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摘 要刀锋》是20世纪初英国著名的小说家毛姆的代表作之一。这部小说充分体现了毛姆的人生观，是其之前小说的升华。它主要讲述了主人公拉里经历第一次世界大战之后探求生命意义的历程。本文首先对拉里的人物形象进行了分析；然后对拉里战前战后不同的人生观进行了比较解读，即由战前的乐观开朗,到战后的悲观迷茫，再到最终从印度宗教中求得人生的真谛；最后分析了拉里人生观发生变化的原因。有助于人们更深刻地理解这部作品的内涵，对当代人们正确人生观的树立有一定的启发作用。34997
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毕业论文关键词：《刀锋》；拉里；人生观
Abstract The Razor’s Edge is one of the masterpieces of W.S.Maugham, a celebrated novelist in the early 20th century. Maugham’s outlooks on life are fully embodied in The Razor’s Edge, which is considered as a sublimation of his former works. It is mainly about what happened to the hero—Larry, who was influenced deeply by the First World War and continuously sought for the meanings of life after the war. This paper firstly analyzes Larry’s image, then interprets comparatively Larry’s different outlooks on life before and after the war, that is, he was optimistic and outgoing before the war, and became pessimistic and confused after the war until he obtained the true meaning of life from Hinduism. Finally it explores the causes of changes on his views of life. It serves as a vehicle for us to understand the theme of this novel better and to get some enlightenment about our life.
Key words: The Razor’s Edge; Larry; outlooks on life
An Analysis of Larry’s Outlooks on Life in The Razor’s Edge
Contents
摘 要 i
Abstract ii
I. Introduction 1
II. The Image Analysis of Larry 2
2.1 Analysis of His Appearance 2
2.2 Analysis of His Behavior 3
2.3 Analysis of His Language 5
III. The Interpretation of Larry’s Outlooks on Life 7
3.1 Larry’s Outlook on Life before the War 7
3.2 Larry’s Outlook on Life after the War 8
IV. The Causes of Changes on Larry’s Outlooks on Life 13
4.1 The Causes of Changes on His Attitudes Toward Life 13
4.2 The Causes of Changes on His Religious Beliefs 14
V. Conclusion 15
Bibliography 18
Acknowledgments 19
I. Introduction
W.S. Maugham is one of the most celebrated British writers, considered as “the English Maupassant” in the twentieth century. Maugham, as a prolific writer, published his first novel Liza of Lambeth in 1897, and got great reputation during 1914-1939. In his whole life, he wrote 78 books and boasted large amount of faithful audience from the late Victorian era to 20th century. He led an affluent life owing to his commercial success with high book sales, successful theater productions and stock market investments. Maugham's masterpiece are generally agreed to be Of Human Bondage (1915), The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Cakes and Ale (1930) and The Razor's Edge (1944).
The Razor’s Edge, published in 1944, which is regarded as the most mature work of Maugham, is mainly about what happened to the hero—Larry, who lived between the two world wars. At that time, British people were influenced deeply and broadly by the cruel wars, and of course Larry was no exception. The United States, joining late in the war, did not suffer the catastrophic losses o f the major belligerents. Though U.S.’ losses in life were great, more than 10000, this was small in comparison to the millions lost by other major powers. Furthermore, the United States was a continental power rich in resources. The war stimulated the American economy, increased employment together with wages, and brought profits to its industry. Therefore, The United States emerged from the war as the greatest power in the world. Such circumstances thrust the United States in to a position of world leadership before the American people were ready to accept that responsibility. The problems, the destabilization, the uncertainties and the great economic damage brought by the war were far more delicate and difficult to deal with than any situation that existed prior to the war. Under such complicated social background, the American people had to abandon what they had considered as right about their identity and adapted a new inpidual’s position from a new angle and redefine an absolutely different set of values and life expectations.