A Neo-realistic Reading Of Doubt, A Parable

As a prolific playwright, John Shanley is an important dramatist in contemporary American literature and even in world literature. His play Doubt, a Parable is a play about people’s doubts and beliefs in contemporary society, critically exposing human nature with profound analysis. It is also a play full of paradoxes. This thesis aims to conduct a neo-realistic reading of Doubt, a Parable. The significance of the play is that it expresses a living dilemma. The play’s dramatic tension and charm lie precisely in such dilemma. The playwright presents a problematic question– longing for a peaceful belief and suspicion of the uncertain reality with a view to reveal the contemporary people’s feelings.This thesis consists of five chapters, apart from the introduction and the conclusion.In the introduction, the thesis briefly introduces John Shanley and Doubt, a Parable. At the same time, the current research of the play both abroad and at home is traced in details.Chapter One gives a brief introduction to neo-realism. The decline of postmodernism is inevitable because postmodern works especially the works in the late period give too much attention to the philosophical conundrums and break away from the mainstream of the literary world. Strongly influenced by postmodernism and an inclination of return to traditional realism, neo-realism has its own neo-realistic characteristics. Neo-realism takes advantages of the quintessence of traditional realism, and also avails itself of some excellent modernistic or postmodern techniques.Chapter Two studies the neo-realistic subject matters of Doubt, a Parable. Shanley fabricates a story that took place in the 1960 s to reveal the problems in the current American society.Chapter Three probes into the main characters’ survival problems to show the playwright’s deep humanistic concern. The playwright reveals the fierce competition for survival of the characters through a vivid depiction of the process of finding out whether Father Flynn has done something immoral to the Negro boy, which shows the universal anxiety and worry of American people.Chapter Four gives a detailed analysis of the characterization of Doubt, a Parable. Shanley shows the characters’ moral deterioration and spiritual salvation through a detailed description of the characters’ words and subtle behaviors.Chapter Five focuses on the writing techniques applied in Doubt, a Parable. The play has a deep realistic meaning and features; at the same time it’s strongly influenced by the writing style of postmodernism, and has the features of neo-realistic “collage” and “indeterminacy”. The pervasive doubt of Sister Aloysius gives a notion of uncertainty and the dialogue between the characters shows a lot of small sensitive fragments like racial discrimination and so on.The concluding part points out that although neo-realism is in need of a precise definition, we cannot deny its effectiveness in interpreting excellent literary works. A neo-realist analysis of Doubt, a Parable helps the readers have a better understanding of the play. It exposes the problems existing in the society, defies the evil unreasonable doubt, and calls on the society to have less rootless doubt.