A Post-structural Analysis Of Where Angels Fear To Tread

E. M. Foster is one of the most influential English novelists and critics in 20th century, whose works include six novels, two collections of short stories and a collection of literature reviews named Aspects of the Novel(1927). A major theme of Foster’s novels is to display the mental predicament and "undeveloped heart" of the English middle class. In his novels, the middle-class characters attempt to get rid of the inherent restrictions and oppressions from society and pursue freedom of spirit and liberty of personality.Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905) is Foster’s first novel, which establishes his great reputation in world literature. The novel tells a story that two youths of the English middle class, Philip and Caroline, are affected by the liberal humanism and realize their restrictions of perceptions during their twice visits to Italy, and finally get rid of the controls of the conversional principles and dare to face their real inner world. Although the plot of this novel is simple and brief, it indicates a profound meaning, displaying Foster’s outstanding writing skills and expressing his concern about the English middle class.This thesis is divided into three chapters which attempt to interpret Where Angels Fear to Tread in the perspective of post-structuralism via three key words extracted from the novel. The three key words are redemption, balance and metamorphosis.The first chapter is under the theme "redemption" to dissect the "undeveloped heart" of the English middle class. Through discussion, this chapter indicates that the inherent English Romanism and the yearning for Italy are the effective medicines to cure the middle-class mental predicament. The second chapter turns to the theme "balance" and concerns the subversion of three pairs of binary oppositions in the perspective of Derrida’s conception of deconstruction. By undermining the fixed hierarchy and self-explanatory center of the three pairs of binary oppositions, female/male, death/life and lower class/middle class, a renewed relation of balance could be established. The third chapter focuses itself on the theme of "metamorphosis" and is intended to interpret the transformations of Philip and Caroline in the perspective of Deleuze’s conception of deterritorialization. They leave England to Italy twice and reappraise themselves with a dynamic and changed perspective in a different territory to decode the original ideology and social codes so that they achieve an evolution of mind in the end.It shows that only to absorb and to accept the humanism of liberty and fairness, could the English middle class extricate themselves from the "Anglo-centralism" and subvert the innate and ossified thinking modes as well as comprehend the world and themselves in a deconstructive, dynamic and developing point of view.