A Study Of Dog Soldiers And A Flag For Sunrise From The Perspective Of Existentialism

Robert Stone is a famous writer in the modern America. His works often relate to politics,media, and violent crimes and they reflect the life of America and other places, such as LatinAmerica and Vietnam, which are influenced by America. Stone's works are highly acclaimedand enjoy enormous critical and popular success. The main purpose of this dissertation is tomake an existentialist interpretation of Robert Stone's two novels—Dog Soldiers and A FlagFor Sunrise.This dissertation consists of four parts with an introduction and a conclusion.Introduction briefly introduces Stone's life experiences and his writing career, reviews theresearch on Stone's Dog Soldiers and A Flag For Sunrise home and abroad, and then on thebasis of it, proposes the argument, the research methods, and the significance of thedissertation. Chapter One is divided into two parts: the first part sketches the development ofexistentialism, and the second part mainly introduces Sartrean existentialism taken by thedissertation, which includes the absurdity of world, the alienation of human beings, andfreedom and responsibility. Chapter Two analyzes the absurdity of society in the two novels,and the suffering of people in such an absurd world by a close reading of the novels. ChapterThree expounds the alienation of characters in the two novels, including self-alienation andthe alienation of interpersonal relationships. Chapter Four inquires into the free choices madeby characters, which is divided into two kinds: search for self and pursue humanistic freedom.This dissertation is established in the text reading, combines with some existentialistviews to interpret Dog Soldiers and A Flag For Sunrise, and then goes to the discussion of thecharacters'free choices and actions when they face the absurdity of modern society and thepredicament in their life. Finally, the conclusion comes as follows: there is an existentialisttendency in Robert Stone's two novels through the analysis, and the tendency is rooted in thesocial environment, and the thesis shows Stone's concern about the existence of modernpeople. The characters in the two novels take actions in the absurd world, which is a way ofmaking free choices, and a method of contending with fate.To sum up, the existentialist tendency in Stone's novels is shown through theexistentialist interpretation, which will be helpful for us to further understand and research onRobert Stone and his other works.