. On the other side, the corruption of the upper class made the poor’s life harder. The conflicts between the upper class and the lower class reflected the terrible conditions of the society at that time. It was the society that should take the responsibility of it.Besides, the society should be responsible for the death of its people. The capitalist society contributed to the corruption of the capitalist charity. Dickens gives a truthful presentation of the suffering of the poor and oppressed, and makes a bitter and complete exposure of the terrible conditions on the English workhouse of the time and the brutality and corruption of the oppressors under the mask of philanthropy (胡荟桐284). In the workhouse, the poor didn't receive the treatment the offices declared before. And the children, either in the baby-farm or in the workhouse, were never treated well. While in the baby-farm, the children could never feed themselves full even one time. The situation in the workhouse was no better than that of the baby-farm. The result of Oliver’s asking for more porridge was the ruthless treatment of the charity organization. These irresponsible actions of the charity organization fully reveal ed its corruption and hypocrisy.2.2 Criticism of the law system and the educational systemDickens’ criticism firstly focused on the law system. The injustice of the law system was one of his main critical contents (赵炎秋49). In 1834 the new Poor Law was passed. In accordance with it, the new poor-house was established, known as the workhouse. As noted by Fang Cunzhong, “The indigent were no longer objects of charity, but were collected in the prison-like buildings, the Poor Law Bastilles, administered by the officials who had no education an d often no sympathy with the people under their care”(178). Oliver Twist was born in the workhouse while his mother died there. Whoever lived in this workhouse would take their underline to survive for the conditions there were really severe. Just as Dickens said in the novel "And with this, the old lady applied herself to warming up, in a little saucepan, a basin full of broth strong enough to furnish an ample dinner, when reduced to the regulation strength, for the three hundred and fifty paupers, at the lowest computation" (119). Although this description was a little exaggerated, it revealed how terrible the living condition was in the workhouse.Education is an important aspect in one’s process of growth. To be a civilized person or an unprincipled person, even worse, to be a criminal person have closely related with one’s education, including family education, school education and the society education. 2.4 Criticism of the money worshipThere are lots of desires through one’s whole life. If one can n ot balance the desire of oneself very well, it would bring misfortune to others, even to themselves. Besides the evil feeling it may bring to oneself, the worship of money can bring misfortune to others too. The old woman Lisa suffered from the sense of guilt all her life. Even before her death, she could not unload this guilty feeling. It was her evil doing that made Oliver totally a bastard and suffer a lot of humiliation. If at the beginning Lisa didn’t conceal the ring belonging to that pity woman, Oliver might lead a completely different life.2.5 Criticism of the individualismIn the Victorian times, the capitalists believed that society can run smoothly if individuals search for their own benefits. If all the public held this idea, no one could foresee what the individuals would do to satisfy their own desire.Ironically, this clearest pronunciation of individualism came not from a legitimate businessman, but from Fagin, who operated in the illegal businesses of theft and prostitution. In order to meet his own interest, Fagin misled several generations of children to do the criminal actions, such as stealing the stuff from others, blackmailing the child who was on the shopping road. It was Fagin’s searching for his individualism that led to many childr en’s unfortunate fate.3. Romantic realism in Oliver TwistRomantic Realism is an aesthetic term that usually refers to art that deals with the themes of volition and value while also acknowledging objective reality and the importance of technique. Dickens is such a great writer who is characterized by his perfect combination of realism with romanticism in writing, forming his unique artistic style—mixture of the realistic and the widely improbable (Yan xiaoru 84). In this novel, it reveals many aspects of romantic realism.It was just like Dickens himself once mentioned, what he cared was to express his own moral concepts rather than seek perfect truth. Under such notions, he used romantic realism largely in his novels. Oliver Twist is one of these novels which reveal much of Dickens’ early romanticism. Lots of imaginations and exaggerations were used in his works. Dickens used a great variety of writing techniques in his novels. In Oliver Twist, it fully reveals Dickens’ early optimism through the whole novel. From this angle, it is reasonable to say that Charles Dickens is a romantic realist rather than a critical realist. Romantic Realism shows in Oliver Twist at 5 phases:Coincidence of the plot,the use of individual language,d ickens’ sympathetic imagin ation to the characters in the novel,the comparison between the different color tones and the comparison of the different characters’ personalities4. ConclusionAs one of the most outstanding novelists of England in the 19th century, Charles Dickens occupied a unique place in the world’s literatur e. His novels are famous for their extensive content, varied style, vivid description and profound meaning. They have a great impact on the other countries’ literatur e. Dickens’ writings were extensively popular in the world,so were the children’s books adapted from his works. Many forms of interpretation of his books were circulated in the world nowadays and his works have already beeninterpreted in many editions in China.Oliver Twist was Charles Dickens’ sec ond novel, by which he led the readers into a real but a horrible underworld. He criticized the corruption and brutality of the oppressors and shows great sympathy to the poor and oppressed. Therefore, he held a strong desire for change in his society. So there was a critical tone in this novel. But under the influence of The British Chartism, Dickens held positive attitudes toward England society (谭燧157). Being dreadful of violence and bloodshed, he did n’t agree to change the condition of the society through revolution. He was a reformist. He criticized capitalism and continuously exposed the corruption of the society, but he did not want to overthrow it. He hoped this situation can be changed through education and reform. He wanted to change it in a mild way. Thus, in his novel, there was a romantic tone.Charles Dickens is a writer of critical realism and romantic realism. The novel, Oliver Twist, exposed his critical realism and romantic realism deeply. As critical realism has been discussed a lot by many scholars, the romantic realism is made to be the innovative part in this paper. This paper first discusses the critical realism, and then introduces the romantic realism. The innovative part is explained through many aspects, such as the use of the individual language, the sympathetic imagination to the characters, and the comparison of the different characters’ personalities and so on. The discussion of both the critical realism and romantic realism deeply shows the realism in Charles Dickens’Oliver Twist.Works Cited[1] Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist. Spain: Industria Grafica, Barcelona, 2004.[2] Lu, Jianguo. “Charles Dickens and His Oliver Twist.”玉溪师范学院学报. 20.7 (2004):39-40.[3] Yan, Xiaoru. “Brief Analysis of Coincidence in Oliver Twist.”伊犁教育学院学报.16.4 (2003): 82-86.[4] 范存忠. 英国文学提纲. 成都:四川人民出版社, 1983.[5] 胡荟桐. 英国文学教程. 北京:南开大学出版社, 1992.[6] 刘精香.“《雾都孤儿》中南茜形象剖析中.”中南民族学院学报. 98.3(1999):104-106.[7] 罗经国. 狄更斯的创作. 沈阳:辽宁大学出版社, 2001.[8] 梦琳. “现实的揭露理想的化身——浅析《雾都孤儿》.”语文新圃. (2002):20-22.[9] 谭燧. 外国文学史. 海口:南海出版社, 2005.。

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