（英语语言文学专业论文）寻找自由——兔子四部曲中兔子历程的存在主义初探.pdf

v 摘摘 要要 本文试图在萨特的存在主义，尤其是他的自由理论的基础上，对兔子四部曲中兔子 对自由的追寻进行分析。约翰霍耶厄普代克（19322009）是公认的二十世纪美国最 杰出和最有影响力的作家之一。在四十多年时间里，他勤奋著书，平均一年著书两本。 然而，真正让他一直享誉全球的是他倾注三十年心血创作而成的兔子四部曲，其主人公 “兔子”更是成了美国家喻户晓的文学形象。兔子被视为当代美国民众的代表。他是一 个真正的美国白人：接受教育、服军役、有份工作和家庭而且过着体面的生活。不过， 兔子发现他被困住了，生活一团糟，因此他想跳出来，完全地得到精神自由，而这种自 由，如本文所讨论的，同萨特的“绝对自由”亦即其哲学核心可相呼应。 对厄普代克的兔子四部曲的分析采用过不少视角，但萨特存在主义视角很少启用。 萨特的哲学以绝对自由为中心，他的一些关于自由的哲学观点，尤其是“超越处境”的 思想，即被本文用为理论基础。在萨特看来，自由存在之地就是超越处境的地方。本文 旨在萨特自由理论的理论基础上， 通过对兔子四部曲中兔子超越过程的阐释来分析他对 自由的追寻。 本文共四章。第一章， “导论” ，是由四个部分组成的简要介绍。第一部分概述了作 者约翰厄普代克及其兔子四部曲的相关信息。 第二部分对其进行了详细的文献综述。 第 三部分从历史的角度理清了萨特存在主义的发展过程，进而揭示了它的社会功效，也为 运用萨特的理论来分析兔子追寻自由的行为打下了基础。同时，该部分也解释了存在主 义的自由这一概念。最后一部分绘制了本文的框架。 第二章， “追寻自由之必要性” ，是对追寻自由的必要性的分析。正如萨特所说， “我 们命定是自由的” 。人永远是并且绝对是自由的，否则就不存在。人的自由不能与人的 存在分开，自由不是人的一个特性，它是人存在的一个有机组成部分。然而，在兔子四 部曲中可以很容易地察觉到，兔子已经失去并且在不断地失去他残留的自由。因此，为 了成为一个完整的存在，兔子迫切地需要追寻他已经失去并正在失去的自由。 第三章， “追寻自由之途径” ，阐释了追寻自由的途径。首先应该认清，自由意味着 对“存在”的选择，而存在即对处境的超越，因此，直接地说，要自由就要超越“处境” 。 vi 萨特区别了五类“处境” ： “我的位置” 、 “我的过去” 、 “我的周围” 、 “我的邻人” 、 “我的 死亡” 。在对五类“处境”超越的指引下，本文的研究进入了更深层次。首先要讨论的 是“我的位置” ，它是我自由选择的结果，且不能对我的自由产生任何限制。兔子不仅 摆脱了自己住所的限制，同样也摆脱了他以前的教练托瑟罗和情人鲁丝住处的限制。紧 接着要超越的是“我的过去” 。兔子并没有深陷在高中打篮球时的美好过去中，相反， 在某些特定的时刻，他利用这往日的辉煌来安慰或放松自己。接下来要超越的是“我的 环境” 。在四部曲中，女性的觉醒的确给他带来了些麻烦并在一定程度上把他限制起来 了， 但他最终还是打破了这些限制并使自己沉浸在与女性发生性关系之中。 当论及对 “我 的邻人”的超越的时候，值得注意的是，兔子婚姻的中心一直是他自己，而不是与詹妮 丝构成的整体或詹妮丝她自己。他不许其他任何人，哪怕是他的妻子，来破坏他绝对的 自由。最后要超越的是“我的死亡” 。尽管兔子害怕死亡，会禁不住地想起与之相关的 人或事，但他最终还是选择了典型美国式的方法，即及时行乐，来面对死亡。 最后一章得出本文结论。兔子是一个萨特式的英雄，他超越了五类“处境”来追寻 他的自由。而本文只是一个从萨特哲学视角进一步研究兔子四部曲的开始，更多的相关 研究，比如对四部曲中女性人物的女权主义解读，很可能会在不远的将来开展起来。 关键词：兔子四部曲，自由追寻，存在主义， “处境” ，超越 i abstract this thesis is intended to analyze rabbits pursuit of freedom in the rabbit tetralogy, on the basis of jean-paul sartres (19051980) existentialism, especially his theory concerning freedom. john hoyer updike (1932-2009) has been widely acknowledged as one of the most preeminent and influential american writers in the 20th century. he works so diligently that he averages two books a year for more than forty years. however, what really makes him a writer enjoying everlasting and international fame is his rabbit tetralogy which takes thirty years more or less, and especially the hero rabbit becomes a literary figure everybody knows in the united states. rabbit is considered a representative of the contemporary americans. he is a really white american who receives education, serves the army, has a job and a family and leads a decent life. however, rabbit realizes that he is trapped and his life is a mess, so he wants to jump out and completely get the spiritual freedom which, as is discussed in this paper, corresponds to sartres absolute freedom, the core of his philosophy. many a perspective has been adopted to analyze updikes rabbit tetralogy, but the perspective of sartres existentialism is seldom employed. sartres philosophy centers on the absolute freedom and his philosophical views on freedom, especially the “transcendence of situation”, are applied as the theoretical foundation of this thesis. as far as sartre is concerned, freedom exists where the transcendence of situation exists. this paper is intended to analyze the heros pursuit of freedom by interpreting his transcendental process in the rabbit tetralogy based on the theoretical foundation of sartres theory concerning freedom. the thesis consists of four chapters. chapter one, “introduction”, is a brief introduction made up of four parts. the first part summarizes the relevant information about the author john updike and his rabbit tetralogy. the second part makes a detailed literature review upon john updike and the rabbit saga. from a historical point of view, the following part ii straightens out the development of sartres existentialism, and thus exposits its social function, which lays a foundation for the application of sartres theory to the analysis of rabbits pursuing freedom. meanwhile, this part expounds the freedom concept of existentialism as well. the outline of the thesis is drawn in the last part. chapter two, “the necessity of pursuing freedom”, is an analysis of the necessity of pursuing freedom. “we are condemned to freedom” (sartre, being and nothingness 485), as sartre claims. man is everlastingly and completely free, or he would not be able to exist anymore. the freedom of man cannot be separated from the being of man, and it is not a human attribute but the raw material of mans being. however, it can be easily perceived in the rabbit tetralogy that rabbit has lost his freedom to a certain extent, and is continuing to lose the debris of his freedom gradually. therefore, in order to be an integrated being, it is extremely urgent for rabbit to pursue the freedom which he has lost and is losing. chapter three, “the means of pursuing freedom”, interprets what the means of pursuing freedom are. it should be known that freedom means the choice of being and being implies the transcendence of situation, so to be straightforward, to be free is to transcend situation. sartre has differentiated situation by five sections: “my place”, “my past”, “my environment”, “my fellowman” and “my death”. under the direction of the transcendence of the five sections of situation, the research of this paper is undertaken into a deeper level. first comes “my place” which is the result of my free choice and cannot lay any restraints upon my freedom. rabbit gets rid of the limit of his own residence, and his ex-coach totheros and his mistress ruths apartments as well. then “my past” is to be transcended. rabbit is not trapped by his splendid past as a basketball player in high school but to make use of it for consolation or relaxation at a certain time. the following to be transcended is “my environment”. in the tralogy, the environment of womans awaking really causes some trouble and limits rabbit in fetters to a certain extent, but he finally breaks the fetters and engrosses himself to have iii sexual relations with woman. as for the transcendence of “my fellowman”, it is worthy of attention that rabbits marriage just always pivots on himself instead of the combination with janice or just janice herself. he does not allow anybody else, even his wife, to destroy his absolute freedom. the last to be transcended is “my death”. although rabbit is afraid of death and cannot help bringing to mind somebody or something related with death, he finally chooses to face death in a typical american way, i.e. enjoying himself while he can. the last chapter makes a conclusion for the whole thesis. rabbit is a sartrean hero in the sense that he transcends the five sections of situation to pursue his freedom. however, this thesis may be just a start of further studies on the rabbit tetralogy from the perspective of sartres philosophy, and more and more related studies, such as the feminist study of the female characters in the tetralogy, are very likely to be undertaken in the foreseeable future. keywords: the rabbit tetralogy, the pursuit of freedom, existentilaism, situation, transcendence 关于学位论文独创声明和学术诚信承诺 本人向河南大学提出硕士学位申请。本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文是本人在导 师的指导下独立完成的， 对所研究的课题有新的见解。 据我所知， 除文中特别加以说明、 标注和致谢的地方外，论文中不包括其他人已经发表或撰写过的研究成果，也不包括其 他人为获得任何教育、科研机构的学位或证书而使用过的材料。与我一同工作的同事对 本研究所做的任何贡献均已在论文中作了明确的说明并表示了谢意。 在此本人郑重承诺：所呈交的学位论文不存在舞弊作伪行为，文责自负。 学位申请人（学位论文作者）签名： 201 年 月 日 关于学位论文著作权使用授权书 本人经河南大学审核批准授予硕士学位。作为学位论文的作者，本人完全了解并同 意河南大学有关保留、使用学位论文的要求，即河南大学有权向国家图书馆、科研信息 机构、数据收集机构和本校图书馆等提供学位论文（纸质文本和电子文本）以供公众检 索、查阅。本人授权河南大学出于宣扬、展览学校学术发展和进行学术交流等目的，可 以采取影印、 缩印、 扫描和拷贝等复制手段保存、 汇编学位论文 （纸质文本和电子文本） 。 （涉及保密内容的学位论文在解密后适用本授权书） 学位获得者（学位论文作者）签名： 201 年 月 日 学位论文指导教师签名： 201 年 月 日 chapter one introduction 1 chapter one introduction 1.1 john updike and the rabbit tetralogy by employing sartres theory concerning freedom, the thesis aims to analyze and expound the subject of freedom in john hoyer updikes rabbit tetralogy. john hoyer updike (1932-2009) is a celebrated american novelist, critic, poet and short story writer. he was born in reading, pennsylvania, the only child of wesley russell updike, who later taught mathematics at schillington high school, and linda grace updike, an employee at pomeroys department store and aspiring writer. since 1958, updike has unremittingly been in the public eye by averaging two books a year for more than forty years, providing dozens of interviews, and visiting conferences and colleges. he has produced no less than 57 books, consisting of 23 novels, 5 volumes of poetry, about 12 short collected stories, 4 collections of literary criticism, 1 drama and 4 books for children, as well as innumerous reviews, speeches and interviews that are not compiled for publication. updikes stories and novels have been accepted passionately by critics and general readers; his poetry ranging from sophisticated light verse to a philosophical overview of his life has delighted both academics and casual readers; and his criticism, not only investigating sren aabye kierkegaard (1813-1855), jorge luis borges (1899-1986) and herman melville (1819-1891), but equally ted williams (1918-2002) and marilyn monroe (1926-1962), has drawn the interests of specialists and the general public. the sole drama buchanan dying reveals updikes potential and talent to be an excellent playwright, and his books for children express a commendable empathy. his prefaces, introductions, forewords and afterwords for 罗长斌， “人生迷恋、艺术形象和文学地位综评厄普代克和他的兔子四部曲 ” （总序） seeking for freedom: an initial existential study of rabbits pilgrimage in the rabbit tetralogy 2 dozens of books have shown updike to be an amicable comrade and guide to fledgling and established writers. his books have assumed international readership, attested to by the translation of his work into more than twenty languages. however, it is the rabbit tetralogy that makes john updike enjoy the international and permanent fame and indelible in readers heart. to be more exact, the rabbit tetralogy is the representative of his most prominent and salient achievements. the tetralogy which is going to be analyzed is composed of four single novels published almost every ten years in sequence: rabbit, run was published in 1960, rabbit redux in 1971, rabbit is rich in 1981 and rabbit at rest in 1990. in rabbit, run, rabbit angstrom lives a troubled and messy life for three months. he is 26 years old and lives with his pregnant wife, janice angstrom, as well as three-year-old son, nelson frederick angstrom, in mt. judge, a suburb of brewer, pennsylvania. no longer a famous high school basketball star, he works as salesman demonstrating a kitchen gadget in department stores. within the opening pages in the novel, rabbit confesses his dissatisfaction with his family life. his wife drinks during the day and their home, cluttered by the chaos of toys and messy dirty glasses, dejects him. considering his family life “a tightening net” (updike, run 19), he “senses he is in a trap” (updike, run 20). so he drives to flee in an afternoon, but he gets lost and has no choice but to return. unwilling to go home, he turns to his former basketball coach, marty tothero. naturally, rabbit gets acquainted with ruth leonard, a prostitute, and they soon live together. later, rabbit comes across his pastor, jack eccles, who attempts to make a counsel, and rebukes him for his cowardliness in their golf game. it is eccles who calls rabbit for the news of his daughters birth, which makes him return to janice, ignorant of the fact that ruth gets pregnant as well. one night, however, when janice refuses rabbit, he rages severely. when he fails to come back by the following see de bellis, jack. ed. john updike: the critical responses to the rabbit saga. 2005 chapter one introduction 3 morning, the desperate janice gets drunk again and accidentally drowns the baby-girl in the bathtub. during the mourning period, rabbit is repentant, but at the ceremony he gets his composure out of control and blames janice for their loss. then he flees to ruth again. informed of ruths pregnancy, he is overjoyed and begs her to keep the will-be-child. the resentful ruth demands that he should choose between janice and her as well as her will-be-child. rabbit vaguely promises “to work it out,” but soon “he runs. ah: runs. runs” (updike, run 284). rabbit redux resumes harrys life in 1969. at present, rabbit has returned to janice and nelson and lives in a big house in a new development. he works with his father as a printer. at 36, harry is in a nut, with an insipid marriage and a hopeless job; furthermore, he feels gradually alienated by the social and political turmoil of the 1960s. no more on the run, rabbit now retreats into obscurity. on the contrast, janice becomes energetic and keeps an affair with the car salesman charlie stavros. later, the depressed rabbit encounters jill, an 18-year-old fugitive from a wealthy family. the same as ruth, jill soon lives with rabbit. then skeeter, a runaway, drug dealer and black revolutionary, also moves into rabbits house. in essence, the 1960s come home to rabbit: the sexual revolution, political and social radicalism, the counter culture, illicit drugs and especially black militancy. however, when rabbit is away one night, their big house is firebombed by furious neighbors who dislike blacks and heroin. skeeter escapes and survives fortunately, but little jill loses her life, which deeply depresses nelson. now homeless, rabbit goes with nelson to his parents home. shortly afterwords, he is hit severely by another blow that he loses the job as a printer. fortunately, the appearance of rabbits worldly sister, mim, brightens the stifling family. she counsels rabbit and also helps end janices affair with charlie. at the conclusion of this novel, rabbit and janice start reconciliation by consuming an afternoon together at a motel. rabbit has been affluent in rabbit is rich. as a brand of his success, he joins the flying seeking for freedom: an initial existential study of rabbits pilgrimage in the rabbit tetralogy 4 eagle, a nouveau riche country club. here the angstroms socialize mainly with the murketts, webb and his much younger wife, cindy, and the harrisons, rabbits old foe, ronnie and his wife, thelma. though rabbit detests ronnie and finds thelma unattractive, he tolerates them because of his regard for webb and his desire for cindy. rabbit leads a comfortable life except that he is disturbed by two problems. first, he doubts that a young girl buying a car at his lot is his daughter with ruth. he has located ruth but he has no courage to face her. second, nelson returns home, announcing his thought of working in the springer motors. nelsons behavior confuses rabbit until the appearance of nelsons pregnant girlfriend, pru. after being married, the junior angstroms, as well as the senior ones, live with janices mother in her old house. and the tension between nelson and rabbit exacerbates day by day, both at home and at the lot, because nelson implements a greatly different business plan. meanwhile, rabbit gets richer by investing in precious metals, and later, he uses the profits to buy their own house. in addition, the more thrilling is that the club is organizing a vacation in the caribbean, where he believes he will finally possess cindy. during their vacation, the three couples agree to swap mates for the last two nights. disappointed that he has not got cindy, rabbit accidentally achieves intimacy with thelma. because of the disappointing news that nelson is missing, rabbit has to return in advance, and at the airport, they are telephoned that pru gives birth to a daughter. once home, rabbit pays a last call at ruths farm. however, he is still doubted despite that ruth tells him that the girl he mentioned is not his. approaching the end of this novel, rabbit and janice move into their new house where they receive his mother-in-law, his daughter-in-law and his granddaughter. rabbit at rest treats rabbit in semiretirement and nelson is in charge of the springer motors. it begins with rabbit at a florida airport, imaging that the airplane bringing his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren symbolizes his death, and actually each will contribute to his death. he is almost killed when he tries to save his granddaughter who pretends to be chapter one introduction 5 drowned. when nelson is discovered stealing from the family business, he ends his retirement and resumes the operation of the lot in order to save springer motors. later, after rabbit undergoes an angioplasty and returns to nelsons, he and pru find a comfort in their sexual relationship. when she utters the secret relationship, however, rabbit runs for the last time, to the south of america. on one of the forays in florida, he challenges a teenager to a one-on-one basketball game, which nearly kills him and his heart, poisoned by a lifetime of bad eating. when he is dying, janice and nelson come to see him, but he is unable to give much utterance. the novel, also the tetralogy, ends with a one-word sentence: “enough”. as early as 1974, v. s. pritchett lauded the “monumental” achievement of john updikes rabbit tetralogy, a body of work “which in substantial intelligent creation will eventually be seen as second to none on our time” . echoing the psalm of other writers, thomas disch claims that with harry “rabbit” angstrom someone has finally, albeit inadvertently, written the great american novel (“rabbits run” 690). jonathan raban makes an assertive conclusion that americans eventually have a modern american work of fiction they can set beside the work of