A Study Of Saving Fish From Drowning From The Perspective Of Existentialism

In the contemporary literature, Amy Tan is one of the most popular Chinese American writers. She is popular among readers around the world. Her first novel, The Joy Luck Club, establishes her position in the area of literature. Most of her novels pay attention to the subtle affection between mother and daughter. She is a prolific writer and her famous novels include The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s Daughter and Saving Fish from Drowning. As her latest novel, Saving Fish from Drowning has the different features from the other works. There are many remarks and papers about the work, but a few critics have paid attention to the existential features of the novel.Up to now, the comments on the novel are still controversial. Some researchers think this novel breaks away from Amy Tan’s writing style, so it is not worthy of being researched. However, this thesis intends to study the novel from the perspective of existentialism by presenting a series of examples. Some existentialists emphasize the pursuit of freedom and encourage people to take responsibility for the society. By a series of efforts, people can find the practical way to succeed. So the philosophy of existentialism has the great value to the current society.The thesis mainly includes six parts. The first part introduces the author’s life and her novel Saving Fish from Drowning. It also presents the literature review and then tells the importance to write the thesis. The second part introduces the origin and development of existentialism, especially Sartre’s existentialism. It attempts to construct a theoretical framework for the thesis. The following three parts mainly analyze the existential elements in the novel from the perspective of the absurdity, alienation and free choice. In the sixth part, it makes a conclusion to the whole thesis. By analyzing a series of typical examples in the novel, the thesis tries to show the existential features. What’s more, it expresses people’s wish to make free choices in the contemporary society.