A Comparison of Loneliness and Solitude in Robinson Crusoe and The Old Man and the Sea

Abstract Loneliness and solitude are universal human experience. Even though the two concepts have something in common, philosophers tend to regard loneliness as a negative state whereas solitude positive. Loneliness and solitude have drawn great attention from many writers in literary works so far, among which there are two well-known novels. One is Robinson Crusoe, written by Daniel Defoe, the 18th century English novelist and the other is The Old Man and the Sea, written by Ernest Hemingway, the 20th century American novelist. The thesis aims to conduct a comparative study of loneliness and solitude embodied in the two novels under the guidance of philosophical concepts. By making such a comparison, the author wants to emphasize that readers need to view loneliness and solitude in different literary works according to their specific historical backgrounds and the identities of different writers. Moreover, analyzing loneliness and solitude from the perspective of philosophy will create a new way to study the loneliness and solitude embodied in the novels, which can enrich the meaning of the literary works in reverse. On the whole, study of human’s loneliness and solitude through comparative reading of literary works will contribute to the better understanding of human existence.71613

Keywords: loneliness; solitude; Robinson Crusoe; The Old Man and the Sea; comparative study

《鲁滨逊漂流记》与《老人与海》中关于“孤独”和“独处”的对比研究

摘要孤独和独处是人类普遍的人生体验。虽然它们存在共同点，但是哲学家倾向于将孤独视为一种消极状态，将独处视为一种积极状态。迄今为止，孤独和独处吸引了很多文学家的注意，其中有两部作品闻名遐迩。一部是十八世纪英国作家丹尼尔·笛福的《鲁滨逊漂流记》，另一部是二十世纪美国作家欧内斯特·海明威的《老人与海》。本论文旨在结合相关哲学思想的指导进行文本研读，对两部作品中体现的孤独和独处做一个对比研究。通过这样的对比，笔者意在强调读者需要根据特定的历史背景和不同作家的特点来理解不同文学作品中的孤独和独处。再者，从哲学角度分析可以为研究文学作品中的孤独和独处提供一种新的视角，如此也能反过来丰富文学作品的内涵。总的来说，通过对文学作品中典型的孤独和独处的研究可以使我们更了解人类的生存状态。

毕业论文关键词： 孤独；独处；哲学；鲁滨逊漂流记；老人与海；对比研究

Contents

1.Introduction 1

1.1 Background information 1

1.2 Brief introduction to Robinson Crusoe and The Old Man and the Sea 1

1.3 Literary review 1

1.4 Philosophical theories of loneliness and solitude 3

1.5 The significance of the study 4

2. Similarities between Robinson Crusoe and The Old Man and the Sea 5

2.1 Source of the Story 5

2.2 Human’s struggle against nature 5

3. Comparison of the loneliness and solitude embodied in the two novels 6

3.1 Comparison of the loneliness embodied in the two novels 6

3.2 Comparison of the solitude embodied in the two novels 9

4. Conclusion 12

Bibliography