Colliding Classic And Exploring Essence

Don De Lillo(1936-)is known as one of the most famous contemporary American novelists,owning the affection of broad reading public and enjoying high reputation among critics.So far,he has written 17 novels,5 plays,numerous short stories and essays.Falling Man,published in 2007,is considered to be a representative of the 9/11 novel.Taking the astonishing 9/11 terrorist attack as the background,this book vividly presents the contemporary social conflicts and struggles in people's hearts in delicate style.Since it was first published,the novel has attracted wide attention both at home and abroad.Critics mainly focus on trauma experience and postmodern writing techniques.This thesis attempts to interpret the classical archetypes in Falling Man from the perspective of myth-archetypal criticism to excavate the profound meaning contained in archetypes for readers to understand the book thoroughly.This thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter briefly introduces De Lillo and Falling Man,myth-archetypal criticism,and reviews the studies domestic and foreign scholars have done to the novel.The second chapter analyzes the archetypal images,including apocalyptic images and demoniac images.In apocalyptic images,park and water represent the paradise,redemption and newborn which people yearn for.The Alzheimer's disease belonging to demoniac images is the punishment for the suspicion to God and faith;the affair among characters has broken family ethics.The third chapter probes into the prototype of characters in the novel,including two sections which analyze two males Amir and Hamade as well as two females,Lianne and Elena.The analysis of prototype characters enriches characters' personality and readers can achieve the more clear and distinct comprehension of human nature.Chapter four analyzes the quest motif as well as motif of fall and redemption in the novel.De Lillo reveals the less-dedicated belief,decline of ethics in contemporary society.These phenomena reflect the mutual strife and self-lost as well as the hard pursuit and self-salvation under this circumstance.The last chapter is conclusion.The application of various prototypes in Falling Man not only shows DeLillo' s excellent creative talents,but also greatly deepens theprofound and universal meanings.The interpretation from the perspective of myth-archetypal criticism provides a new direction and elucidates the connotation contained in the text.Meanwhile,this thesis is expected to encourage people to distinguish love and hate,quest and confusions,view problems from multiple perspectives,confront life bravely even in tough condition with firm belief.