A Study On Relationship Between Humans And Their Surroundings In American Novels In The Late 19^th Century

The end of the 19^th century is a transitional period for America, in which all sorts of social factors are so upset and unsettled that the society is complicated. Thus, most of the writers at this special term showed their unique and complex thoughts about the natural environment as well as their critical cognition about the so called modern industrialized social environment, which made the American literary a flowery bloom of thoughts about the relationship among humans, nature and the society. By analyzing Stephan Clain and Jack London’s works, the intrinsic and all-round influences made by nature and society on living conditions of human beings can be the knowledge of us. Mark Twain earns high reputations and is much too influential in American literature. He distinguishes himself from the other writers with his humor, conciseness of the words in his works and local featured languages, all of which let him become a symbol of the native literature and the starter of Mark Twain Humor. It is his two books whose heroes are children that lay the foundation of his literary status. It is no exaggeration to say that this book is enriched with its writer’s worldview and his life wisdoms, including his thoughts about the relationship among nature, society and human beings.His peers also sensed the crucial problem that exists in their industrialized society and upsets all the members. They started to look into the society and try to find out the root of the problem. Their ideas and findings were expressed in their works, for example, Stephan Clain and Jack London were the representatives of these writers. The pictures of nature and society were displayed to the public as well as the living conditions in their eyes of the contemporary common people. After scrutinizing the works of Stephan Clain and Jack London, it is clear to find that humans are slaves of their surroundings which means the society but the nature. What’s worse, the once-benevolent and holy mother nature neglects all the wretch of people.At this term, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn showed its unique value which is came from its growing characters. In this novel, Huck never stuck his views on one certain point, on the contrary, his floating adventures enabled him to change his ideas about his surroundings. The hiding and escape from the depriving society is not a wise and practical choice. Meanwhile, the ideal nature is not the imaginary one as before. It is heinous and cruel sometimes. His conception of the relationship among nature, society and humans is that these three factors are inseparable, they should control each other and unite each other as one organic body. The development of each factor should be kept at a reasonable degree. Only in this way, the harmony of the world, including nature, society and human beings can be reached at last. If Stephan Clain and Jack London are working for the numerous common people, announcing their rage out to the strong, ruthless and cruel society and nature, it seemed that Mark Twain is demonstrating his unique and wise life idea to the world, using a minimal and humorous child story, and warning people try to be a healthy one in the neighborhoods of society and nature, rather than a breaker from the tangles of society.This paper is composed of five parts: the first part introduces and concludes the current research on the topic about humans, nature and society. Therefore, the lack of viewpoints is this paper’s perspective. Analyzing the works of Stephan Clain and Jack London to conclude their ideas about this complex topic is the main content in the second part. All these works show that there is a clear difference at the cognitive level and angle between all these thinkers and researchers at this period. However, the comparison of these ideas is definitely not this paper’s aim. Their sense of responsibility and humanism is well worth our appreciation. Thus, the meaningful inspiration we can draw from all these ideas is the chief task to be finished in the fourth part. The third part focus on the research outcome: Huck’s choices have changed with his deep touch with the reality-the real conditions of nature and society. After going through all the ups and downs, he came to know a truth that a healthy life depends on the harmonious relationship with nature and society. With the deep scrutiny of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the scope should be widen to the analysis of other writers’ thoughts and works on this term at the end of the nineteenth century. Standing on the shoulders of giants, we can see a farther picture. Mark Twain has showed the world a thorough and valuable way to solve the problem. Let the theory lead behaviors is the only way to respect the efforts made by researchers. In the last part the thesis testified the fact that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has showed the world a practical and worthy viewpoint to help to solve current problems. There are various ways to tackle the problem, but the journey to reach the final harmony of the world is still very long.