From Repression To Freedom—Interpretation Of Kingsley Amis' Masterpiece Lucky Jim

Kinsley Amis (1922-1995), an English novelist, poet and critic, is regarded as an important representative of the Angry Young Men. As Kingsley Amis'first and most famous novel, Lucky Jim (1953) was published in 1954 to tremendous popularity and won the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award the following year, thus receiving a lot of attention from contemporary critics. The novel has been studied from more than one perspective. Many scholars have noticed Amis'deep concern about the human conditions of individual, community and society. This thesis is supposed to mainly focus on Jim's repressed experiences and his pursuit of freedom.It is made up of five chapters.Chapter 1 makes a brief introduction to Kingsley Amis and his works, Lucky Jim in particular. It also sums up the critical responses to this novel and its author.Chapter 2 mainly introduces the Angry Young Men group and their major works, as well as the critical responses to them. What's more, this chapter deals with the theme of anti-hero, a new anti-traditional hero that is often characterized among the works of the Angry Young Men.Chapter 3 gives a detailed statement of Jim's repression from both Professor Welch and Margaret and also explores the various reasons that lead to his repression. Jim lives in a hypocritical academic community which brings him so much repression that he has been thinking all day long for escape. However, he can not break away from the. restriction of reality for the moment because of social, economic and emotional reasons, such as fear, pity and his dependence upon the job to make a living. The inability to pursue freedom and honesty leads to his increasing feeling of repression.Chapter 4 deals with the theme of freedom, including the general definition of freedom, a number of philosophical questions and the Existential attitude towards freedom. Then it explores the ways for Jim to pursue freedom and the reasons leading to Jim's freedom. In the first half of the novel, suffering from mental and emotional repression, Jim can only search for freedom through imagination and imitation. At that time, he has to accept manipulation of Professor Welch and emotional blackmail of Margaret out of fear and compassion. Afterwards, he meets Christine, a beautiful and spontaneous girl, also the girlfriend of Bertrand, who is the son of Professor Welch. Attracted by her beauty and charisma, sometimes Jim can voice his own opinion and express his authentic feelings, asserting freedom by confessions. The climax of Jim's pursuit of freedom is the "Merrie England" lecture, which turns out to be a funny and satirical speech that shows no respect to Professor Welch and other authorities. Finally, Jim achieves complete freedom both emotionally and economically, with a pretty girlfriend and a promising job.Chapter 5 is the conclusion of this thesis. The reason why Lucky Jim enjoys general popularity is that it responds well to the psychology of post-war British people. Kingsley Amis is a pace setter for the fiction of his time, and his masterpiece Lucky Jim do bring him good luck, making him one of the most important writers on the postwar literary scene in Britain.