On The Images Of Elder Sons In The Modern Family Novels

Sage novels in the context of China's modernization in the first halfof the twentieth century involve a number of factors in the narration ofthe eldest son' life story, on which unfolds a complicated relationshipbetween man and the society, man and family, in the convergence oftraditional culture and western culture in modern China. The presentpaper conducts its research on the living condition, life tragedy andcultural connotation of eldest son from the perspectives of man andfamily as well as tradition and modern times, based on analyzing the textsof Family, Four Generations under One Roof and The Rich Man's Sonsand Daughters, whose protagonists, such as Gao Juexin, Qi Ruixuan andJiang Weizu, are exemplified as the research subjects of this paper.There are two parts in the present thesis. Part One reanalyzed thecharacters of the eldest son image from the perspective of the biculturaltransition man, which is somewhat different from previous researches.This is followed by a profound analysis of eldest son's personalitytragedy resulting from an emotional inhibition. Based on previous studies,the present paper then defines the eldest son image as a "weakcompromiser", an image full of aesthetic tensility, so as to generate theneglected passive and suffering force in the eldest son image.Part Two sets to analyze and interpret the traditional ethic and culturalburthen which the eldest son image bears as well as the consequentcultural psychological core. First there is an overview of the developmentof the families in thirty years, so as to reveal the anxiety of the eldest sons in the course of social and cultural transitions as well as those of thecountry and their families. Then the present paper makes a series ofanalyses of the ethic culture behind the anxiety and points out that it isbecause of the over inculcation of the ethic culture, the eldest sons whowere born in modern times are not able to lead a new life in the new era,instead struggle and wither in the old cultural environment. In order tofurther explore the social cultural significance of the eldest son image, thepresent thesis analyzes the deep-seated cultural psychological core of theeldest son image as well as sums up the criticism and reflection onmodern writers in China.An organic and orderly analysis on the eldest son image is, therefore,carried out in the sequence of from outside to inside, from family to thesociety and culture, and from personal characters to deeper psychologicalcore. It should be pointed out that, this study is, at the same time, basedon the personal experience of the present writer, who holds the wildesthope that this paper may contribute somewhat to the reality of China,which is still wandering in the mist of cultural and social transitions atpresent.