The Family Ethics In Alice Munro’s Too Much Happiness

As one of the most significant contemporary short story writers, Alice Munro is overwhelmed with growing attention these years. The exploration and concern over family ethics have been her main focus throughout her writing career. There is no exception to her short story collection Too Much Happiness, which was published in 2009. Critics both abroad and at home have concerned themselves with the unique moral power in Munro’s stories, but the research of her work from the perspective of ethics is still in its early stages. With reference to theoretical and textual analysis, this thesis is devoted to the exploration of the family ethics in Too Much Happiness, probes into the representation of family crisis, the root of the crisis and the ethical appeal of family in the work.The thesis is divided into five chapters, the introduction part, the argumentation part and the conclusion part.The first chapter gives a general introduction of Alice Munro, her literary achievements and her thoughts on literary creation, expounds the literary review concerning the study of Alice Munro and Too Much Happiness both at home and abroad and then states the research task, method and structure of the thesis generally.In the second chapter, emphasis is put on unveiling the crisis of family ethics in Too Much Happiness. It first deals with the conjugal ethical relations in Too Much Happiness. The couples in the stories either break through the ethical boundaries or resort to family violence. The rebellion against traditional family ethics results in the family tragedies. In addition, it also analyzes the ethical relationships between children and parents as well as conjugal relation in Too Much Happiness. In terms of the ethical relationships between children and parents, the absence of children and the couple on bad terms appear to be the main family mode. Munro aims to emphasize the importance of children to a family and shows her concern over children themselves in modern families as well as the parent’s ethical responsibility in children’s growth. It reveals the essence of the ethics concealed in the crisis of family ethics and expresses the destruction of individuals’ excessive desire to the freedom and value of self and others. In the third chapter, significance is attached to the exploration of the underlying reasons for the crisis of family ethics:the shrinkage of social moral code and the degeneration of individual moral consciousness. The shrinkage of social moral code is manifested in the negative influence of the social transition and the oppression of male chauvinism to the family ethics. The degeneration of individual moral consciousness is manifested in the choice between individual desires and social ethical standards. In the fourth chapter, efforts are taken to inquire into the family ethics idea the work intends to express, sheds light on the regression of traditional family ethics and appeals for the marriage established on the basis of love, fulfilment of ethical responsibility and respect of female dignity and will.The fifth chapter in the conclusion presents that the concern of the family ethical situation in Too Much Happiness has profound literary and social significances for the theme of literature and the development of narrative.