A Spatial Interpretation Of Identity In Far From The Madding Crowd

As one of the few novelists who lived across two centuries,Thomas Hardy has profound significance in British literary development.Of all his works,his “Wessex Novels” are the most thought-provoking.It is in Far from the Madding Crowd that Wessex is mentioned for the first time.Moreover,it has laid a solid foundation for Hardy’s career as a novelist.For decades,critics and scholars at home and abroad interpret it from different perspectives: gender,ecological,ethical,etc.But few have tried to analyze the characters’ identity from the perspective of spatial criticism.In Far from the Madding Crowd,the spatial movements of the main characters from one place to another in the novel endow the narrative with a strong sense of space.In this light,a discussion upon space can provide an available entrance to the center of this work.Based on Henri Lefebvre’s “space-triad” theory,the physical space and social space are interpreted respectively in this thesis.By analyzing the success and failure of different characters’ identity construction,the connotation of Hardy is revealed.It is only those who live in harmony with changes and transformations as Hardy pleads,there is a serene,happy life.Apart from introduction and conclusion,this thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter One centers on the physical space in Far from the Madding Crowd.As the actual space which subject can perceive or feel with multiple emotional experience,physical space mainly consists of natural and artificial landscape space.It cannot be denied that physical space plays a vital role in the construction of identity.The contradictory physical space presented in the novel implies that Wessex is in a state of permanent conflict,erosion.At the same time,it hampers the construction of identity.In addition,characters are ambiguous on their identities because of the sharp contrast between natural landscape space and artificial landscape space.Chapter Two puts emphasis on social space.Space,according to Lefebvre,is not a dead static container.The social space described by Hardy is also in a state of flux.As proposed by Lefebvre,“(social)space is the(social)product”(26).Namely,social space is a process of reconstruction of social relationships and orders.It produces and reflects the ideology of a society.It is in the interactions of human beings that a social space is forged.In Far from the Madding Crowd,the social space is full of class hostilities and alienations which suffocate the construction of identity.Through the different spatial practices of male characters and female characters,the identity anxiety is revealed.Chapter Three mainly discusses the transferring of individual space and characters’ identity construction.Individual space as representational space in “space-triad” of Lefebvre,has crucial significance in spatial criticism.It intensifies the subjectivity of individual in identity construction.In Hardy’s fictions,the majority characters are always on the road with certain quests.In this novel,the main characters are seen in constant movement.Besides what impels the spatial movement of these characters is an anxiety of identity,that is,an unremitting drive to form a stable identity or what they think is their due social position.Deciphering Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd in terms of space theory can detect the tensions among intricate spaces and explore the implications and orders hidden in spaces.As a matter of fact,not only the characters in the fiction are perplexed in the tremendous changes,Hardy and his fellow Victorian are living in a marginal community where exist the ambiguities between the past and the future,the traditional and the modern which may destabilize their identity.Although there are contradictions and conflicts in Hardy’s spatial narrative,by and large,most of his works convey a positive attitude towards the tremendous transformations.He firmly believes the golden rule of “survival of the fittest” and hopes human beings can change along with the changes of the environment to fulfil the construction of their identities.