| Joyce Carol Oates is one of contemporary American literature’s most famous and prolific writers.She has won every major American literary award and has been nominated for Nobel Prize several times.Oates also expresses deep humanistic concern about the plight of ordinary people and the social reality.The academic novels Oates created criticize malpractices of the society and the inequality in universities with profound insight.By depicting the troubles Anellia faced in the society,at the family and on campus in I’ll Take You There,Oates exposes the ethical dilemmas behind the seemingly harmonious American society and attempts to find a new way out for the people in lost like Anellia.From the perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism,this thesis interprets and elaborates the chaotic ethical environment,Anellia’s tragic ethical selection,and the gradual awakening of her ethical consciousness.This thesis also aims to explore Oates’ portrayal of human nature and her ethical thoughts,and to help understand the importance of correct ethical consciousness.This thesis consists of six parts.The introduction mainly analyzes Oates and her work I’ll Take You There.The first chapter introduces the theoretical basis,which raises the origin,the development,and basic terms of ethical literary criticism.Chapter two investigates the complex ethical environment that Anellia faced in the society,at the family,and on campus.Social problems such as racial discrimination and wealth gap put Anellia in a chaotic environment;lack of family love and distorted peer relationship and teacher-student relationship on campus resulted in Anellia’s ethical dilemma.Chapter three describes the tragic ethical selections Anellia made in the complex ethical environment.Suffering strong racial discrimination,Anellia was in need of people’s love and kindness eagerly,so she mistakenly accepted the love of hypocritical Matthews.Severe wealth gap made Anellia bend on being part of the upper class.The breakdown of family relationships,the distortion of peer and teacher-student relationships led Anellia to choose to flee her family and get away from campus.Chapter four explains the awakening of Anellia’s ethical consciousness after experiencing various difficulties and wrong selections.With the awakening of her social ethical consciousness,Anellia bravely broke up with Matthews and recognized herself.The return of family love made her enjoy the warmth of family again;after recognizing the indifference of the Kappa sisters and the housemaster,she chose to disown them and realize her independent self.The conclusion focuses on the ethical and moral values embodied in the novel and Oates’ concern for human society.This thesis aims to guide people to face ethical dilemmas in social life properly,to recognize the influence of ethical environment on individual’s ethical choice,to emphasize the importance of ethical consciousness in ethical choice and individual development,and to call on people to build a harmonious social ethical order. |
