On Marital Ethics In Alice Munro's Short Stories

This thesis studies marital ethics in Canadian female writer, Alice Munro's works.It primarily covers ten short stories from her five collections, which includes Friendof My Youth, The Love of A Good Woman, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship,Marriage, Too Much Happiness, and her latest work Dear Life. Munro is famous inthe field of short story with penetrating styles. The award she receives,2013NobelPrize in Literature, confirms her marvelous talents in writing forcefully. In her works,she is used to adopting female perspective and creating various life experiences whichguides readers to immerse into a wonderful journey in the galaxy of life.There are five parts totally in this thesis. In the introduction part, literaturereviews plays the most important role. In the first chapter, through analyzing MaritalRevolution written by Russell, the importance of consummate love in marriage isdiscussed. Some Munro's works of depictions on marital daily life are also included inthis chapter. In the second chapter, combining with C.G. Jung's theory of“Individuation”, Munro's narrations on female choices in marriage are discussed bycomparisons. And the necessity and significance of “Individuation” in marriage arecited here. In the third chapter, based on Levinas' theory of Responsibility to theOther, the relationships between satisfactory quality and responsibility in marriage areanalyzed. In the part of conclusion, her conceptions upon marital ethics are defined asthree cornerstones in marriage: consummate love, individuation and responsibility.According to literary ethical criticism theory, this thesis analyzes Munro's maritalethics based on close reading of her works. About the side of ethics, this thesis bringsin the theory of the Other from Emmanuel Levinas and theory of Individuation fromC.G. Jung. In addition, in the introduction of ethical part, Simon Blackburn's briefintroduction on ethics is used. Meanwhile, Richard Rorty's ethical relativism isreferred in the part of ethical dilemma. On the other hand, Simone De Beauvoir's TheSecond Sex is another theoretical base in this thesis. Especially her conception uponfemale subjectivity is combined with Jung's theory of Individuation in this thesis. Out of this combination, this thesis offers an important transition from female'sself-realization to the scope of ethics in marriage. Above all, Alice Munro's maritalethics is defined as three cornerstones in the conclusion which also could be put it as:when a marriage is built upon consummate love and individuation, then responsibilitycomes.