A Study Of The Tree Of Man From The Perspective Of Biblical Archetypes

Patrick White is generally regarded as one of the most outstanding and prestigious writers in Australian history. He was born in an Anglican family in Australia and the Bible exerts a strong influence on him, so he often makes use of religious themes and symbols to express his own understanding of life. The Tree of Man, published in1955by Patrick White, is decisive in establishing his fame all over the world. However, so far, studies of the novel home and abroad are limited to artistic techniques, alienation, character analysis and so on, and no one has studied it from the perspective of biblical archetypes. Therefore, this thesis attempts to probe into the biblical archetypes used in the novel. The biblical archetypes can help readers to find the author’s real intention of writing the novel and attitudes towards life. Therefore, only by comprehending the biblical archetypes in The Tree of Man can readers better understand the novel and the author.In the light of Northrop Frye’s archetypal theory, this thesis analyzes the biblical archetypes in The Tree of Man mainly from three aspects:characterization, image and theme. Firstly, many of the main characters are associated metaphorically with the characters from the Bible, which enriches the characterization immensely. The obvious biblical archetypes associated with Stan and Amy are Adam and Eve. Besides, Patrick White creates two lost sheep—Ray Parker and Thelma Parker and two serpents—Tom Armstrong and Madeleine. Secondly, Patrick White takes apocalyptic image and demonic image as the main source in his creation of the novel, and there are three archetypal images frequently appeared in the novel:water, fire and tree. Thirdly, readers can easily find three most fundamental archetypal themes in the novel:"degeneration","redemption" and "regeneration".By using biblical archetypes, White indicates that the history of human beings is a repeat of the stories in the Bible:fire, flood and other sufferings in life are obstacles in the road to happiness, and human being’s spirit will be sublimated if one overcomes those obstacles. In White’s eyes, the course of life is the process of exploration and understanding, which is endless because of the continuity of human beings, and the essence of life is simplicity and humility.