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“In the late 19th and early 20th century, classical, seminal sociological theorists such as Durkheim, Weber, and Marx were greatly interested in religion and its effects on society. The ideas posited by these sociologists continue to be examined today, and they form a new study called sociology of religion” (Net.1). Lots of essays about humanity and pinity stem from the discipline. “There is a saying that literature somehow aims at studying human, which gives a progressive representation of the life and the thought of mankind” (Kennedy, 1991). The Scarlet Letter and The Thorn Birds reflect all of these themes such as humanity, pinity, love, life, human thoughts and so on.
After comparing the analyses of The Scarlet Letter and The Thorn Birds, Zhang Yiwei (2008) contends that in the common history of analyzing the two books, the research results generally can be grouped into two main clues: social and historical criticism and feminist criticism. The former is focused on humanity and pinity, passion and ethics, nature and religion, analyzing the underlying meaning of the scarlet letter “A” and the thorn birds, clarifying the pattern of positive and negative conflicts. The latter also has some supporters. Some commentators put forward some slogans such as “the rebellious Heist” because of the sensitive sex discrimination. Whatever the focus is, it is understood that religion itself is not just an ideology, but also a generalized social system. Because of the natural connection between two novels and religious themes, their inherent religious connotations are self-evident, both in their themes of love and fate, and their characters. Zhang Yiwei (2008) expressed her understanding of the emotional conflict of humanity and pinity between The Scarlet Letter and The Thorn Birds though three aspects: Forbidden Love, Desire Love and Divine Love, which can be also regarded as the love under religious asceticism, the love of body and the love of humanity. Zhang Yiwei has laid the foundation for the following scholars to find the connection between the The Scarlet Letter and The Thorn Birds.
These two literary works of different eras are thought to conceive of profound moral themes, which not only contain common people’s bottom-up pursuit of happiness, also involve a top-down spirit of harmony which exists between man and self, moreover between man and God. Morris Pam (1993) has ever said, “The great artistic charm of the novel comes from the theme, Love and Fate”. The Thorn Birds is an extension of the spirit of The Scarlet Letter through a century. Two works’ manifestation of the conflict between humanity and pinity is significant to today's society, which helps to protect people from dropping into the morass of false culture and calls for people to envisage the undeniable presence of religion.