Janie’s Escape from Freedom in Zora Neale Hurston’s >Their Eyes Were Watching God< [论佐拉•尼尔•赫斯顿《他们眼望上苍》中珍妮对自由的逃避], Master thesis, English Language and Literature, Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, China 2018 [application of Fromm's theories to art].

  • 佐拉•尼尔•赫斯顿(1891.1.7—1960.1.28)是二十世纪非裔美国文学史上最杰出的人物之一。其代表作《他们眼望上苍》通过探讨主人公珍妮在三次婚姻中追求自由的过程揭示现代社会自由问题的复杂性。本论文结合艾里希•弗洛姆的自由理论对文本进行解读,得出结论:珍妮在追寻自由的同时也在逃避自由,换言之,其对自由的追寻实质上是对自由的逃避。在婚前和第一次婚姻中,珍妮对浪漫的爱情产生了期待,并试图去追寻,但以失败告终。她对浪漫爱情的追寻在某种意义上也是对自由的追寻。然而,事实上,珍妮试图通过臣服于婚姻逃避自由,以摆脱个体化带来的孤独感,且在第一次婚姻中逃避作为妻子的责任。珍妮的浪漫至上的性格和对自由的本能渴望,使她在对熟悉的人和事厌倦时开始期待更广阔的世界。乔•斯塔克斯邀请她一起到一个新的城镇开始新生活,珍妮把这作为一个机会,于是和乔一起离开,去追寻更远的地平线,但最后失败。珍妮对更广阔的视界的追寻在很大程度上体现了其对自由的追求,但她也在逃避自由。在意识到婚姻不能产生爱情后,珍妮从心理上摆脱了第一次婚姻的束缚,但同时也感到孤独和无力。为摆脱孤独感和无力感,她臣服于乔,因为在她看来,乔比她更强大。此外,在第二次婚姻中,珍妮逃避作为妻子的责任,也逃避对自己的责任。这些体现了珍妮对自由的逃避,也表明其对更远的地平线的追寻其实是对自由的逃避。在与甜点的第三次婚姻中,珍妮的个性与潜能得到一定程度的发展。至少在珍妮看来,她已经获得了想要的自由,尽管在枪杀甜点后她回到伊顿威尔镇独自生活。通过追寻所谓的个性独立珍妮似乎在追寻自由。然而,珍妮在第三次婚姻中实际上一直在逃避自由。她先是通过臣服于甜点以图消除因摆脱乔的束缚带来的孤独感。在她和甜点准备离开伊顿威尔镇时又卖掉乔的商店,继而臣服于所得的金钱,因为在珍妮眼中,金钱比甜点更强大。而在得知甜点即将死于狂犬病后,珍妮再次感到无力,恐惧和焦虑。为摆脱这些痛苦的感觉,珍妮采用了>破坏<这种逃避自由的机制,即毁灭甜点。本论文探讨了珍妮有无获得真正的、最终的自由的可能,得出结论:由于缺乏创造力与爱的能力,珍妮的自由是没有未来的。珍妮对自由的逃避使她对自由的追寻在自由的消极与积极意义上都是一种失败。珍妮的失败反映出赫斯顿对女性出路的迷茫和困惑,及其对爱的能力的呼唤,体现出其深切的人文关怀。
  • Zora Neale Hurston (January 7,1891 – January 28,1960) is one of the most prominent figures in the history of African American literature in the 20 th century. Her masterpiece >Their Eyes Were Watching God< mainly reveals the complexity of the issue of freedom in modern times by exploring the process of Janie’s quest for freedom in her three marriages. Through the interpretation of the novel based on Erich Fromm’s theory of freedom, this thesis reaches the conclusion that Janie escapes from freedom while pursuing it, or in other words, Janie’s pursuit of freedom is, in essence, the escape from it. Before and in the first marriage, the expectation of romantic love is roused on Janie’s part. She attempts to search for it, but ends up failing. Janie’s pursuit of romantic love is, in a certain sense, the quest for freedom. Nonetheless, in fact, Janie tries to escapes from freedom by submitting to marriage in order to remove loneliness brought by her individuation. And she also escapes from freedom through the evasion of her responsibilities as a wife in the marriage. Owing to her romance-oriented character and inherent desire for freedom, Janie begins to expect things on the farther horizon when she is tired of familiar people and things. Regarding Joe’s invitation to live a different life in a new town as a chance, Janie elopes with him in quest for farther horizon, but she fails again. Janie’s pursuit of farther horizon represents the search for freedom to a large degree, but she escapes from freedom at the same time. She is psychologically free from the bondage of the first marriage when realizing that marriage doesn’t make love, but feels isolated and powerless at the same time. In order to remove the torturous feelings she escapes from freedom by submitting to Joe who seems more powerful. Moreover, in the second marriage, she shuns her responsibilities as a wife and towards herself, which represents Janie’s escape from freedom and reveals that her pursuit of farther horizon is the escape from freedom essentially. In her third marriage with Tea Cake, Janie develops her potentiality and personality to some degree. At least in her mind she has obtained the freedom or the so-called independence of personality she aspires to even though she returns to and lives in Eatonville alone after shooting Tea Cake. By seeking the so-called independent personality, Janie also seems to pursue freedom. But, the fact is that Janie has been escaping from freedom in the third marriage. She first submits to Tea Cake to rid herself of lonesomeness resulting from her freedom from Joe’s control after his death. Then she submits to the money gained by selling Joe’s store when she and Tea Cake prepare to quit Eatonville, for she thinks money seems more powerful. Overtaken by powerlessness, fear and anxiety when she is told that Tea Cake is dying of rabies, she resorts to the escape mechanism of destructiveness, i.e. shooting Tea Cake, to eliminate the tormenting feelings. The thesis also makes an exploration into the possibility that Janie achieves real and ultimate freedom, and reaches the conclusion that lack of creativity and the capacity for love makes it impossible that Janie attains real and ultimate freedom. Janie’s escape from freedom makes her pursuit a failure in the sense of both negative and positive freedom. Janie’s failure in the pursuit of freedom reveals Hurston’s confusion over the way out for female existence, as well as her appeal for the capacity for love, which reflects her deep humanistic concern. [Author’s translation]

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Metadaten
Author:Shaoxia Gao
Document Type:Dissertations
Language:Chinese
Year of first Publication:2018
Release Date:2020/11/03
Format:no copy existent / keine Kopie vorhanden
IdNo:Gao_Shaoxia_2018
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Dissertations / Dissertationen
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Dissertations / Dissertationen
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