On Anna's Marginality In Bennett's Anna Of The Five Towns

Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) is one of the most important novelists in Edwardian era. With his series of novels about"Five Towns", he acquires a great reputation in the modern English literature history. He started writing Anna of the Five Towns in 1896, which is his first"Five Towns"novel with his hometown as the background. Under six years'writing and modifying, the book was published in 1902. H. G. Wells, a contemporary writer of Bennett, gave this novel high praise. He said this novel was a beautiful picture of the Pottery culture full of unexpected interest."Marginal", literally speaking, means a state between two different conditions, or not belonging to the mainstream. The time when Bennett created this novel was a period of social transition in British. At that time, the Great Britain was not only in the intersection of centuries, but also in a transition from the Victorian era into the Edwardian era. There were various cultures mixed in the transitional society. Under the influence of these cultures, the people who lived in this period showed marginal characteristics more or less. With his keen insight, Bennett captured this kind of characteristics and put his ideas into novel writing. Thus, it was not surprising that the characters in his works were always branded with profound imprint of the times, and showed a strong cultural connotation of marginality. The theme of marginality not only appeared in Bennett's novel, but also presented in fictions of Lawrence's, Foster's and other contemporary writers'. Hence, it is not an accidental phenomenon that this kind of theme appeared in social transition period.This thesis aims to interpret Anna's marginality in terms of"space","identity"and"morality". The Introduction part summarizes previous studies of Bennett. Chapter One describes the specific location of"Five Towns"and Anna's home environment in which she grew up, which explain the material marginality of Anna's living environment from the perspective of space. Chapter Two concentrates on Anna's social marginality from the aspect of identity. This section analyzes Anna's confusion when she faced her changes of social status and social roles. In the third section, this thesis illustrates Anna'culture marginality from the perspective of mentality and morality to answer the questions of how Anna was torn between the conservative morality and her pursuit of freedom, and of how she managed to become mature in a dilemma by exploring ethical problems such as loyalty, betrayal and etc. Anna's rebellion and submission, her insistence and despair, the contradictions and uncertainties in her personality, and other psychological characteristics are in full view under Bennett's description. Anna's journey of psychological change also reflects people's moral dilemma and emotional anxiety during the social transition period. In the conclusion part, this thesis declares that no matter how the society progresses and develops, if the people could not actively adapt themselves to the outside world, their drifting mind could not find the way of their life.