本科毕业论文

Literature Review of

on Purity in a Corrupt World--an Analysis of Oliver Twister

系 别

届 别

学生姓名

指导教师 外语系 2015届 李游 罗敏 专 业 班 级 学 号 职 称

金融英语 2011英语二班 2011060214 讲师

二O一四年十二月

文献综述评分表

学生姓名 李游 班级 2011英语二班 学号 2011060214 文献综述完成时间 2014 年 12 月 3 日

Literature Review of

on Purity in a Corrupt World--an Analysis of Oliver Twister

1.Introduction

Oliver Twister is a famous critical realism novel created by the prominent critical realist Charles Dickens.It does not only expose the darkness of society, the decay of the capitalism, and the selfishness and ugliness of the human nature but also describe something peculiar to mankind – purity and conscience.The theme of this novel is to advocate goodness and beauty that will defeat the evil finally.Even nowadays,the novel still has a great effect on the development of the society.Some problems which is described in the novel can always be found in modern society such as the poverty,the corruption,the discrimination and the inequality.Especially the goodness in humanity is always the focus of people’s attention.Peace and development are the main theme of contemporary times.What the harmonious society need is pure thoughts and good quality.Almost of us would like to believe that world is beautiful and tomorrow is better.However,we have to admit that there is weakness in human nature and no one could be perfect.As an old saying goes,where there is sunshine,there is also shade.Past and present, the character of evil and ugliness is always alive.From ancient times until today,the evil men is never disappear.For example,thief,robber,killer,swindler,communicable disease carrier,pillager,treacherous man,schemer etc.It is hard to imagine a world short of purity and humanity.World needs to find the purity buried in the human soul.By trimming the studies on Oliver Twister and analyzing the purposes of writing and writing skill,this paper aims to make people have a better understanding about this novel,to make people find the real social value of this novel, to help people know the strength of purity and conscience. 2.Previous Studies on Oliver Twister

In1838, As soon as Oliver Twister was published, the novel had aroused attention and strong shock in the London literature.Many scholars and writers are very interested in Oliver Twister and there are lots of research about this novel in the world.Different scholars have different studies on Oliver Twister according to their

respective standard of classification and they have different research directions.

2.1.Foreign Research

Oliver Twister has been researched abroad for a long history. In the research field of Victoria culture,Dickens is the main research object.The foreign scholar Gilbert Keith Chesterton published a collected works named Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens in 1991.Generally,most people think that Dickens has many classical works which has great effect on the whole society and he should be a person who is praised.However,Chesterton has his own different and distinct idea,about Dickens,that the great people Dickens also should be criticized.

Dickens’ plots have often been dismissed as conventional or cheaply sensational.But in Parentage and Inheritance in the Novels of Charles Dickens, released by Anny Sadrin,he argues that they should rather be seen as the embodiment of one of Dickens’s central preoccupation: dramatised rituals of succession.Through readings of individual texts, Professor Sadrin shows how the simple pattern of quest for father which characterises Oliver Twister develops in Dickens's later novels into an extended exploration of the triple inheritance of appearance, name and property. Increasing intricacies of plot represent growing tension between conflicting forces in the parent-child relationship: the wish to belongings and the wish to free, the quest for identity and the fear of shameful identification,Throughout, Dickens is using plot to account for the complex process of reinstatement and revaluation which enables rightful heirs to take their rightful place in the family and society.It is obvious that a unique perspective was adopted by Anny Sadrin to find the new things.

In the first half of his career, Dickens wrote some of the most important novels of the nineteenth century, including The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twister, and Martin Chuzzlewit.They were valuable and vital books, with an inventive comic force unprecedented in the English novel. Other Dickens:Pickwick to Chuzzlewit worked by John Bowen in 2003,it is the first full-length study in his research for thirty years. John Bowen blends contemporary theories and historical awareness to argue that Dickens’s works are radical in both political and fictional terms.With a tactful use of contemporary critical theory, he shows how their often uncanny power disturbs and transforms our ways of understanding Dickens's work and his place during the

studies.

In 2001,Manliness and the Male Novelist in Victorian Literature was published by Andrew Dowling.Dowling tried to investigate that Dickens managed to create the spirits of Manliness.It is obvious that people in that period was very familiar with the manliness,but Dowling figured that this kind of notion is not constant but rocking and nothing is absolute.

As it is mentioned above,the range of studies on Oliver Twister is not very integrated and the studies main focused on the writer Dickens rather than the book Oliver Twister.However,we have to say that those researcher contribute to the continue studies on the writer and this book.

2.2.Domestic Research

In China, the studies on Oliver Twister started to be prosperous from 1980s to now. And hundreds of the books and works were published.

During 1980s,the research on the writer has been a concern.For instance,A Critical Biography of Charles Dickens was published by Luo Jinguo. He collects some relevant critical papers,to Charles Dickens,written by the famous writers and critics from Europe and America.All of his critics have his own different and unique ideas and this book is a masterpiece without doubt.

In 1990s,the strong vitality of Oliver Twister was written by Pan Ming yuan.By analyzing the political content and artistic characteristics,he explained the reason why Oliver Twister was so popular in the world and he testified that the vitality of a literature and artistic work is depend on the intrinsic value.With the deep description of the social background and brutal reality,he would like to express that little Oliver was a very strong boy who has never been knocked down and the strong vitality was always there.

An Analysis of Nancy in Oliver Twister was written by Liu Jingxiang in South-Central University for Nationalities.The writer began with the definition of critical realism and Dickens’s life,then focused on a series of actions from Nancy to analyze her character and factors.No matter how cruel the surrounding is,goodness will never be eliminated .He wanted to call for the nature of goodness and criticize the education system in England.The analysis of Nancy can not only cause readers to

sympathize with this woman who realized her errors and correct mistakes in her own way,but also help people to know the true features of that society. Nancy was a girl who was not just a signal of simple figure but a unique and vivid character which was deep impress to readers.It is clear that the character of Nancy is play a significant role in the studies on Oliver Twister.

In the early twenty-first century,The studies on Oliver Twister has a further development.A considerable amount of research has been done to analyze the novel. Oliver Twister:Look up at the Heavens in misery was published by Tang Xicheng.By introducing briefly Dickens and his works,providing a brief background of the story,doing some deep researches into the setting of the 19th century of England,the author made readers have a good understanding of Oliver whose fate was extreme terrible.This is the battle of a little boy without any weapons, just with his kindness and his mentality, fighting for his freedom.This kind of analysis provided an insight for readers to keep a positive attitude towards life.

As time goes on,some people began to concern the Judaism problem.The Anti-Semitism in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twister was written by the Qiao Guoqiang who was a professor of English at the School of Foreign Languages,Central China Normal University,specializing in American literature and intellectuals.As for the social criminal mentioned in the novel,he thought that the truth was not really exposed. On the contrary,Standing the racism standpoint,he insisted that Jew was born with the character of evil and Jew was not a part of the mankind’s civilization society. Fagin was a typical Jew in Oliver Twister.To some extent,he was the classical represent of Jew and he was the protagonist who was been researched.From the point of racism,it is believed that the studies on Oliver Twister began a new journey.

The research of coincidences is another meas of study. The Brief Analysis of Coincidences in Oliver Twister was written by Yan Xiaoru who was a student in the English Department of Qingyang Teachers College.The author considered that Oliver Twister was characterized by a few coincidences especially happy encounters,about which some reviews are unfavorable.Sharing quite opposite opinions to the unfavorable ones,the author proved to people that coincidences have advantages by means of systematic analysis from the following four points:background of

production and publication,Dickens’ radical idea and his unique artistic style.As a matter of fact,the coincidence is very important to the further study.

According to the Critical Realism of the Oliver Twister written by Haolu,Charles Dickens was the greatest representative of English critical realism in the 19th century and Dickens exposed the chief traits of English society and the hypocrisy,greed,ruthlessness upper classes and bourgeois and criticizes the capitalist system from a democratic and humanistic viewpoint.The author said “Oliver Twister is Dickens first structured and coherent realistic novel and it takes the English capitalist society as the background,describing the miserable life of London poor children”(Journal of Hubei Adult Education Institute,2010.).Based on the study of the creation background,social environment and characters of Oliver Twister,and by analyzing Dickens’s intention and artistic characteristics in Oliver Twister,Haolu managed to further study the impact and the contribution that the critical realism made on western literature.

Glory of Conscience--a Character Analysis of Oliver,Nancy and Rose in Oliver Twister was written by Zhang Sainan in 2012.The author tried to do a further study of the glory of conscience from the character analysis of Olive,Nancy and Rose in Oliver Twister,trying to interpret the important influence of the conscience on human,society and nation.His research makes the following findings:whether Oliver having a tragic life experience,Nancy hovering good and evil or Rose known as an angel,they all had a common characteristic—conscience.Furthermore,touches of conscience can be sensed with ease in their deed and manner.People are good in nature.No matter how dark that society is,how cruel the system is,and how harsh the environment seems,people can till find the bright spot of human nature-conscience,and find the silver lining to a lackluster life,which can encourage them to move on.As for the significance,the author’s thesis would be helpful to explore the meaning of conscience,to cause the thinking of conscience,to carry forward the glory of conscience ,and to call the return of conscience.

From the researches mentioned above, we might find that the foreign research is different from the domestic research. Foreign scholars are mainly focused on the writer Dickens rather than the book Oliver Twister with a angle of philosophy and an

attitude of critic.Whereas,in China,the characters,background,writing styles and conscience are the important research objects.

3. Conclusion

Looking back to the research on Oliver Twister,both domestic and foreign,the understanding of this novel is increasingly deepening.Different people have different opinions.Due to individual differences,the perception of every notion may differ in each person. Some of previous studies may have subjective point of view and some of them was not really complete. With the time passing,from one-sided understanding to fully knowing,much values of the novel is excavated.As a great critical realism novel,the potential values of the novel will more enriched.Nowadays,the society is becoming more and more pluralistic,and the value of people differ from each other greatly.People’s behavior tend to be more personalized.

As for the purity and conscience,the previous researchers mainly want to find and study purity and conscience by analyzing the main characters.But in my opinion,their research is not very complete. This paper not only find the purity and conscience but also analyze the necessity of purity in a corrupt world.This paper is to testify the strength of purity in a corrupt world. Through them, the author will show that the darkness and evil will not erode people’s souls forever and the pure quality will overcome the corrupt world eventually. We can not deny that social environment has a great effect on human’s character. However, whatever the environment is, it may never tarnish the goodness in human nature. It is believed that more new values,which is benefit for human and society will be fund in the future.

References

Anny, S.(2010).Parentage and Inheritance in the Novels of Charles

Dickens.Cambridge University Press.

Cui,T[崔童].(2010).The Mirror of Victoria’s Society--Analysis of the View of Family Marriage and Moral in Oliver Twister. 青年文学家.05.

Charles, D.(1992).Oliver Twister.Beijing:Foreign Language and Research Press. Dowling,D.(2011).Manliness and the Male Novelist in Victorian Literature.Ashgate publishing Group.

Gilbert, K. C.(1991).Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles

Dickens.The echo Library.

Hu,S.J.[胡斯嘉].(2009). An inspiring star-- in Oliver Twister. 青年文学家.20.

Han,N.[韩南].(2009). Analysis of the Dominant Features of Realistic Novel Through Oliver Twister by Charles Dickens.Xian.民营科技.01.

Hao,L.[郝露].(2010). 狄更斯《雾都孤儿》中的批判资本主义 [Critical Realism of

the Oliver Twister ].湖北：湖北教育出版社.

John, B.(2003).Other Dickens:Pickwick to Chuzzlewit. Oxford University

John,F.(2009). The Life of Charles Dickens. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Liu,C.[刘聪].(2013). An Analysis of the Linguistic Deviation in Chapter X of Oliver Twister.Overseas English.19.

Liu,J.X.[刘精香].(1999).《雾都孤儿》中南希形象剖析.[An Analysis of Nancy in Oliver Twister]. 武汉：中南民族大学出版社.

Luo,C.L.[罗翠丽].(2002).Plot and pattern(II)in Oliver Twister by Charles Dickens.Journal of Chengde Vocational and Technical College for Nationalities.04.

Luo,J.G.[罗经国].(1989). 狄更斯评论集[A Critical Biography of Charles Dickens]. 上海：上海译文出版社.

Qiao,G.Q.[乔国强].(2008).从《雾都孤儿》看狄更斯的反犹主义倾向[TheAnti-Semitism in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twister].上海：上海译文出版社. Yan,X.R.[闫晓如].(2003). 试析《雾都孤儿》情节的巧合[The Brief Analysis of Coincidences in Oliver Twister ]. 甘肃西峰：伊利教育学院学报.