On The Dysfunction Of Trust In H.G.Wells’ Love And Mr.Lewisham

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) is worldwide famous for his scientific romances, andhis realistic novels have also gotten the critics’ attention and the public’s affirmation. Loveand Mr. Lewisham (1900) is a realistic novel written in a totally different style from scientificromances. As to this novel, some critics had regarded it as “an unsuccessful adventure” whichWells undertook in the field outside of scientific romances. However, there were still somescholars and novelists who welcomed and praised it. Although it is Wells’ first importantsocial novel, few scholars have studied it from a sociological perspective.The issue of “Trust” has become the focus of Western sociological research since the1970s, and many sociologists have studied it from different sociological perspectives. PiotrSztompka, the famous Polish sociologist, pointed out that,“Trust is a bet about the futurecontingent actions of others”. He tried to make further advancements to the study of negativefunctions of trust which were usually neglected before through the view of dysfunction oftrust. In his opinion,“dysfunction of trust was caused by trusting the untrustworthy anddistrusting the trustworthy”, and the reason why the negative functions of trust arose was thatunder some situations the function of trust couldn’t work. In Love and Mr. Lewisham, theprotagonist Mr. Lewisham faced triplex dilemmas in his life: the halt of his academic career,the unhappy marriage and the abandonment of his socialist faith. Although Wells did notdirectly give us the factors which contributed to Mr. Lewisham’s life dilemmas, the notion ofdysfunction of trust provided a possible way to interpret it.The thesis tries to study Love and Mr. Lewisham in the view of Sztompka’s trust theory,and explore the reasons for Mr. Lewisham’s life dilemmas from the perspective ofdysfunction of trust. In the “Introduction”, a literature review of this novel, the research value,research method and feasibility of this thesis will be given first, and then a brief introductionabout the trust theory, the notion of dysfunction of trust and the implied trust theme in thenovel will be made. Chapter one will discuss the relationship between Mr. Lewisham’s idealsand his trust placement on the basis of his life experience in which he placed trust ineducational institution, several people and socialism for his academic career, happy marriageand better world respectively. Chapter two will analyze the life dilemmas which Mr. Lewisham faced and explain that dysfunction of trust is the main factor that contributes to hisunsuccessful life. Chapter three will demonstrate Mr. Lewisham’s awakening exemplified inhis consciousness of the inefficiency of education, suspicion of interpersonal relationships,and disillusionment with socialism by depicting his adjustments to the dislocations betweenhis ideals and the realities which were caused by dysfunction of trust. Furthermore, thischapter tries to illustrate that the doomed fate of the little man Mr. Lewisham is to makecompelled adjustments such as giving up dream and faith, and returning to the hopelessmediocre domestic life. In conclusion, the thesis points out that only when trust fullyfunctions can individuals achieve their personal goals; only by establishing real trustrelationships and removing fraudulence can social orders be established and kept, and dailylife be normal. Through this novel, Wells expressed his worry and concern for thoselower-middle-class intellectuals who live in a society in which dysfunction of trust oftenhappens. His satire, criticism and pessimism for the human being, to some degree, reflect hisyearning and pursuit for a society in which trust relationships are firmly established.