Unfortunately, with the advent of the World War II, Pinter is caught in the cruel and violent war. The anti-Semitic violence is frequent on the block where Pinter lives, his friends and relatives easily become the victim of the violence. The war begins officially after Britain declares war on Germany, London suffers from aerial attack, the nine-year-old Pinter begins to live a sort of a vagabond life. In order to escape two world wars, large amounts of Jewish people gather in Hackney. Different ethnic groups live together, due to the complexity of nationality and communication barriers, Hackney residents often fall into conflicts and fight to strive for wider living space. The appearance of neo-Nazis after war makes the Jews become the target of harassment. The war makes Pinter grow up and get mature quickly, and his strong feelings of dramatic life become the creative material in the future.(Billington 2007) During the war, death becomes common, loneliness, confusion and the pain of desperation leave deep impressions on his mind. Once Pinter comes across with four fascists on the way, he is afraid that he would lose his life if they know his Jewish identity. So he keeps silence and avoid the inquiries of fascists successfully. Under this circumstance, the Jews regard the silence as the way of self-protection. Language is not only the tool for people to communicate, but also the weapon for people to fight. (Billington 2007)
In her paper, Xiao Ping (2006) introduces Pinter’s memory about the World War II, “I came back to London on the day of 1944, I saw howling bomb for the first time, I saw it roaring past when I was walking down the street...Many times when I open the back door in our house, I would see my house sank into a sea of fire”.(萧萍) The war continues to be lingering shadows in Pinter’s heart, violence and conflict still exist when the war is over.
Pinter was attending middle school in Hackney from 1944 to 1948. At that time he encounters his drama mentor, Joe Brearley, and also makes lifelong friends. Once introverted and lonely Pinter radiates extraordinary splendor of youth. He shows special preference to acting and sporting, which prompts him to take an active part in various activities. After graduation, Pinter forms a small group called “Hackney group” with some friends who share the same family background and common interests. This group, which consists of all-male, exerts a profound effect on Pinter. His rich imagination and critical thinking skills that build up over time make him become the central figure of group. They often get together to conduct academic and cultural exchange. In addition, the brotherhood friendship forming in this period brings about the infinite warm and comfort and soothes the trauma suffering in times of war. Those friends become the emotional pillar of Pinter throughout his life, although they go their separate ways after fifty years,(Henry Woolf and Morris Wernick lives in Canada,Michael Goldstein lives in Australia) but they always keep in touch with each other. (范晴 2013)
Pinter gains the most from this group is realizing the internal relations between people and external relations between inpiduals and society. Billington once wrote down, “this group implies a kind of strong behavior rule, some kinds of unwritten laws, as Pinter realizes one day, any specific offense would mean capital punishment.(Billington 2007)Therefore, the Hackney group not only heals the wounds of the war, but also brings about the spiritual joy and moral pleasure.
1.2 Pinter’s Writing Techniques
Pinter’s works can be pided into three periods. The early creations are mainly about absurdity, the mid-term works are stories of realism and reminiscences. Works of these two periods have philosophical speculation. The themes of Pinter’s late works have obvious political tendency. 《看管人》“品特式静默”研究(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_24825.html