A Study Of W.somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage From The Perspective Of Sartre's Existentialism

Of Human Bondage is the masterpiece written by W. Somerset Maugham with the quality of autobiography, which is also considered as a classical work of the modern literature by the public. It tells the story of Philip's growth, he experiences the death of parents and is adopted by his Uncle William, then experiences the lonely childhood, the anxious and depressed youth, and finally he finds the meaning of life. During this growing process, as an isolated being, Philip suffers a lot, but he never gives up the hope of life, faces the reality, chooses for himself freely and purses the value of signal being in various dilemma. Meanwhile, existential philosophy's research aims at the human existence, the being of self and existence of the single body with self-consciousness. Through the self-consciousness, namely being-for-itself, man constantly denies the being-in-itself and then transcends it, so it guides the person to choose freely and surpass himself in the actual behavior. In return, the person will find the real man in himself in the process of taking the responsibility for his own behavior.The thesis consists of the following six chapters.The first part briefly introduces this writer W. Somerset Maugham and the novel Of Human Bondage, and then the domestic and foreign research of this novel. Based on these materials above, this thesis is trying to explicate this classical work from the perspective of philosophical thoughts, which forms the theoretical structure.Chapter One mainly introduces the history of Existentialism, and the thoughts of Sartre are emphasized, and those thoughts such as"the isolated and miserable life","Existence Precedes Essence","being- for– itself"and"free choice and responsibility"are explicated in detail.Chapter Two mainly discusses the nihilistic existence of Philip in his life. Sartre's thought of existentialism points out that men are surrounded by the nihility. Men are thrown into the world as a miserable and alienated being. So this part of the thesis mainly deals with Philip's nihilistic existence from two aspects: the alienation of kinds of relationships around Philip and the suffering of relatives and friends'death.Chapter Three mainly discusses Philip's spiritual course. Although, as an isolated body, Philip suffers a lot and experiences the nonentity of life, he never gives up the hope of life and faces the reality bravely. In the chaos of being-in-itself, Philip seeks for his own freedom of spirit and insists on his own views of world and life. Through the continuous self-reflecting and denying, Philip is continuously to transcend himself and to create himself.Chapter Four mainly concerns Philip's choices and actions throughout his life. He is to recreate himself through being-for-itself, while he is remolding himself and recreated himself through his free choice, positive actions and shouldering his responsibility. Throughout his life, Philip chooses the way of life for himself without the control of others, like the control of his uncle and teachers. As an orphan, Philip fights for his freedom and independence with his uncle in this strange family, and at last, he chooses doctor as his career, going towards the future with his wife Sally, which is not defined by God, rather by the actions and his choices. In the process of acting, he recreates himself. So this corresponds to Sartre's Existence precedes essence.The last part is about the conclusion. Of Human Bondage is a great and famous novel by W.S.Maugham in the turn of 19th -20th century, while the thoughts of Sartre's existentialism are well known by the world during the time of 1940s, so there is no relationship between them. But the philosophical thoughts in this novel are response to Sartre's thought, so from the detailed analysis above, the main point of this thesis is to study this novel from this aspect for it.