A Study Of Survival Predicaments In Reflections In A Golden Eye From The Perspective Of Spatial Theory

Carson Mc Cullers is one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century.She was born in the American South and spent her life on a constant journey of returning to the South and traveling to other lands so “spatial awareness” has been a part of her entire writing career.Reflections in a Golden Eye is Mc Cullers’ second full-length novel.Set in a military camp in the American South,the novel tells the intricate emotional entanglements between several characters of different identities and backgrounds.The characters portrayed in the novel grow up in different spaces.They are oppressed and disciplined by different spaces,and at the same time make their own efforts to get rid of the difficulties of survival.The purpose of this thesis is to take the spatial theory of Lefebvre as the basis and Mc Cullers’ Reflections in a Golden Eye as the object of study,and to explore the predicaments faced by the characters behind the multidimensional space shown in the novel,and how they cope with them.This thesis is divided into three parts: the introduction,the body and conclusion.The first part is the introduction,which mainly introduces the life and main works of Carson Mc Cullers also compares the current status of domestic and international research on the novel and briefly introduces the spatial theory adopted in this thesis.The second part is the main part and consists of three chapters.The first chapter analyzes the predicaments of Captain Penderton and the Major’s wife Alison in the physical space and their ways of responding.Captain Penderton’s predicaments come mainly from the surveillance and regulation in the public space: the barrack;while Alison’s predicaments are twofold,with not only the public space requirements but also the confinement of personal space such as house and room.In dealing with their predicaments,they exhibit very different attitudes.The Captain accepts the discipline and continues to pass on the dilemma to other weaker people;Alison,on the other hand,resists silently and tries to escape from the confined space in order to pursue equality in marriage.Chapter two analyzes the predicaments of the Major’s wife Alison and Filipino maid Anacleto in social space and their responses to the predicament.It includes the demands of the American South on women and the marginalization of people of color by long-standing racial segregation.Faced with the predicament,Allison chooses to subvert the traditional image of Southern women,while Anacleto fights against racism with the image of a clown.Chapter three analyzes the predicaments of Captain Penderton and Private Williams in the mental space and the changes they make.Mental space is not a space that exists independently.It is closely related to the external space.Therefore,Private Williams’ predicaments stem from the fact that his mental space is controlled by the external space without knowing it,resulting in a long-term state of sexual blindness;the Captain’s predicaments come from the contradiction between the instinct of his mental space and the rules of the external space.Both of them have similar paths to cope with their dilemmas but in different directions,and both of them eventually perish in their desires.The third part is the conclusion.Through the analysis,it is found that Mc Cullers reveals the characters’ predicaments and also tries to find a way to get out of them.In the highly spatialized contemporary society,it is hoped that people can pay more attention to the shaping of mental space,selectively absorb various ideas that crop up in the external space,and face the difficulties of life more positively and confidently.At the same time,this chapter briefly analyzes the relevance of spatial theory to society and the shortcomings of the thesis.