On Raunce’s Feelingsof Placein Henry Green’s Loving

Henry Green(1905-1973)is an important English novelist in the 20 th century.Loving(1945),once prized as one of Modern Library 100 Best Novels,mainly talks about Raunce’s transformation of personal identity and self-awareness during his escaping from the war.Based on the theory of Topophrenia,this thesis aims to analyze Raunce’s different feelings of Kinalty Castle through his anxiety about joining the army,and explore ordinary people’s mental states during the London Blitz.Topophrenia is put forward by famous American literary geographer Robert Tally.He argues that our feelings about a place are not necessarily positive.Especially when we are disoriented,we will experience a sense of anxiety about the place.We then draw an invisible map of their place on a cognitive level,and by imagining our overall relationship with that place and with others,we can locate ourselves and find out the causes of our anxiety.Kinalty Castle in this thesis is divided into shelter,nostalgic place,and fairy-tale world according to the overall relations between Raunce and Kinalty Castle,the masters and other servants in the manor.In this way,with the aid of the historical context of the London Blitz,this thesis attempts to dig out the social significance of Raunce’s feelings of Kinalty Castle.Introduction combs the researches of Loving both at home and abroad and briefly introduces Robert Tally’s Topophrenia and the significance of this thesis.And then three questions are raised: As a head footman,why does Raunce choose to resign in order to be promoted to be the new butler? Why does Raunce still feel spatial anxiety after being successfully promoted to be the new butler? And why,at the end of the novel,does Raunce leave Kinalty Castle and return to England? Chapter one analyzes Raunce’s dependence on the manor.Raunce can stay in the manor as a footman,but under the conflict between his individual destiny and his social mission,Raunce wants to prove that the ambition of staying in the manor as the new butler is to protect the estate,instead of escaping the war.In response,Raunce tries to construct his own emotional attachment to the estate and the external possessions.Chapter two explores Raunce’s bewilderment with the manor.Although Raunce has been promoted,he still feels anxious about whether he should stay in Kinalty Castle.Raunce’s psychological imbalance and loss of group identity make him feel a sense of loss about the manor.Chapter three analyzes Raunce’s alienation from the manor.With the influence of Albert’s decisive enlistment and Mrs.Tennent’s distrust,Raunce knows further about himself and gradually overcomes his anxiety.In the end,he chooses to step out of his fairy tale world and re-integrates into his homeland England to face the war bravely.The conclusion points out that Raunce’s different feelings of Kinalty Castle is the result of personal fear of death,war memory and social mission.Henry Green’s description of Raunce’s different feelings toward the manor reveals ordinary people’s loss and indifference during the blitz.Therefore,Loving is not only a continuation of the tradition that war novels have always paid close attention to serious social problems,but also a warning of the cruelty and ruthlessness of war at a time when peace has become the theme of the times.At the same time,it is a rational reflection on the daily life of ordinary people under the war and the space chaos and the cruel war they face.