The Analysis Of Jesse's Ethical Selection And Ethical Identity In Wonderland

Joyce Carol Oates,the author of Wonderland,has great moral responsibility and traditional cultural consciousness.Her works were produced on real society,culture and morality,which aim at expressing the complexity of the world.On the background of 1930 s to 1970 s in United States,the novel Wonderland tells the story about protagonist Jesse from a survivor of the shooting,to the stepson adopted by Dr.Pedersen,then an abandoned poor part-time student,and eventually to a famous brain surgeon.This thesis applies ethical literary criticism to analyze Jesse's ethical selection and the change and construction of his ethical identity,and to explore his struggle between human factor and animal factor in the process of constructing his own ethical identity.This thesis is divided into six parts.Chapter One is introduction.It briefly introduces the background,framework and significance of the thesis.Chapter Two is literature review and theoretical foundation.It firstly introduces Oates and her novels and presents the domestic and overseas researches about Wonderland.Then it introduces the theoretical foundation,ethical literary criticism,including background,major principles,some related terms and significance of analyzing the novel Wonderland.Chapter Three interprets Jesse's ethical selections and the changes of his ethical identities.It specifically discusses Jesse's ethical growth from Jesse Harte to stepson Jesse Pedersen,and then to the individual Jesse Vogel.Chapter Four focuses on Jesse's ethical predicament and ethical selection between husband and lover.Through the analysis of his love and alienation to Helene,his fascination and repulsion to Reva,those two ethical lines reveal Jesse's struggle and final balance between human factor and animal factor.Chapter Five analyzes Jesse's ethical identity construction.It analyzes what Jesse saw and heard in the course of searching his daughter Shelley and his reflection on life.Then it discusses his selection between being human and being devil.The last part is conclusion.It summarizes the thesis and suggests that people inevitably experience some ethical predicaments and selections in order to find their own ethical identity.And people need to improve themselves in order to establish perfect ethical identity.