The Study Of Death Theme In A Home At The End Of The World

Michael Cunningham, the American contemporary writer, is famous for his work AHome at the End of the World in1990.This novel is well-constructed, and the author’s vision is also broad in manner of writing.There are four characters who tell the story in their own viewpoint. They push plot developingalternately. At the very beginning, a variety of deaths and a thick atmosphere of death areobviously displayed in the story. With the development of the plot, there are the death ofmales and females, as well as the death of illness and accident in the text. The whole work isfull of the feelings of lost, pain and sadness. The death atmosphere covers all aspects ofpeople’s life. But it is exactly analyzed in this paper that the hero’s inside desire for living aswell as the comfort and warmth in home, which indicates the true meaning of death in thenovel. As for mankind, life is precious and finite because it can never be relived, so themeaning of life really needs to be found and explored. It is only when we obtain theunderstanding of death that can we really learn about the meaning of life. The death enablesus to focus attention on the positive value of life and death.Besides abstract and conclusion, this thesis includes five parts. The first part is theinstruction, which reviews the research situation about Cunningham and the main content ofthe plot. This part also puts forward the value, significance and innovation of the research.The second chapter expounds the theory of death philosophy systematically and scientifically,including Ancient Greek, modern western and the contemporary western philosophies ofdeath which are provided theoretical basis on its analysis below. From the third chapter to thefifth chapter is the part of the text analysis. Chapter Three intends to discuss and analyze thedeaths in the novel to deepen the death theme according to Bobby’s and Jonathan’s curiosityand ignorance to death. In Chapter Four, the theory of western death philosophy is applied toanalyze the fear and escape of two heroes. The fifth chapter analyzes the inevitability of deathand discusses the heroes’ attitudes to death. The heroes experience the process of fear to death,facing the death and the survival from death, and they eventually improves their realization ofdeath and life. Even if the life is limited, finite life should be for infinite and eternal livingsignificance. The last part is the conclusion of the thesis.