An Analysis Of Binary Opposition In The Moon And Sixpence From The Perspective Of Structuralism

Living in an age of turbulence,William Somerset Maugham spent dozens of years on his writing career,during which he published more than 10 novels,dozens short stories,nearly 30 plays,and a great deal of travels,essays and literary commentaries.Actually,Maugham is a controversial writer in English literature.On one hand,he has won numerous awards in his life,and his works are favored by all orders of society.On the other hand,although owning high reputation among readers,Maugham is still regarded as a good second-rate writer by the literary world rather than a serious one.On the evaluation of Maugham's works,there is a strange contrast between the coldness of literary critics and the enthusiasm of readers,which is called “Maugham problem”.It is believed in this paper that there are many reasons for the “Somerset Maugham problem”,but in which case it also confirms that more space and more value need to be further excavated in Maugham's works.The Moon and Sixpence is one of the most representative novels of Maugham.Based on the life of the French Impressionist painter Gauguin,the novel describes an ordinary stockbroker Strickland suddenly abandons his wife and children as well as the happy life in others' eyes for pursuing art,and rushes to the island Tahiti in South Pacific to realize the dream of painting the brilliant life with his pen and putting the value of life onto the gorgeous canvas.In the novel,Maugham has molded many characters with complex characteristics and contradictory relationship.Especially through the protagonist Strickland,such a geek,Maugham explores thought-provoking matters with opposite relationships like ideals and reality,human and society,survival and death and so on.As long as the novel published,it has attracted much attention from critics.The scholars from various countries have analyzed and explained the novel from many angles,such as archetype of Gauguin,psychoanalysis of character,irrational features of character,theme of true self and so on,which greatly deepens readers' understanding of the novel.However,there is still some space to explore and discuss binary opposition in the work from the perspective of structuralism.Structuralism literary criticism plays an important role in the emerging literature theory of 20 th century by its unique theory and method used to interpret and evaluate literary works from a new angle.Using the structuralism theory to analyzes The Moonand Sixpence,this paper abandons the traditional literature criticism which seeks the explanation as well as the critical method and the standard outside the literature text itself,such as studies on Maugham's life experience,on life of the archetypal character Gauguin and so on,but it shifts main interpretation to the text itself,and finds out the general law and deep meaning of the work through structural analysis.By analyzing binary opposition from the perspective of structuralism,this paper tries to sum up pairs of binary oppositions both contradictory and related to each other in The Moon and Sixpence,then combines these oppositions to explore the deep meaning behind,and figures out the practical significance of the work.This paper can be divided into three parts: introduction,body,and conclusion.The introduction part is consisted of brief introduction of the author Maugham and his works The Moon and Sixpence and a review of studies on the author and his works at home and abroad.Then the referable resources and defective problems in existing research are analyzed,providing some basis and suggestions for writing this paper.The body part is divided into four chapters:In the first chapter,structuralism theory is introduced briefly.The content and development of structuralism theory,and the concept and features of binary opposition are reviewed,laying a theoretical foundation for this paper.In the second chapter,binary oppositions in characterization are analyzed.First of all,the opposition between character's appearance and inner character is analyzed,and complexity and contradiction within the character is uncovered,mainly by pure appearance and inner hypocrisy of Mrs.Strickland,ordinary appearance and inner talent of Strickland,funny appearance and inner goodness of Stroeve,etc.Secondly,the opposition of noble thoughts and despicable moral is analyzed to show the complexity of human nature,mainly manifested in Mrs.Strickland's kindness and selfishness,Strickland's indifference to others and enthusiasm to dream,etc.Then,the opposite relationships between the characters are analyzed,such as the opposition of the three women in Strickland's life,the opposition between the Stroeve and Blanche,the opposition between doctor Abraham and doctor Carmichael,which shows that different values result in different life choices.The analysis of binary oppositions above leads to a more comprehensive knowledge to characteristics and images of the main characters inthe novel,and to a further understanding of the relations between them,laying a firm foundation for interpretation of deep meaning.In the third chapter,binary oppositions in theme are analyzed,including male versus female,material versus spirit,human versus society,and survival versus death.In the society where the characters lived in,people paid more attention to secular value,but ignored the spiritual world.The free development of human beings was hindered by all aspects of society;women themselves lacked spiritual independence,creating a certain tragedy;survival was sometimes more terrible than death.Through the analysis,different opposite themes can be concluded behind the different problems and choices of characters in their life and pursuit to be themselves.Meanwhile,it can explore implied opposition in this novel from a more macroscopic perspective.In the fourth chapter,the deep meaning behind the binary oppositions is analyzed.At first,the situation of resistance and escape from the oppositions is analyzed,mainly including a pattern formed by the process from Strickland's dissatisfaction with his own life,to his resistance and escape from the status.The process shows the fact of his wandering around to pursue artistic ideals,through which it is possible to interpret his resistance to dilemma,getting rid of confusion in art creation,poaching to the maturity of art.At the same time,Strickland gradually becomes free from bondage given by society,materiality and existence.Then the theme of pursuing freedom by analyzing bondage of freedom and the way to achieve freedom is discussed.The conclusion part summarizes the whole text.The deep meaning of pursuing freedom through various binary oppositions is concluded,and the practical significance of this work is also pointed out.The Moon and Sixpence not only guides a clear direction for people in confusion,but also helps them establish a positive attitude towards life.More importantly,it causes readers in different times to reflect on themselves,so as to adhere to the real themselves and strive to pursue their dreams and a better life.Thus,this novel also contributes to promoting the social culture.