Eugene O’Neill’s Paradoxical Warldview In All God’s Chillun Got Wings

Eugene O’Neill is the founder of modern American drama and contributesgreatly to the development of the American drama. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prizefour times, and he got the Nobel Prize for Literature in1936which made him occupyan important place in the world drama and symbolized the maturity of the Americandrama. As a conscientious playwright, O’Neill devotes all his life to reflecting a widersocial reality and the meaning of life. So his writings are largely affected by the trendof the times and the ethos, and they reflect his philosophy of life and his worldview.O’Neill’s worldview includes several parts, such as his view of life, his view ofreligion, his view of women, and etc. Most researchers and scholars discuss andanalyze O’Neill’s worldview from one part, while few perceive the common featurein each part, that is, contradiction exists in O’Neill’s worldview. This paper probesinto O’Neill’s paradoxical worldview implied in All God’s Chillun Got Wings (AllGod’s) by doing close reading in the guidance of some related studies.The thesis is divided into four chapters besides introduction and conclusion.Introduction contains a brief introduction of O’Neill and his play All God’s. Then theliterature review on O’Neill’s worldview and All God’s is discussed, and thesignificance of the thesis is pointed out.Chapter one to chapter three explore O’Neill’s contradictory outlooks on life,on religion and on women by analyzing the protagonists’ complex psychology andbehavior in All God’s. O’Neill is not only a pessimist but also an idealist. Heabandons his religious faith, but he has to rely on the faith. He is not satisfied withwomen’s situation of being controlled and oppressed by men, but he does not holdthat women should exceed men in order to fight against the oppression. All thesecontradictions affect himself and his works deeply.Chapter four explains the reasons for the formation of O’Neill’s paradoxicalworldview. O’Neill’s worldview is influenced by his family, Nietzsche’s thoughts,Schopenhauer’s thoughts, Taoist thought.Conclusion generalizes the contradictions on O’Neill’s views of life, of religionand of women. It shows the dramatist’s thoughts, namely, the pursuit for harmoniousand equal values, social status and marriage. It highlights the theme that paradoxicalworldview exists in O’Neill’s whole life and his plays.