Perspective and Narration - forces you to examine your preconceptions by, on the one hand, giving you ample reason to distrust the narrator but on the other, leaving you no alternative.
Incompatible Systems of Morality - the conflict between the old and new moral codes as they clash. It shows both the consequences of entrenchment, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and the possibility of compromise.
The Distinction between Class and Worth
Motifs: Honor, Romance, Literature
Enlightenment (1700-1800)
Candide, or Optimism by Voltaire (French, 1759)“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”
Themes:The Folly of Optimism - the world is not perfect, and there is such a thing as evil. This seems intuitive, but it’s a fundamental rejection of the idea of ‘god’s plan’.The Uselessness of Philosophical Speculation - Abstract philosophical arguments rather than real-world evidence can often be useless and, at times, even destructive, preventing you from taking positive action to change adverse situations. “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” - Marcus Aurelius.
The Hypocrisy of ReligionThe Corrupting Power of Money - Money and the power that comes with it — creates at least as many problems as it solves.Motifs: Resurrection, Rape, and Sexual Exploitation, Political and Religious Oppression
Romanticism (1798-1870)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (English, 1813)“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
Themes:Love - lovers must elude and overcome numerous stumbling blocks, beginning with the tension caused by their own personal qualities. The main representation of love is idealistic, a form that can be captured independent of societal hierarchies. The author does also allude to more traditional, realistic versions to demonstrate the heart does not always dictate marriage.Reputation - depicting the dangers of stepping outside the social norm, leading one to be ostracized, and the effects it can have on others.Class - exploring the power of love and happiness to overcome the social hierarchy.Motifs: Courtship, Journeys
Moby Dick by Herman Melville (American, 1851)
“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.”
“It is not down on any map; true places never are.”
“Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunk Christian.”
Themes:
The Limits of Knowledge - human knowledge is always limited, some things are unknowable, and to attempt to interpret them can be futile and sometimes fatal. No amount of art, taxonomy, and phrenology will enable you to understand the true essence of a whale.
The Deceptiveness of Fate - creating the impression of a doomed inevitability, when alternatives exist. Humans project what they want to see, interpreting the signs to match the narrative they desire.
The Exploitative Nature of Whaling
Motifs: Whiteness, Surfaces, and Depths
Realism (1820-1920)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (English, 1859)
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.”“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
Themes:The Ever-Present Possibility of Resurrection - people and societies are capable of change.The Necessity of Sacrifice - sacrifice, sometimes at an incredible cost, can be necessary to achieve happiness, and create a meaningful life.The Tendency Toward Violence and Oppression in Revolutionaries - the cruelty of the system does not excuse the perceived necessity of the brute violence required to overthrow it. There should be the possibility of a third way to enact social change.Justice - when legal systems fail, often through their own incompetence, this requires individuals to struggle outside of those institutions.Motifs: Doubles, Shadows, and Darkness, Imprisonment
Adventures of Huckleberry Fin by Mark Twain (American, 1884)
“Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.”“It don't make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person's conscience ain't got no sense, and just goes for him anyway.”“He had a dream and it shot him.”
Themes:Racism and Slavery - shows how racism distorts the oppressors as much as those it oppresses, and how “good” people can stand aside in the face of injustice and cruelty.Intellectual and Moral Education - through experience and deep introspection, one is able to develop a consciousness outside of societal norms, making distinctions between right and wrong, menace and friend, and so on.The Hypocrisy of “Civilized” Society - teaches you to question rules and precepts that defy logic; this is how terrible acts go unpunished while frivolous crimes can lead to death. Rather than maintain collective welfare, societies can be predisposed toward cowardice and selfishness.Adventure - it is not what it is always made out to be, often childish precepts will be shattered on the road.Money/Wealth - money and greed do nothing but cause problems. It can hold to the promise of freedom, but even that seems unlikely.Motifs: Childhood, Lies and Cons, Superstitions and Folk Belief, Parodies of Popular Romance Novels
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Russian, 1878)
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”“If you look for perfection, you'll never be content.”“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”
Themes:Social Change in Nineteenth-Century Russia - a clash between older, Russian values of authoritarian government and seldom, pitted against western values of technology, rationalism, and democracyThe Blessings of Family Life - showing the pro-family position showing the benefits and comfort of family togetherness and domestic bliss set against the limits it has on individual freedoms.The Philosophical Value of FarmingMotifs: The Interior Monologue, Adultery, Forgiveness, Death
Modernism (1910-1965)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (American, 1916)
“His heart danced upon her movements like a cork upon a tide. He heard what her eyes said to him from beneath their cowl and knew that in some dim past, whether in life or revery, he had heard their tale before.”“He wanted to cry quietly but not for himself: for the words, so beautiful and sad, like music.”“Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.”
Themes: The Development of Individual Consciousness - a first-hand account of how an obsession with language, the strained relations with religion, family, and culture and his desire to form his own aesthetic, aided in the development of a literary genius.The Pitfalls of Religious ExtremismThe Role of the Artist - a vision of how the artist must leave his community, in the form of self-exile, to free themselves of societal restraints, and achieve an art form that will enrich that very place which he has just left.The Need for Irish AutonomyMotifs: Music, Flight, Prayers, Secular Songs, and Latin Phrases
Existentialism (1850-Today)
Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre (French, 1938)
“It's quite an undertaking to start loving somebody. You have to have energy, generosity, blindness. There is even a moment right at the start where you have to jump across an abyss: if you think about it you don't do it.”“I am alone in the midst of these happy, reasonable voices. All these creatures spend their time explaining, realizing happily that they agree with each other. In Heaven's name, why is it so important to think the same things all together. ”“My thought is me: that's why I can't stop. I exist because I think… and I can't stop myself from thinking. At this very moment - it's frightful - if I exist, it is because I am horrified at existing. I am the one who pulls myself from the nothingness to which I aspire.”
Themes: Profound Boredom, Palpable Disgust, Herd MentalityMotifs: Stream of Consciousness, Keeping Back/Hiding
Post-Modernism (1965-Today) *Note: No post-modern novels have definitively been added to the literary canon. It is too early to tell which will stand the test of time, but I cannot imagine a world in which Vonnegut does not make it.
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (American, 1973)
“We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane.”“I couldn't help wondering if that was what God put me on Earth for--to find out how much a man could take without breaking.”“Of course it is exhausting, having to reason all the time in a universe which wasn't meant to be reasonable.”Themes: Art, Subjectivity, and Absurdity, People and Machines, Race and Racism, Capitalism and Consumerism, Mental HealthMotifs: Enumeration, Omniscience of the Narrator, Detachment
本文作者
Jonathan Javier
加州大学洛杉矶分校-跨学科法语和法语研究学士学位
Jonathan导师在美国电信巨头AT&T ,猎鹰投资,以及越南ESL等多个领域有过工作经历,为此累积了丰富的销售,市场以及教育行业的工作经验。十分致力于把他的全球视野和对教育的热情分享给新东方前途出国的学生们;另外他也希望自己多年来在加州大学学习生活的一手体验分享给更多的对加州大学感兴趣的学生们,为他们日后申请加州大学做好准备。