True Meaning Of Life Reflected By Sufferings And Absurd

Jack London(1876-1916) is an outstanding realistic writer of America. His works are almost about socialism and individualism, and throughout his works are the love of life and exploration into the meaning of life. Martin Eden is his master piece, and it’s also an excellent semi-autobiographical novel. It has received more and more attentions from academic critics since it published. Existentialism is a kind of philosophy that probe human existence, ways of action and its philosophical significance. Sartre’s existentialism philosophy theory mainly focuses on the state of people in the real society, emphasizing the subjectivity of man in action. In the novel, the author’s description of Martin Eden coincides with Sartre’s existential point of view. Thus, this paper attempts to analyze Martin Eden from Sartre’s basic existential point of view, such as “existence comes before essence” “free choices” “hell is other people” and “absurd World”. Through the analysis of this paper, people can have a better understanding of Martin’s state of existence, paying more attentions on living perplexities of modern people and exploring the true meaning of life.This thesis has been divided into six chaptersChapter one gives a brief introduction to the author Jack London and the main content of Martin Eden.Chapter two is literature review which introduces the outstanding research results of Martin Eden both at home and abroad. On the basis of that, significance of the research is raised.Chapter three is the theoretical framework of the paper, which introduces existentialism’s origin, development, representatives and main characteristics. In addition, some basic ideas of Sartre’s existentialism are expounded.Chapter four analyzes the process of seeking for essence and fighting off sufferings of Martin from two aspects of “existence comes before essence” and “free choice” and clarifies that Martin is free to make his choices as well as struggling for them.Chapter five analyzes the absurdity presented in the novel and conflicts in interpersonal relationships between Martin and other characters from two aspects of “hell is other people” and “absurd world”. What’s more, it reveals Martin’s painful state of existence and his immersing in doubt about the meaning of life when faced with the absurd success.Chapter six is the conclusion of this thesis. It makes a summary of main points of the paper and presents us new points of view. The meaning of life doesn’t exist in the result itself but in the process. It is precisely that struggling between sufferings and absurd gives the true meaning to life.