@misc{Ji, author = {Ji, Hongmei}, title = {A Study of the Theme of Loneliness in >The Heart is a Lonely Hunter< from the Perspective of Social Psychology [从社会心理学角度分析《心是孤独的猎人》的主题], Master thesis, English Language and Literature, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China 2008 [Application of Fromm's theories to art].}, abstract = {Since the beginning of the 20th century remarkable with social and economical changes have taken place in the world. Fierce competition and commercialization the put people under a lot of pressure and stress. Everyone strives for greater interest and higher social status. Consequently traditional life style and moral values have been shaken. Trust and sincerity between people is being impaired and real communication is becoming more and more difficult. As a result, people tend to resign to their inner most world and it is inevitable that they feel spiritually isolated and lonely. Loneliness has become a popular theme for writers of 20th century, especially to those of the writers in the Southern States in the USA, where the economy was lagging behind, and special historical and cultural heritage was preserved. Carson McCullers is one of those prominent writers, who is famed for characterizing lonely, alienated and spiritually isolated people. Carson McCullers suffers from her troubled marriage and miserable illness and she cannot get herself out from the shadow of depression and loneliness. On the basis of such special understandings and feelings toward life, such themes as spiritual isolation, loneliness and alienation are easy for her to handle. She typically sets her stories in small southern communities, reveals the inner lives of lonely people and the reality that people have difficulties communicating with and understanding one another. Her important works include The Heart Is a Lonely Heart, Reflections in a Golden Eye, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and The Member of the Wedding. This thesis focuses on The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Based on the text of the novel and starting from the motives of creation, this thesis intends to study the theme of the novel in the light of Erich Fromm's social psychological theory. Introduction covers the background of the creation of this novel, and the research that has already done on her works, as well as the purpose and significance of the thesis.- Chapter one focuses on the reasons for the persistence to present the theme from the authors' life experience and the literary tradition of the southern states. Carson McCullers produced a small body works which are fraught with people who were spiritually isolated, lonely, and alienated. If we trace her life story and take a close look at the historical and literary background of the Southern States, we may find the reasons.- Chapter two will probe the three causes that account for the inevitability of loneliness. The first cause is that all the characters are incapable of conducting meaning communication with those around them, and the second one is that they all need a personal God to help them and the God they created deceives and kills himself, and the last reason is the futility of human love.- Chapter three intends to analyze the Carson's unique approaches to present loneliness. She makes use of special musical structure, the symbols, and Gothic style. McCullers applies these special methods to make the presentation of the theme, namely loneliness, spiritual isolation and alienation more vividly and effectively.- Chapter four delves into the root causes of loneliness, applying Erich Fromm's social psychological theory. Erich Fromm studied the interaction between psychology and society by integrating Marx's and Freud's theories and he put up the five needs of human beings. We will apply his theory to analyze the root causes of loneliness of the characters in the novel The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter.- Conclusion summarizes the whole thesis, and demonstrates the inevitability of the character's failure of communication, the isolation, and the violence prevalent in the modern society. Each person is freakishly, selfish, immature, sexually frustrated, and essentially alienated from their society. However, a concurrent emphasis is placed on the accurate social depiction of these characters. No communication can exist when each person creates only a self-centered world around him. But an insane society composed of such individual parts will drive man further into himself.}, language = {zh} }