Seeking For A Meaningful Life

Famous American writer Michael Cunningham's novel The Hours (1998) won many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. It became a success shortly after its publication, and immediately attracted attention from critics and the public. The Hours is about the lives of three women of different generations and times in a day of 20th century. The first one is famous English writer Virginia Woolf, who is writing her novel Mrs. Dalloway in 1923; the second one is Mrs. Brown, a housewife who is reading Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway in 1949; the third one is modern-day Mrs. Dalloway Clarissa, a journalist who is planning a party for her best friend Richard who won the poetry award for AIDS patients in 1998. These three women's lives are connected by the novel Mrs. Dalloway written by Virginia Woolf. Through the analysis of the main characters' miserable life, this thesis tries to discuss their miserable living conditions and the way to seek a meaningful life.Scholars at home study the novel mainly from the perspective of feminism and lesbian theory, whereas most scholars abroad use psychoanalysis, intertextuality and feminism theories to analyze it. However, few people abroad or at home study the novel from the perspective of existentialism. Existentialism, an important philosophy in the west since the late 19th century, studies people's living conditions, and advocates the absurdity of the world and human's alienation along with the importance of free choice and taking responsibility. The themes of The Hours are alienation of people's lives, the importance of making choices, seeking for freedom, and taking responsibility bravely. These are similar to the main ideas of existentialism. Therefore, this thesis intends to analyze the novel from the perspective of existentialism. This will not only broaden the study of the novel, but also reflect Cunningham's existential evaluation of human life and philosophical exploration into the ultimate meaning of human existence.This thesis is divided into four parts: a general introduction, two main-body chapters and a conclusion.Introduction part gives a brief introduction to the author, the novel, the existential theory, and literature review. It clarifies the themes of the novel, which are alienation of people's lives, the importance of making choices, seeking for freedom, and taking responsibility bravely, are similar to the main ideas of existential theory. Therefore, this thesis attempts to analyze the novel from the perspective of existentialism in order to broaden the study of the novel.Chapter One mainly discusses the miserable living situation of the main characters and the reasons for this. Living in a world in which there is growing emphasis on material possession and less emphasis on people's mental and emotional fulfillment, they are easy to be alienated by society. After being alienated, people will be lonely, meaningless, and restrained.Chapter Two centers on the four main characters: English writer Virginia Woolf, modern-day Mrs. Dalloway Clarissa, the reader of Mrs. Dalloway Laura; and AIDS patient Richard. This chapter tries to analyze the choices they make when facing miserable living situations, and the different meanings of their choices. As how the existentialists advocate "existence precedes essence," it is only through one's choice and action can his nature be forged. The reason is that "the coward makes himself cowardly, the hero makes himself heroic." The distinction between a hero and a coward is not the result of inherent factors but of choice. Making choices and taking action are of great importance in people's lives.The Conclusion is a summary of what has been talked about in the whole thesis. Through the above several parts' analysis of the novel, this thesis points out that the themes of The Hours, alienation of people's lives, the importance of making choices, seeking for freedom, and taking responsibility bravely, are similar to the main ideas of existentialism. Through the study of the main characters' miserable living situation and their different choices, this thesis attempts to seek the meaning of people's lives and the reason they struggle to live. Through analysis from this perspective, the study of the novel can be broadened and the utility of existentialism can be extended as well.