An Analysis Of Alienation In Jude The Obscure

As one of the famous English novelists, Thomas Hardy, born in the19thcentury, haslived through two centuries. Therefore, his novels are filled with a strong sense ofRealism and some elements of Modernism, especially in his creation of the last novelJude the Obscure. In this novel, he strongly criticizes the drawbacks in religion, socialinstitutions, social conventions and even in families and marriages of the Victorian Age.Since the novel was created in the transitional period of the late of the19thcentury, theconflicts between the old thoughts and the new ones have rendered people great painsand sufferings physically and psychologically. Among them, the theme of alienation isextremely obvious. With his leading thought, keen eyes as well as his own personalexperiences, Hardy keeps a careful observation on the people and their lives around him,which enables him to reflect the alienation of people and society. Although this novel wasseverely attacked by the churches and many people at that time when it was published, itsmeaning is profound in today’s society. The thoughts and the theme of alienationreflected in the novel have a very constructive meaning for today and call forcontemporary people and society to meditate.In Jude the Obscure, under the background of social transition in the Victorian Age,Hardy, on the one hand, describes a group of the lower class youth with ambitions. Theyhave the ideas in pace with the times and want to achieve success through their own hardwork so as to get rid of their poor living conditions. On the other hand, Hardy alsopresents a group of people like Arabella, who make no efforts to seek progress andalways drift with the current. They are obedient to the changes of the society and lead acarnal life which is only guided by interests and passion. However, pathetically, neitherside can resist the wave of the social reform and avoid being destroyed. They all lead atragic life in the end. From the description of different perspectives in their careers,religious beliefs, marriage and families, it is clear to see the alienated contradictions ofoneself with the society and other people. The hero and the heroine always remain in thestate of the struggle between the flesh and the spirit and to be tortured by the two. In theend, there generates an alienated power to control themselves. This thesis mainly takesthe alienation as a focus to make a careful analysis of Jude the Obscure, in light with thetheory of Karl Marx’s alienation of labor, Erich Fromm’s alienation in psychology and the views of alienation in literature.There are three parts in this thesis, which contains an introduction, the main bodyand a conclusion. Its main contents are as follows:The first part is introduction. It mainly centralizes the short introduction of thewriter and the novel Jude the Obscure. Besides, it will make a summary on the researchstatus home and abroad in order to present a better introduction to the thesis, as well asthe writing purpose and meaning of the thesis.The second part is the main body, which is made up of three chapters:Chapter One tries to explain the development and background of alienation.Through the analysis of its development, the author tries to present Karl Marx and ErichFromm’s different understandings on the alienated theme and the concept of alienation inliterature. Besides, with the backgrounds of industrious revolution, evolutionary theory,feminism and the influence of religion, the thesis will further account for the roots for thegeneration of the alienation and lays the foundation for a better understanding of thetheme.Chapter Two mainly deals with the alienation arising from the society. It willanalyze from two aspects. On the one hand, it is the loss of belonging. On the other hand,it concerns the reflection of the alienated labor in the novel. Through the analysis of thecharacters’ social alienation, it shows clearly that the great pains and sufferings have beenbrought to people by the society and people’s sad feelings on their failures despite ofhard works, which further expose the irreconcilable alienated contradictions and conflictsbetween people and society.Chapter Three concentrates on the interpersonal relationships, which contains thepassion without love between Jude and Arabella, spiritual but illicit love between Judeand Sue and the estranged relationship between Jude and Philloston. Through theanalysis and contrasts between them, it tries to reveal the estrangement between people,the lack of mutual understanding and the isolation from others in order to reflect theconcepts of literary alienation.Chapter Four focuses on the self-alienation of the characters, which consists ofJude’s struggle against alienation, Sue’s resistance to compromise and the distortedhumanity of the Little Time Father. It aims to reflect the alienated process of their self-denial and self-destruction from different perspectives.The last part is conclusion, which makes a conclusion of the previous chaptersthrough the summary of each character so as to illustrate the subject of the thesis. Inaddition, it will describe some possible alienated phenomena generated from our dailylife and put forward some suggestions to avoid the alienation. In conclusion, the analysisof the theme of alienation has its important realistic meaning.