An Existential Analysis Of A Burnt-out Case

Graham Greene (1904-1991) is a famous British writer of the 20th century, the rich literary style and outstanding achievements has laid the literary status of Greene which can not be challenged, and he has been nominated as "the most famous contemporary British novelist" by New York Times. The background of most Greene’s literary works is set in the 1950s to 1960s, which witnesses a rapid development of existentialism. Greene is deeply influenced by Sartre’s philosophy of existentialism, and most of his works explore the problems confronted by human beings in the comprehensive life, especially concerning the meaning and the state of existence of human beings. Most Greene’s novels have demonstrated a survival predicament of existence and the situation of the modern spirit, the protagonists in Greene’s novel are exiled to the wasteland in the twentieth century without hope, they face the evil of human nature and misfortune in the world, and cannot find the solution beside helpless and suffering, but they cap adhere to the realization of the spirit of self in the environment of alienation, and surmount the despair in the spiritual predicament. By focusing on the ordinary inner agonies and conflicts in the hearts of the main characters in his novels, Greene has continuously shown great enthusiasm in probing into the existence of the human beings.A Burnt-out Case is one of the most famous "serious fictions" of Greene’s. It is not only simply reflects the social reality, but also reflects the state in which man exists. Through profound moral significance, subtle psychological description and the unique modern techniques, Greene successfully creates a Europe recluse who has the extremely emptiness and desperate spirit, as the same as the majority heroes in Greene’s works, Querry tries to find the meaning of life in survival predicament, and explores the possibility of spirit redemption. As soon as A Burnt-out Case is published, wide attention and resonance are given to this novel. There are a lot of works and comments to study this novel, but very few works analyze the novel from the perspective of existentialism. Therefore, this thesis will try to analyze the novel from the existential view. Through analyzing the experience of protagonist’s self-alienation, self-restoration and ultimately obtaining the authentic existence, the thesis aims to explore the predicament and confusion of modern man, and tries to find a solution to overcome their confusion and find their meaning of existence. Through this analysis, the readers can have a better understanding of the subject as well as the Greene’s definition to the meaning of existence.This thesis consists of three parts:an introduction, the main body and a conclusion, the main contents are as follows:The first part is an introduction. It mainly includes a review of the life and career of Graham Greene, the plot summary of A Burnt-out Case and the importance of it, the summary of literary comments on them, and the research purposes, research methods and the significance of this thesis.The second part is the main body, which is made up of five chapters:The first chapter introduces existentialism. This chapter is divided into three parts: The first part introduces the definition, origin and development of existentialism. It probes into the fundamental reasons of the emergence of existentialism from the angles of history, culture and society. The second part describes the main theories of Sartre’s existentialism, especially some of the concepts and terminology relating to this paper. The third part explains the close relationship between Graham Greene and existentialism.The second chapter explores the causes of Querry’s self-lost by the use of Sartre’s theory "the world is absurd, human beings are suffering". The first part describes the world in detail which is absurd, social moral decays, people are lack of faith and keen to fame and fortune, and cannot find the meaning of existence and the value of life there. The second part in detailed analyzes the nihility of life and the meaninglessness of existence which Querry feels in this absurd world, with his desperate to his faith, career and love, Querry lost his self.The third chapter discusses the alienation experience of Querry by using Sartre’s alienation theory. In the face of a chaotic and absurd world, in existentialists’ view, people will make themselves far away from the absurd, chaotic and unreasonable society, and will make themselves separate from the groups which they belong to. Querry tries his best to escape from the unreal existence, he leaves Europe and went to the deep African jungle, keeping away from the world and people, making himself in the state of indifference and isolation.The fourth chapter discusses Querry’s self-restoration and ultimately real existence by the use of Sartre’s theory of freedom and responsibility. In Sartre’s view, the authentic existence is that one can make free choice and take the responsibility. Querry was already had the numb mind, he has lost interest in everything. The behavior of doctors and priests in leprosarium deeply influenced him, and after an inadvertently saving his servant, he felt the happy which is needed by others. With the love awaking in his heart, Querry rediscovered himself. Later he had taken many positive actions, he not only took the responsibility for himself, but also took the responsibility for others; he abandoned self-alienation, and reintegrated into the world, and helped to build a new hospital. Querry finally got real existence and the meaning of life.The fifth chapter explains Querry’s death and the final redemption of spirit by use of Sartre’s views of others and death. Querry had been trying to escape the hunt of the "civilized world", but Parkinson, Rycher and Marie for their own interest, they deprived the freedom of Querry, and eventually make Querry become they "Quarry" in the "civilized world". Though Querry was dead, but he has found the true meaning and significance of existence, death is the end of Querry’s fresh, but his spirit has been get true salvation, he live forever in the hearts of the people he once helped, and obtaining eternal life.The last part is the conclusion. It firstly makes a brief summary of analysis concerning the main body, and then it demonstrates research significance of this thesis and inspects our own existential conditions and points out the truth of human existence in the modern age. In the end, it again emphasizes that the world is absurd, the relationship between people is hostile and the death which we cannot avoid, but we should not be pessimistic, and we should keep the precious quality, such as responsibility, love and freedom in our heart, and choose the active lifestyle to find the truth of existence, gaining the eternal spirit.