An Analysis of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter from the Perspective of Existentialism_英语论文

摘要

卡森·麦卡勒斯是20世纪美国南方文学中一位成就卓越的女作家，其发表于1940年的代表作《心是孤独的猎手》令她一夜成名。自此，麦卡勒斯受到学界的广泛关注。本论文将以存在主义理论入手，对该小说进行剖析。

本文从萨特存在主义理论出发，结合麦卡勒斯所处的美国南方社会背景以及当时的存在主义思潮，通过对作品中主要人物与相关情节的分析，对该小说中的存在主义色彩进行探究。论文认为，麦卡勒斯以其敏锐的观察力与细腻的笔触，在小说中揭示了现实社会的荒诞与人们在追寻本真之路上的痛苦。同时，小说体现了人们对现实的反抗，以及对自身存在价值的无限追寻。

关键词:  卡森·麦卡勒斯  《心是孤独的猎手》  存在主义

Abstract

Carson McCullers is an outstanding woman writer in the literature of the American South in the 20th century. Her representative work The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter that made her an overnight literary sensation was published in 1940 and she has been widely studied since then on. This thesis will analyze The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter from the perspective of existentialism.

This thesis will employ the philosophic theory of Sartre's existentialism, combined with the social contexts of the American South and the existentialist thought of that age, to discover the existentialist meaning contained in the novel, through the analysis of the main characters and the plot of the story. This thesis holds that McCullers, endowed with the power of acute observation, uncovered the absurdity of the real world and people’s pain on the way to their authentic being in her work. Meanwhile, the novel shows people’s revolt against actuality as well as the pursuit to the value of their self being.

Keywords:  Carson McCullers  The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter  existentialism

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Carson McCullers and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 1

1.2 Literature Review 2

1.3 Theoretical Framework 4

1.4 Thesis Structure 6

2 Relationships between Carson, the American South and Existentialism 8

2.1 Carson and the American South 8

2.2 Carson and Existentialism 8

2.3 The American South and Existentialism 10

3 Analysis of the Novel from the Perspective of Existentialism 12

3.1 Individual and Surroundings 12

3.2 Individual and Others 14

3.3 Individual's Choices 15

Conclusion 18

Acknowledgements 19

References 20