A Comparative Study Of Tender Is The Night And How Far Is Forever From The Perspective Of Existentialism

The development of humans’existence is a tragic and difficult process. At the beginning ofthe 20thcentury, capitalist society has come to a crisis：material prosperity, but moral bankruptcy.Then, the focus of the novelists of the 20thcentury has turned to the profound thinking on humandestiny. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night is a masterpiece of modern tragedy. F. ScottFitzgerald, the most famous and marvelous poetic prose writer of the“Jazz Age”, was taken forthe voice of and the prime actor in the 1920s. He searches for man’s value of being, choice ofbeing and activities in such a roaring age. Tender is the Night reveals Fitzgerald’s exploration ofman’s spiritual state and their messy life in that troubled world. Fitzgerald has a deep humanityconcern over modern people. In this tragic story, problems of Dick’s paradox, dilemma and hisself-exile are still worth discussing.At the same time, Chinese citizens also face the same existential dilemma and the choicesof existence. With the development of economy of China, many problems come out. The conflictbetween traditional values and modern values brings many problems to people. Living in such acase that is full of dilemma, what people should do and how to make choices? Facing theproblems of social development, most of contemporary writers talk about the memorial of theculture. Tie Ning’s How Far is Forever is one of the masterpieces. Writers are always trying toreflect the society and their own views on the society, causing people to think. The social livingconflict revealed in How Far is Forever is a kind of moral thinking and pursuit of the spirit ofhumanity. Bai Daxing’s paradox, dilemma and her final choices are worth discussing.The thesis is based on the perspective of existentialism. By way of analyzing the paradox,the dilemma and the choices of the two protagonists, Dick and Bai Daxing’s existence in thetexts, and with a close look at the two contexts, the thesis tends to give a deeper study and arelatively objective research. The two authors’philosophy of life may teach the readers to seeboth themselves and the modern world better and then our readers make right choices to shouldersocial responsibilities.This thesis consists of six parts as follows: At the fist of the thesis, it introduced background,topic, significance and the structure of the thesis and has a brief introduction about the twowriters and the two works. Besides the introduction and the conclusion, the thesis is divided intofour chapters:Chapter one is the literature review. In this part, it introduced the existentialism, which isthe theory basis of the whole research. At the same time it shows the situation about the researchon the two works at home and abroad. And it summarizes the researches and then brings out thetopic of the thesis. Chapter two is the analysis of Tender is the Night from the perspective of existentialism andit divided into four parts: social and cultural background of Dick’s existence; Dick’s paradoxicalexistence; Dick’s dilemma of existence; Dick’s eternal exploration of existence.Chapter three is the analysis of How Far is Forever from the perspective of existentialismand it divided into four parts: social and cultural background of Bai Daxing’s existence; BaiDaxing’s paradoxical existence; Bai Daxing’s dilemma of existence; Bai Daxing’s eternalexploration of existence.Chapter four get the conclusion by comparing the two works. Besides their differences, thereis the similar theme between them: there is not God in the world and the world is absurd; wehave the choice to pursue freedom.By analyzing the paradox, the dilemma and the choices of existence of the two protagonists,Dick in Tender is the Night and Bai Daxing in How Far is Forever , the thesis tries to find out thesimilar optimistic theme in the two works. By comparison, the author finds out that althoughthere are some differences between the two works, the two works have many things in common.They both research on the theme of existence and show the contradiction between the cruelsociety and individual’s ideal thoughts. The two novels describe some vivid social pictures attheir own age and expose some social problems and contradictions. The two authors’philosophyof life seems similar that they both teach the readers to see both themselves and the modernworld better and then our readers should make right choices to shoulder responsibilities.