An Inevitable Course To Self-Salvation

Being among the most influential American writers in the 20th century, both F. Scott Fitzgerald and Robert Penn Warren have enjoyed long and great literary reputation. The Great Gatsby and All the King's Men can well be regarded as their most powerful and representative works in the field of novel writing. The former has been generally acknowledged as a classic which reveals the disillusionment of the American Dream in the East, which was once the industrial and commercial centre of America in the 1920s; the latter represents, with historical and philosophical profundity, the panorama of the American South in its transitional period from the semi-feudal agrarian society to the modern capitalist industrial society.As an ingenious and enduring novel in the history of American literature, The Great Gatsby has never lost its charm in the field of literary criticism both at home and abroad. Related academic discussions and critical essays can be generally categorized into three patterns: the first is to explore Fitzgerald's writing techniques and his artistic style; the second is to analyze the symbolic meanings of the principal characters from a historical and sociological angle; the third is to unfold its thematic concern through the perspective of social ethics. Since Warren's departure in 1989, a new heat of Warren study has risen. Presently, the major research outcome of the novel All the King's Men can be found abroad, while domestic researches on this novel are still in the opening and tentative stage. The major researches cover the following aspects: the political and historical framework of this novel; its representation of Warren's Southern nostalgia; its unique narrative perspective and structure; Warren's views of history and morality. A comparison of these researches can show that researchers and critics have endeavored to explore the moral elements embedded in the two novels. To some extent, this proves that both novelists are concerned with morality.These two novels are composed in different writing backgrounds, but both reveal a fact that the modern American society is infected by some prevailing moral problems. Moral decadence and confusion often make the modern life frustrating, meaningless, and even dangerous. The Great Gatsby shows that not a few people are excessively immersed in a hedonistic mood; their obsession with material success subdues their spiritual pursuit and makes the East a moral wasteland where the early American virtues have completely lost their ground. Correspondingly, All the King's Men reflects some moral problems such as aristocratic stubbornness, recklessness of the new capitalist stratum as well as irresponsible cynicism and escapism; these symptoms all make it obvious that the Southerners are experiencing a moral dilemma, mainly caused by the moral conflicts between the traditional Southern ethics and the new pragmatic doctrine. The commonness of the writers' concerns with morality should not be regarded as a literary coincidence; it is rather a serious responsibility undertaken by two moralists who are determined to show people of the modern age the course to self-salvation. So in this thesis, efforts are made to make a comparative study of the moral elements represented in The Great Gatsby and All the King's Men. The study is meant to reveal the commonness and peculiarities in the writers' moral preachments. And on this basis, it tries to find the answers to a series of questions, including how to understand the significance of morality, and how to follow its guidance and exert its power.In the first chapter, it first respectively introduces the social and historical backgrounds of the two novels: The Great Gatsby is set in the American East of the 1920s, which on the whole takes on a tumultuous look; the American South in its transitional period provides the social environment for the composition of All the Kings 'Men. Then it displays some prevailing moral problems in both areas and explains the social and historical causes which lead to them. To prove the ubiquity of these moral problems, it subsequently sorts out and compares some common textual evidence from both novels, like people's attitude towards automobiles and driving, as well as their disloyalty and irresponsibility in love and marriage.The second chapter mainly explores the similar life pattern of the two so-called protagonists-Jay Gatsby and Willie Stark. In the early phase of life, they are innocent and are in possession of high idealistic motivations. Later they both meet the turning point of life, and from then on they get into a complicated phase of life: they begin to thrive in respective careers, but meanwhile they are exposed to some immoral social forces which deform their innocence. At last, they similarly undergo tragic annihilations because of their moral defects. Through the moral failures of Gatsby and Willie, the novelists make it possible for the readers to realize the severity of the social immoralities and their destructive influence upon individuals.Both as responsible writers, neither Fitzgerald nor Warren is content with merely the revelation or the criticism of those moral problems; they carry on suggesting that morality can provide the chance of self-salvation for the modern people, who are walking along the abyss of destruction. In the third chapter, their mutual emphasis on one's moral maturity and integrity is first presented through a comparison between the spiritual progress of the two narrators-Nick Carraway and Jack Burden. Then a contrast is made to explore the peculiarities in their moral preachments, i.e. their specific solutions to the moral problems. With the help of their unique life experiences and philosophic notions, the reasons for these differences are expatiated.After three chapters of discussion, this thesis comes to a conclusion that both Fitzgerald and Warren can be considered as serious moralists who have unique interpretations of the moral problems and people's predicament in the modern society. On one hand, they both emphasize on the significance of moral maturity and integrity because they firmly believe that the everlasting power of morality is indispensable for people's self-salvation. Those who overlook or escape from morality will have confusion and blurred values, what's worse, they may fall the victims of some evil social forces; those who despise or overtly violate moral standards will lose their humanity and conscience, and what they do are highly reproachable. Only those who realize the importance of being moral and regulate their behaviors with reliable virtues can make proper judgments, and they can improve themselves and finally find their way out. On the other hand, readers may find that the novelists' specific solutions to these moral problems are different. The difference occurs reasonably because the novelists have unique life experiences and philosophical notions. This fact may tell that morality is never a static or invariable concept. It varies in connotations under different circumstances. However, this variability doesn't detract morality from its power, but enhance its applicability. Therefore, the comparative study also conveys that Fitzgerald and Warren are fine examples of genuine and insightful moralists, who are capable of guiding people to follow morality more practically, and to exert moral power more effectively.