Life In Death's Embrace

Sherwood Anderson is acknowledged by Faulkner as "the father of my generation of American writers" whose truthful exploration of the ordinary American life has earned him an enduring place in the literary canon. In Anderson's works, the death phenomenon appears frequently and the theme of death is his lifelong devotion and forever obsession. The present paper is a tentative endeavor through which the series of the death phenomena are compared, generalized, analyzed and categorized.To start with, the thesis gives a brief introduction to Sherwood Anderson as a literary figure and points out the inadequacy in the literary studies of his theme of death. To Sherwood Anderson, life is an endless journey named "misery", with death as the only destination. Most of Anderson's important works begin with a celebration of life's fullness but end with an evocation of death. His short fictions always focus on a symbol that alludes to the complex wonder of life and the certainty of death. With all the efforts, one may think that the death phenomenon in Anderson's fictions has been clearly and widely understood, however, the inadequacy seems the case. The previous study of the death theme only skims the surface of every single death phenomenon and only traces the sources of every single person's death. In order to make up the inadequacy of the previous study, the present thesis is an endeavor to make a thorough study of the "death fiction" of Sherwood Anderson so as to provide the reader with a more insightful and comprehensive analysis of Anderson's large body of the "death fiction".The second part of the paper will focus on the growing process of the death theme in Anderson's works. It has been found that the manifestation of death, which is an eternal theme of Sherwood Anderson, grows mature and gains flesh and blood along with Anderson's writing experience, just like the process of the bearing of a fruit. In "Death", which Anderson writes in 1919, death impresses the reader as a story that only happens to a single person. However, in "The Egg", which Anderson accomplishes in 1920, death has become a heritage that can be passed from generation to generation. The egg is a symbol of death, just like the death is a symbol of mankind. At this point, death has transcended the limit of individual's personal experience and finally becomes a universal truth, which is practical for the entire human being.In "Death in the Woods" and "Brother Death". Anderson's lifelong devotion to the theme of death seems to arrive at the highest point. In the third part of this thesis, through the comparisons made upon the three recognizable versions of the same story, we can find that Anderson attempts to set up the image of an old woman as an archetype, a symbol, a prelude, a bridge, through which Anderson crowns death with a sense of beauty and eternity. In "Brother Death", Anderson seems to tell us that if one must experience an emotional death far more terrible than a physical death, it will be necessary for him to bid farewell to the vainness of human life. Death, at this moment, becomes the accompaniment that one must experience to live better and the only means for one to seek for a meaningful individual life. In a word, from Elizabeth's death in "Death", to Ted's death in "Brother Death", the phenomenon of death, which appears so frequently in Anderson's writings, has gone beyond the limit of individual's self-experience and grown to an eternal truth, and has gained its significance and universality.Nevertheless, Anderson's greatness goes far beyond this. A large space of the thesis is devoted to the discussion of Anderson's sparkling insight and real intention in the seemingly-simple death phenomenon. Anderson does not write about death for death's sake. Talking about the death phenomenon, Anderson is actually concerned with the general human situation. In a certain degree, when Anderson is talking about death, he is actually talking about life. Though centered on the theme of death, his story actually is an endeavor to search for the possibility for a meaningful individual life in a world of futility and false values. If one is deprived of freedom, nature, pride, honor, compassion and if the society is full of false values, tyranny, misunderstanding, and life characteristic of feeling of defeat, spiritual poverty, lost identity, death will become an intimate friend and a caring brother. In a world of sheer waste, to live is to make the surrender;while in the midst of death, one can live fully and more meaningfully. The embrace of death is the final choice, because according to Anderson, "no life but a good life" and "life not death is the greatest adventure".