A Study On The Falls From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

Joyce Carol Oates is an outstanding contemporary female writer inAmerica. Her works have won lots of awards and she has been nominatedas a candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature for many times. The Falls(2004), one of Oates’s famous works, brings her to the Prix FeminaEtranger. Despite the vast research of Joyce Carol Oates’s works, therehas been little study in China approaching to her works from theperspective of ethical literary criticism. This thesis attempts to revealOates’s ethical ideas and her understanding about human nature fromhuman-nature relationship, human-society relationship, human-otherrelationship and human-self relationship by applying the method ofethical literary criticism to her work The Falls. The analysis showsOates’s moral belief and ethical pursuit: harmony, love, trust, respect,optimism, independence, etc. and proves that Oates has madecontribution to the construction of humanistic spirit in the contemporarysociety. This thesis has the effect of manifesting that ethical literarycriticism provides a new way to understand Oates’s humanistic ideas.