| Alice Munro(born in 1931)is a Canadian writer,whose book Runaway was awarded Giller Prize in 2004.Runaway is with eight short stories:"Runaway","Chance","Soon","Silence","Passion","Trespasses" and "Tricks".The thesis analyzes the mental journeys and inner thoughts of character by using the philosophical thinking of Martin Heidegger such as Dasein,and discovers that runaway is actually a poetic journey of "going-home" just as Heidegger said.The introduction part introduces the overseas and domestic research status of Runaway and the contents and methodology of the thesis.The main body is divided into three parts.The first part is named "the opening of Dasein".Starting from the love and family,the thesis explores the characters’ narcissism,the lost of soul and sex in the family and love in each story,which shows the poor homeless dilemma of the characters in fact.The second part,"the forgetfulness of Being",mainly analyzes the shadow of social morality and technical rationality over people’s Being,as well as the forgetfulness of mental poverty itself from three aspects:gambling between fortune and misfortune,chaotic sense of morality and impulsive curiosity,and descendants of god and poor rationality.The third part is about "the possibility of homecoming".By analyzing three approaches of"runaway",namely "back to the original place","waiting alone" and "facing their own",the author suggests the possibility that these three "runaway" are actually three kinds of homecoming,for the characters go through the thinking of mind while runaway."Back to the original place" means the characters find the lowest level of security in mind,"waiting alone"means the characters turn to has hope while waiting,"facing their own" means the characters return to the inner space of the mind,and re-gather his or her own existence,thus go into a peaceful and comfortable state.At the end of the thesis,the author argues that the poetic essence of homecoming dwells on the returning of the soul rather than the final arrival.As a result,the "runaway" in the story turns to be a poetic "homecoming". |
