| Ring Lardner(1885—1933)is an influential humorist of the Jazz Age in American history,and he is known for his short stories.The researches on Ring Lardner’s short stories at home and abroad mainly focus on themes,characterization,narrative techniques,humour and so on.However,few scholars paid their attention to the materialized phenomena in his short stories,which leaves space and possibility for this paper.The thesis writer finds that Ring Lardner’s collection of short stories,Round Up,vividly describes the American people’s living conditions in the Jazz Age.The physical bodies of characters are treated as objects;people are alienated from each other,and the characters’ spiritual world becomes barren.These phenomena are in accordance with what reification theory emphasizes: man as objects,the atomization of individuals and the conversion of spirit from richness to oneness.The thesis writer holds that these phenomena indicate the materialization of physical body,the materialization of emotion and the materialization of spirit respectively.Therefore,based on the reification theory,this paper aims to elaborate on the three types of materialization phenomena in the stories including “The Love Nest”,“The Maysville Minstrel”,“A Day with Conrad Green”,“My Roomy”,“Reunion”,“Champion”,“Old Folk’s Christmas”,“Liberty Hall”,“Some Like Them Cold”,“Now and Then”,“Man not Overboard”,“A Frame-Up”,“Haircut” etc.The first chapter analyzes the physical materialization of characters in “The Love Nest”,“The Maysville Minstrel”,“A Day with Conrad Green”,“My Roomy”.Namely,human bodies are considered as objects.The physical materialization will be illustrated from two aspects so as to reveal the truth that the human body is under oppression and exploitation.One deals with the objectification of the female body: woman as a breeding machine and private property in a patriarchal society.The other discusses the objectification of the male body: man as a working machine and commodity in a capitalist society.The second chapter aims to explore the emotional materialization of the characters in“Reunion”,“Champion”,“Old Folk’s Christmas”,“Mr.Frisbie”,“Liberty Hall”,“Some Like Them Cold” and “Now and Then”.That is the atomization of individuals or the alienation of social relationships.By studying the alienation and estrangement between family members,friends and lovers,this part aims to uncover the disharmony of interpersonal relationships and to reveal the emotional crisis in a capitalist society.The third chapter analyzes the spiritual materialization of the characters in “Man not Overboard”,“A Frame-Up”,“Haircut”,“Champion”,“Some Like Them Cold”,“The Love Nest”and “Ex Parte”.That refers to the spiritual conversion from richness to oneness.Through analyzing the barrenness of the spirit and the blind pursuit for money and materials,this part uncovers the emptiness of the spirit and the excessive dependence on the material world,uncovers the penetration of materialization and the spiritual crisis people encountered in the Jazz Age.Lastly,this thesis concludes that the revelation of materialization in Round up,on one hand,expresses the criticism of capitalist society.The development of industrial and society brings about adverse effects,and materialization penetrates into all aspects of people’s lives.On the other hand,it also conveys the writer’s anxiety about the negative impacts of materialization,which makes people live in a society with oppression,constraints,disharmonious interpersonal relationship and the absence of spiritual richness.Academically,this paper makes some innovations by combining Ring Lardner’s short stories with materialization theory.Realistically,in modern society,with the rapid development of science and technology and abundant material desires,the materialization of human is still taking place.This thesis hopes to draw people’s attention to the materialized phenomena so as to get rid of the negative influences of materialization and avoid becoming the appendage of materialization. |
