Moral Corruption And Reconstruction: On The Family Ethics In The Good Soldier

The Good Soldier, which is now generally considered as Ford Madox Ford's masterpiece, was not widely recognized when it was firstly published. While considering it as his own"literary swan song", Ford puts not only his theory of fiction into use, but also, more importantly, immerses his ethical vision of the world in the novel. The novel is set against the late Victorian age when ethical conditions were facing corruption and crisis. Ford always sought the road of reconstructing the traditional ethics in order to help the people out of corruption. This thesis attempts to examine the corruption and reconstruction of the family ethics, including marital ethics and filial morality and duty, reflected in The Good Soldier, and explores the appropriateness of Ford's narrative techniques in confirming his ethical ideals.The thesis is composed of four parts, along with an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction is mainly about a literature review and why I choose this topic. Chapter One mainly introduces the historical background of Ford's writing The Good Soldier, from which Ford fully embodies his family ethics. Moreover, it discusses the formation of Ford's family ethics under the influence of philosophy that includes Schopenhauerian pessimism, Pre-Raphaelites, and especially Medieval ethics. Chapter Two mainly deals with the marital ethics in The Good Soldier. The rationale of marital ethics is chiefly composed of reciprocal love, mutual understanding, marital faithfulness and a rational attitude to divorce. Several examples of marriage patterns, including Florence and Dowell, Leonora and Edward, are put forward, from which the basic causes are analyzed accordingly. Furthermore, Ford's ideal marital ethic is reflected in the marriage between Leonora and Bayham. Chapter Three focuses on the filial morality and duty in The Good Soldier. The rationale of filial morality and duty principally covers the obligations of children to their parents, universal duty by the parents, and the moderate attitude to the parenthood. While comparing and analyzing filial relationship between Nancy and her parents, Leonora and her parents, as well as Florence and her parents, the chapter advances Ford's ideal filial morality. Chapter Four is about the perfect union between theme of the family ethics and Ford's theory of fiction. Ford's full use of narrative techniques, including impressionistic skills, progression d'effect, unreliable first-person narrator, enhances the thematic concerns of the novel. The conclusion summarizes the main point of the thesis in brief.