| John Cheever(1912—1982), one of the most important American novelists of the 20 th century, was awarded numerous prizes for his prominent achievements in literature, and enjoyed the high reputation of “the Chekhov of the suburbs”.In all his novels, what Cheever paid close attention to is the fall of males, that is,a kind of social anomy, such as alcohol addiction, drug taking, gays, extramarital affairs, suicides, murders, etc. Opposite to norms, orders, institutions and so on,anomy manifests the dysfunction of the system of social norms(or social orders).However, the system of social norms is, to a large extent, affected by social and spatial changes. Social and spatial changes always work together: on the one hand,social changes giving rise to the new social space; and on the other hand, new social space reshaping social members’ values, subjective experiences and social norms, so as to have a great impact on their choice of behavior. In Cheever’s opinion, all of his works concern the subject of males’ “confinement”. The places for confinement are age-old St.Botophs, the modern metropolis New York, Shady Hill on the outskirts,Falconer State Prison, etc. In Foucault’s view, a place is of space, which is brought about by the social relationship. Therefore, Cheever’s works have some evident spatial features, and their heroes are confronted with the transient space: from the space of traditional cities to that of modern metropolises, and to that of suburbs. The intertwinement of infinite social-spatial relationship and the breakage of social structure resulted in by different types of social-spatial formations lead to the disorganization of social norms and the collapse of social values so as to reduce the male heroes to being in a turmoil state in their social relationship, social behavior and psychology so that they resort to anomy behaviors as rebellion. Therefore, it becomes an important dimension to analyze anomy behaviors from the angle of social space.On the basis of “anomie theory”, together with “social space theory”, the study will, by going deep into the realities of Cheever’s life and fictions, make an analysis of the new middle-class men’s anomy behaviors caused by the changes of social space,iv and of how they re-find back their dignity and significance of life. The male anomy behaviors described by Cheever in his novels are only superficial phenomena, and what he appealed to is people’s eagerness for authority and social order, as well as for the reestablishment of a set of powerful and dominant values that can cope with a new era.The dissertation falls into six parts:The first part is an introduction. First, it gives a general review of Cheever’s life and writing career, presenting the existing study of John Cheever’s novels; and then it makes a survey of different academic opinions on the concept of “anomie theory”,and of the relationship between social space changes and anomies, laying the theoretical foundation for the dissertation.The second part is Chapter One. This chapter analyses The Housebreaker of Shady Hill and Other Stories from an angle of the suburban space’s impact on individuals. Upon the analysis, it has been found out that the middle-class men lived in a multi-dimensional world during the post-war period. The transient change of social space made them feel insecurity, deprivation and oppression so that they became victims of anomies.The third part is Chapter Two. This chapter analyzes the male anomies in“Wapshot Novels” from a perspective of metropolitan space’s father absence. The analysis shows that what evoked the male anomie behaviors was the confusion of ideology and social values created by the shift from the space of traditional cities to that of modern metropolises, which manifested a generation’s eagerness for authority and social order.The fourth part is Chapter Three. This chapter analyzes Falconer on the basis of Foucault’s heterotopias theory. The analysis points out that the prison of Falconer described by Cheever is not only a modern society’s heterotopias but also a world in a mess-- a metaphor for the anomy state of the 1960 s American society. Meanwhile,the prison also disciplines spatial order, standardizing people’s ideology and behavior by means of self-organization so as to enable men to re-find back power, social order and dignity in a world full of anomies.The fifth part is Chapter Four. This chapter explores how Cheever tried to save the fallen world with the literature power. By analyzing such works as The Housebreaker of Shady Hill and Other Stories, The Wapshot Chronicle, The Wapshot Scandal, Falconer, etc., this chapter points out Cheever’s life-long pursuit of writing in three aspects: recovery of unbalanced morality, masculinity and kindness, for Cheever firmly believed that literature is the only way to keep sustained and constant records of our pilgrimage to human being’s glory and fulfillment, and it can also prevent us from moral declining as well.The sixth part is a conclusion, which summarizes all the chapters of the dissertation, and expounds some controversial views remaining open to question in the study of Cheever. What is more, this part also looks forward to the prospect of a follow-up study of Cheever in the near future. |
