The Representation Of Ethical Relationships Within The Family In The Bulwark

Theodore Dreiser is a pioneer of naturalism in American literature. In The Bulwark, Dreiser depicts the rise and fall of a Quaker family in three generations during the transitional period of the United States of America in the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century. Since the publication of The Bulwark, many critics have interpreted it from the perspective of religion or of nature, or have done a comparative study on it with Dreiser?s other novels, while they haven?t given much attention to the representation of changes in the ethical relationships within the family in this novel. This paper intends to apply the theories of Hegel and other ethicists on family ethics to make a comparative study on the representation of changes in the ethical relationships within the family in the consumer society in The Bulwark. Meanwhile, through tracing and analyzing Dreiser?s own family experience, this paper tries to figure out Dreiser?s thinking on the ethical relationships within the family.Hegel points out that family is essentially an ethical entity and love should be considered as the most important factor in the family. Other ethicists, such as Rousseau and Fichte, further carefully explain the importance of mutual duties of ethical subjects in different levels of ethical relationship within the family. Based on these ideas, this thesis points out that in The Bulwark Dreiser represents two types of ethical relationships within the family—one is founded on love and the other on interests; and he explores what ethical principles should be held by family members when dealing with the ethical relationships within the family in the consumer society.There are three chapters in this thesis. The representation of the ethical relationship between husband and wife is analyzed in the first chapter. In the traditional family, parents? sound spiritualized marriage is based on love while the children?s weak commercialized marriage is based on money. Through studying the stark contrast depiction of the two kinds of marriage, it can be indicated that the author believes in marriages that are based on love and criticizes marriages that are based on money. The second chapter is mainly on the representation of the ethical relationship between parents and children. The intimate inter-generational affection of parents is out of their sense of responsibility, while the indifferent feelings of the children is out of their own self-interest. Through representing the harmonious and alienated inter-generational relationships across two generations, Dreiser expresses his longing for the inter-generational ethics founded on responsibility and opposes the ethical relationship distorted by utilitarianism. The third chapter focuses on the representation of the ethical relationship between brothers and sisters. Through discussing the sisters? balanced relationship of the traditional family grounded on fraternity and the unbalanced sibling relationships grounded on selfishness, it can be suggested that Dreiser approves of the affectionate and loving sibling relationship based on fraternity and is concerned about the twisted relationships among siblings in the consumer society.From the above analysis, it can be concluded that, Dreiser is in favor of the ethical relationships within the family centered on love and condemns the alienation of ethical relationships within the family caused by commercialism. The breakdown of family ethics in consumer society leads to some social problems such as the weakness of marriages and the disintegration of families. Confronted with these problems, Dreiser attempts to solve them by promoting the family ethics based on love. His cry for the return of affection among family members offers a solution for the struggling American families and has great practical significance for the harmony of the whole American society.