Spiirtual Ivanscendence Of Being And Nothingness

Of Human Bondage is a semi-autobiographical novel that based on Maugham’searly life experience. It contains young Maugham’s philosophical ideas, outlook on lifeand world view. Of Human Bondage, the greatest masterpiece among Maugham’s greatnumber of novels and plays, is taken for a realistic novel that delineates personal growth.And also some researchers say its creative idea and style is influenced by the naturalism.Form another point of view, the protagonist’s searching for freedom and pursuit of themeaning of life, and the descriptions of the world’s absurdity and his life suffering arecoincide with the idea of existentialism.Based on the previous research, this thesis is going to use the three core theories ofSartre’s existentialism,"existence precedes essence","the world is absurd, life issuffering" and "free choice", to analyze the novel. It gives a new interpretation of thisnovel from the perspective of existential philosophy, which also provides a new angle tothe studying of Maugham’s thought.Firstly, by the theory of “existence precedes essence”, the thesis analyses twoinstances which are Philip’s experience after his bankruptcy and the cause of death ofanother character Fanny Price. It concludes that individual’s "existence" is the mostimportant factor in the course of his pursuit of the essence of life, and one must existfirst, then to create his essence through free choice. Secondly, by illustrating theprotagonist’s tragic fate and the four bondages, the bondage of disability, the bondage ofemotion, the bondage of religion, the bondage of economy, that torture him, restrict him,we can see that the world around the protagonist is absurd, and so does his lifeexperience. His existence seems meaningless, and he can do nothing but tolerate theabsurdity. Philip wants to shed these bondages by making choices and taking action toget free, so he chooses to study in Heidelberg and Paris to explore the meaning of life,and at last he chooses to marry Sally and take the responsibility for his deeds. He is ahero of actions.Philip’s life is to search for freedom and life’s meaning. His life experience is the process of extricating himself from life bondages and exploring pathway to individual’sfreedom. But he cannot find a way out after all the hardships and frustrations, whichmakes him depressed and helpless and have the thought of nihilism. But after knowingSally and her family, he regains the enthusiasm of life because of Sally’s unselfish andinnocent love, which also helps him to overcome the nihilism. Maugham indicates thatno matter how absurd the world is, no matter what the meaning of life is, the goodqualities of human being are eternal and also their needs for love. The need of emotionand moral is the eternal basic point of the world, as well as all civilizations and cultures.In this novel, we see Maugham’s doubt and negative about life, despair of his times,and also his worries about human’s living condition and the quest of the ultimatemeaning of human’s existence. These thoughts not only inspire the spiritual world of hiscontemporaries, but also raise thinking of modern.