The Heartbroken Soul Of Plant Kingdom ——On The Alienation Theme In More Die Of Heartbreak

As a distinguished master of contemporary literature and the owner of Nobel Prize for Literature,Saul Bellow was considered as one of the most excellent writers of his generation.More Die of Heartbreak is a superb novel written in his later period of creation.It mainly talks about the marriage crisis and spiritual crisis experienced by Jewish botanist Benn Crader.In order to please the beautiful young wife,Benn is compelled to internalize others’ values,thus falling into the abyss of alienation.Though the protagonist is a conscientious intellectual,the alienated environment still inevitably affects him a lot.Fortunately,at the end of the novel,Benn finally awakes from the nightmare,tries to take actions to resist alienation and come back to his own nature.By this means,More Die of Heartbreak reflects Saul Bellow’s close attention to human destiny and cordial calling for human nature.Previously,many scholars liked applying feminism,Jewishness,consumerism,and existentialism to analyze More Die of Heartbreak.Nevertheless,few of them viewed this novel form the angle of Fromm’s alienation theory.Therefore,this thesis tries to probe it from this perspective.The introduction,which briefly introduces the research status of Saul Bellow as well as More Die of Heartbreak at home and abroad.Besides,the author also points out the research perspective and theoretical basis.The body part consists of three chapters.The first chapter combines the historical background and thus to analyze the alienation symptoms faced by Benn.Namely,the alienated outside world,alienated interpersonal relationships,and alienated oneself.The second chapter discusses in depth the causes of such predicaments.The influence of twisted materialistic world is the social factor,contradiction of different cultures is the cultural cause,and Benn’s naive personalityis the personal reason.The third chapter endeavors to analyze the possible way employed by protagonist to resist alienation.His insistence on traditional morality,the mighty spiritual power gained from love and companionship,as well as his deep attachment to nature all contribute to the alleviation of this problem.At last,the conclusion part summarizes the thesis and reiterates the importance of resisting alienation,finding peaceful spiritual shelters,and developing healthy personalities.By exploring the embodiments,causes,and resistances of alienation,this thesis dedicates to exposes the oppression of modern society on the contemporary people with the help of Eric Fromm’ s alienation theory.From microcosmic to macroscopic point of view,it examines the crisis of modern civilization and emphasizes the importance of resisting alienation in contemporary era,thus to ring the alarm bells for all modern people.