珍妮悲剧原因探究.docVIP

【标题】珍妮悲剧原因探究 【作者】彭华懿 【关键词】《珍妮姑娘》；悲剧；性格；宿命论 【指导老师】刘 敏 贾艳娜 【专业】英语 【正文】Ⅰ. IntroductionTheodore Dreiser was one of America’s greatest naturalist writers. Dreiser was born in a poor family. Dreiser’s own harsh experience of poverty as a youth and his early yearnings for wealth and success became dominant themes in his novels, and the misadventures of his brothers and sisters in early adult life gave him additional materials to build his characters. Jennie Gerhardt is Theodore Dreiser’s second novel which tells us a story of a woman who submits sexually to rich and powerful men to help her poverty-stricken family. The critics believe this is a realistic novel, which describes how the heroine becomes men’s lover by the reason of the hash environment. It emphasizes the importance of human beings in the environment and praises Jennie’s sacrifice for others. The author believes that Jennie’s self-sacrifice to some extent is a kind of social requirement or self-selection in such a masculine dominated society. In the novel the heroine Jennie lives in a poor, hash environment and her life is changed and affected by three men: her father old Gerhardt, her two lovers senator Brander and Lester Kane. Jennie devotes herself to the family and her lovers and is willing to sacrifice herself and bear all the painful results.Jennie Gerhardt is rarely mentioned. Until now several studies have analyzed such aspects as Feminism and the patriarchal power in this novel. It is ture that some studies are somewhat related to the source of Jennie Gerhardt’s collapes. For instance, there are some critics who argue that the conventional moral standard in the society which are dominated by religion and patriarchal power is the main reason of Jennie’s tragedy. However, They are not mainly focused on the real source of the tragedy of Jennie Gerhardt. I think the tragedy comes not only from the outer factors but also from Jennie’s own characteristics. This paper tries to probe into the so