Innocence Lost and Regained in Great Expectations文献综述

 2022-08-11 15:25:52

Abstract: In recent years, plenty of experts and scholars have explored the initiation novel Great Expectations, the masterpiece of Charles Dickens, from various perspectives and great achievements have been made. Based on the systematic summary of these achievements, this paper is going to briefly review the overall research status, and points out the general characteristics of current researches as well as the possible development of studies in the future, in order to put forward some other and more detailed views and analysis ideas for further research.

Keyword: great expectation; growth experience; character image; romanticism

一、文献综述

Ⅰ. Foreword

As a well-known initiation novel, Great Expectations attracts readers from the vivid depiction of main characters to the ingenious arrangement of plots. The novel tends to be mature both in ideological depth and artistry, and there are countless related researches and analyses. The major study perspectives are the study of growth process and images of main characters, the analysis of romantic literature tendency and its characteristics, and also the discussion of identity and self-regression. And this paper mainly collects and integrates dozens of relevant literature materials through the fuzzy matching retrieval of CNKI China Journal Full-text Database, and makes a general summary.

Ⅱ. An analysis of the growth experience and images of the main characters

As an initiation novel, the analysis and study of several main characters in the novel is a hot point. Through the successful depiction of a small figure in his childhood, youth and middle age, Dickens creates Pip, a flesh and blood image of the protagonist who is not only kind and compassionate, but also with flashiness, conceit and other negative emotions. In the light of initiation theory, Wang Wenjing and Shao Xiao [18] analyze three stages the protagonist Pip undergoes changing from an innocent child to a mature adult. And Li Zhong [6] evaluates Piprsquo;s life as a spiral rising trend: a low self-esteem but kind-hearted boy in his childhood grows up into a conceited and licentious youth, and finally becomes mature in his middle age. He points out that, to a certain extent, the unfortunate childhood experiences of Pip, including the mockery of his elder sister and other relatives, affects his mentality and makes him a low self-esteem character. However, Pip also obtains some good qualities from Joe, his brother-in-law. Out of the mixture of kindness and inferiority, Pip helps the fugitive named Magwitch, who has a great influence on the life of his youth later, thus develops the story smoothly. Pip in his youth is eager to integrate into the upper-class society, receive a good education and become a gentleman after receiving anonymous large sum of money, but he loses himself in various illusions and becomes greedy and selfish. Fortunately, at his most helpless time, Joe comes to him again, takes care of and persuades him, and even helps him to pay the debts. After deep introspection, Piprsquo;s conscience awakens. With the help of his friends, Pip goes abroad and finally becomes a self-supporting business operator after years of hard work. He not only realizes his own great expectation, but also achieves the return of morality. Although it is not stated clearly, the unexpected encounter of Pip and Estella in their hometown implies that they will eventually be together. Therefore, the growth of Pip is summarized as a process of spiral ascension, which is similar to the idea of Wen Haidi and Zhang Qi [10] that Pip seems to “turn a circle” in the end and return to his former life, but in fact he does not return to the original place. This complicated and tortuous experience is not the loss of a great future, but the gain in another sense. History is always spiraling, and so is Piprsquo;s experience. Days in London make his life more meaningful. The tragic color of the novel lies in the disillusionment of Piprsquo;s great future, but he does not have a great future at the very beginning, so there is no “disillusionment” actually. The only regret is that Pip is no longer rich. However, it is far more important than money and other illusory materials that he gets education, increases knowledge, gains friendship and finds his true self.

In the analysis of the character of Pip, Zheng Li [15] points out that his image in childhood condenses all kinds of people in society, since childhood is always kind and pure. In such a representative figure, Dickens gives Pip the most common image through his own brush strokes. Pip is extremely ordinary and flawed, which makes him real. He is the most common representative of people at the bottom, and could be understood and accepted by every reader. His commonness is the symbol of the new level of Dickensrsquo; human thinking, and innocence of Pip is the best embodiment. In the personal contact and understanding of the lower-class people, we find that the goodness of human nature is a kind of unconscious goodness, which is also the most essential side of the protagonist Pip. Similarly, Li Chunping and Li Rui [2] also focus on Pip, the complex and changeable character, and explore the change and development of the human good and evil from a dynamic perspective. The image of Pip is multi-level, contradictory and changeable. Through the disillusionment of Piprsquo;s great expectation, the novel reveals the influence of social environment on peoplersquo;s consciousness and behaviors, and shows that unrealistic fantasy can only lead to moral degeneration.

The reason why excellent initiation novels can be accepted and loved by readers of all ages lies not only in the brilliant plot and its artistry, but also in its archetypal characteristics. You Chunying and Liu Xibo [13] interpret the novel from two aspects: the archetype of the theme and the archetype of the guide in the process of growing up, in order to show Piprsquo;s confusion and awakening in his growing up. Through the analysis of the prototype, readers can better understand the structure of the work and the characteristics of the main characters. And as the main elements, in addition to the protagonist and his personal experience, the archetype of guide can never be ignored, including the positive and negative ones. Among them, when tracing the origin of the positive guide, its archetype is mostly the king or God, which is the savior of human beings in essence. In modern society, however, ordinary people become the guide, which has a far-reaching impact on the growth and development of the other. They claim that Great Expectations creates two most outstanding “father images” who give Pip selfless “father love” to teach and guide him: the criminal Magwitch and the blacksmith Joe. Though Joe is vulgar, illiterate and uneducated, he is the only one that Pip can trust. As Piprsquo;s brother-in-law, he gets along with Pip as an equal, that is, a friend, and tries his best to protect him, which embodies the typical characteristics of positive leader in Bildungsroman. Piprsquo;s attitude changes greatly after he goes to London, but Joe has been protecting him all the time, helping him pay off his debt when he is in the most difficult and confused time, as well as influencing Pip with his simple but genuine words and deeds. Li Zhong [6] also highly praises the image of Joe. Although there are few opportunities to appear in the novel, Joe plays a pivotal role. It is because of his help and guidance that Pip can start again after experiencing the biggest setback in life and finally has his own bright future. As a blacksmith with low social status and little literacy, Joe is a brilliant character in the whole novel. It is also practical to regard Joe as Piprsquo;s noble man in his life. And Ruan Yajun [17] holds the same attitude. There are also opposing voices, however. Wen Haidi and Zhang Qi [10] hold the view that Joe is not a moral model worthy of imitation. Joe regards Pip as his best friend, but doesnrsquo;t know what a good friend should do. When Pip is scolded and punished, he never stands out to speak for him, but only comforts Pip afterwards. He always regards himself as an inferior citizen, thus the sense of distance and estrangement between Pip and Joe in their later period are not only caused by Pip, but by both of them. Wen and Zhang compare Joe and Run Tu in Lu Xunrsquo;s work, drawing a conclusion that Joe has no ideological awareness, just like a poisoned peasant in the feudal society of China. Joersquo;s love is universal, without judgment. He has a good heart, but is never a representative figure with moral codes. Compared with Joe, Magwitch spends most of his life in prison, and also lives at the bottom of the society, but he never stops struggling. He is an existence worthy of respect and recognition who dares to love and hate.

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