Alienation And Regression Of Human Nature In Salvage The Bones

As a young African-American writer, Jesmyn Ward (1977-) attempts to tell the story of her people and her hometown in her two novels and one memoir. However, increasing attention has been paid to the young writer and her second book Salvage the Bones, which won the National Book Award in 2011 and the Alex Award in 2012. Yet, there has been a few domestic researches on her.The book Salvage the Bones, published in 2011, shows a universal value and calls for the regression of human nature. Beginning with China's parturition and ending with Esch becoming a mother, the novel Salvage the Bones mainly centers on Hurricane Katrina and tells about twelve days in the life of a black family as the Hurricane hits their Mississippi town from the perspective of a fourteen-year-old girl Esch. In the novel, Ward aims to expose the alienation of modern people, family and society. Meanwhile, Ward intends to call for the regression of modern people's independence, the reunion of family and the regression of the harmonious society.With the alienation theory of Erich Fromm, the thesis makes an analysis of alienation embodied in Salvage the Bones from the perspectives of the powerlessness of Esch, fragmentation of the black family and the irreconcilable inter-ethnic conflicts and at the same time stresses the importance of the return of love in terms of Esch's self-love, the reunion of the black family and universal love of fellow men. Moreover, metaphors have been analyzed to refer to its social meaning. Finally, the thesis concludes that Salvage the Bones calls for the return of love in society and eulogizes the glory of human nature by describing the story of the people and the hometown of Ward; these are of great significance for people to possess a positive life attitude.