Surrender,Disorientation,Transcendence:Escape In Them

The novel them is the pinnacle of Oates' s literature career.them presented almost all the social events of American society,such as the Great Depression in the 1930 s,World War II in the 1940 s,the Korean War in the 1950 s,and the Detroit riots in the1960 s,and in space,it touches every corner of American social life,such as families,schools,slums,poor areas,juvenile shelters,hospitals,welfare homes,wealthy areas and so on.Oates portrays the experiences of Maureen and Jules from Wendel family,Nadine and several other characters to reflect the predicament faced by people living in different classes,as well as the hardships and bitterness they face in the process of escaping from the absurd life,pursuing personal happiness and spiritual comfort.This shows the general mental confusion,escape and pursuit of all contemporary American whites,especially those at the bottom of society.This paper focuses on the escape of Maureen,Nadine,and Jules.Because of their different circumstances and personal choices,the outcome of their escape is also totally different.Maureen are not able to overcome the difficulties of life.Although she has a short struggle,eventually,she succumbs to fate and flees to the back of money and patriarchy.The bondage of the upper class makes Nadine desperately pursues the ultimate freedom.But when the desire is shattered,she cannot find any way out,but only through death to achieve self-reconciliation.Jules' s uniqueness lies in his personal pursuit which becomes clearer during his constant escaping.He transfers from being concerned about himself to paying attention to society.Finally he assumes social responsibility,and realizes the reconstruction of his identity.This paper analyzes three results of escape,submission,disorientation,and transcendence,and shows the universality of mental confusion to the readers.Faced with the existence of confusion,people cannot get rid of the predicament just by escaping in a blind and self-deceptive way.Instead,one should break the predicament through positive free choices so as to obtain true freedom and self.