A Genius’ S Birth,crisis And Return

Theodore Dreiser is one of the most outstanding American writers living in the transitional period from the 19 th century to the 20 th century.Each of his works is a panoramic view of the United States at the beginning of the 20 th century,which vividly reveals the social reality of the United States and reflects the social atmosphere and environment at that time.As a highly autobiographical novel,The “Genius” follows the life experience of Dreiser.It presents Dreiser’s as well as protagonist’s confusion on artistic creation and ideas about morality and ethics in the process of American industrialization.This paper explores the self construction of Eugene Witla from the sociopsychological perspective with the assistance of George Mead’s theory of self and Marilynn B.Brewer’s concept of triple self-construal.The main body of this paper is divided into three chapters to research how a genius emerged,struggled and resumed in the society.The first chapter focuses on the socialization process of the protagonist.It explores how Eugene was born through the sections of playing,playing games and taking roles to gradually reach the level of “self”.The second chapter pays attention to the crisis of negative influence of the transformation society on the protagonist’s self-construal.It analyzes the multiple effects of physical,psychological and social environment on Eugene who could not remain the “complete self” on the artistic level or emotional level.The third chapter,based on the triple self-construal theory,respectively exposes the construction of the individual self,relationship self,and collective self and researches how Eugene harmonized the relationship between the “I” and the “me”.The genius finally returned.In conclusion,individual participates in the socialization process,then realizes the organic unity of individual creativity and social order,and constructs the complete self in the end.