Human And Nature·human And Fate

Joyce Carol Oates (1938—) is one of the most eminent writers in the United States. As a remarkably prolific author, she has published more than 100 books by now, including novels, collections of short stories, books of poetry, plays and so on. She enjoys popular appeal as well as critical acclaim. In recent years more and more Chinese scholars have begun to study Oates and her works. The quantity of the relevant academic papers and dissertations are also on the rise. However, the domestic research usually focuses on her novels written before 1990s, such as them, Wonderland, Childwold, Marya: A Life and so on. In contrast, Oates's recent novels written after 2000 are less discussed and studied, even though these novels are as good as the early ones and even better. The Falls published in 2004 is Oates's another masterpiece. This thesis attempts to explore the two themes of the novel: human and nature, human and fate.This thesis consists of two chapters, plus the introduction, and the conclusion.The introduction gives a brief account of Oates and her writing, puts forward the research subject of the thesis after analyzing the shortcoming of domestic research of Oates, followed by the critical reception of The Falls and its plot.Chapter One intends to reveal Oates's ecological consciousness by analyzing how the novel describes nature, the conflict between nature and industrialization and the environmental crisis, such as Love Canal. Oates's ecological consciousness in the novel includes treating nature in awe, industry criticism, desire motivation criticism, and ecological responsibility. Finally, the significance of studying the Oates's ecological consciousness in The Falls will be clarified.Chapter Two attempts to explore Oates's attitude towards fate in the novel based on the analysis of the protagonists' views of fate. Oates's attitude towards fate in the novel involves the celebration of survival and life, the advocation of struggling against fate, and the confidence in human's power of changing fate. Finally, the significance of studying Oates's view of fate in the novel will be clarified. In conclusion the present author first summarizes the main points of the thesis, and then points out through analyzing the themes of The Falls, the thesis may prove that in order to make new achievements in the research of Oates and her works, we need to put more focus on her new works which could timely and adequately reflect the author's new ideas and changes.