An Interpretation Of Binary Opposition In Ian McEwan’s Characterization

Ian McEwan is an important British representative of the new pragmatism in the 20th century. Combining realism and modernism, he has made a lot of breakthroughs in his literary creation. Not only has he formed his unique humor type, but also he has gotten a nickname "Ian Macabre". With diverse themes and striking characterization ways, his works well show us the living state and spiritual state of modern people.Binary opposition theory is the basis of the structural linguistics which is created by Ferdinand de Saussure. It has been widely used in literary critics and literary texts analysis. Researching Ian McEwan’novels, we can find binary opposition exists in his characterization. For instance, we can see such binary opposition in adults and children, the self and the other, morality and immorality, violence and peace, imagination and reality, as well as scientific rationality and religious complex, etc. These binary oppositions are either within or between characters. They not only make the characters full of practical significance, but make the readers profoundly reflect upon themselves. The Child in Time and Black Dogs, which were written in the 1980s and 1990s respectively, are two representative novels.Although the studies on Ian McEwan at home and abroad are thriving, there is nobody specially studying the characters from the angle of binary opposition. Thus via The Child in Time and The Black Dogs, this thesis interprets the binary opposition in the characterization of McEwan’s novels. Specifically, it delves the opposition in characters’ values, psychological cognition, and characters’behaviors. Besides, certain theories in psychological cognition and ethic are also used to better the analysis of the characters. All in all, this thesis is supposed to replenish the domestic study on Ian McEwan and his works, make the readers further know his creation characteristics, as well as motivate them to realize their self values and pursuits.As a whole, this thesis consists of three parts, that is, introduction, body and conclusion.The first part is introduction. It starts with a brief introduction of Ian McEwan and his literary works. Next it gives a general overview of the studies on Ian McEwan at home and abroad. Then, it states the significance of this thesis.The second part comes to the body the thesis, including four chapters.The first chapter primarily states the structuralist binary opposition and its application in literary field. Then it analyzes the realistic background of the binary opposition characterization. It mainly includes three aspects, that is, the world war which led to people’s distrust and loss of faith; the economic development and the complicated political pattern in the word which led to people’s losing of self identity and degeneration of moral sense; and more and more appearance of the fringe behaviors which gave rise to more divergences in peoples thoughts and behaviors along with the social progress.The second chapter interprets the characters’ divergence on views of value through analyzing the characters’ individualism/collectivism opposition, scientific rationality/ religious complex opposition and toleration/rejection opposition on fringe behaviors. In such binary-opposition characterization, McEwan reflects the popular values of people in the 20th century as well as the change of values brought by the social environment. At the same time, this characterization not only shows his concerns about common people’s cognition on themselves and the social development, but also shows people’s belief crisis along with the war, political change and the technological progress.The third chapter interprets the opposition in characters’ psychological cognition, including fancy-oriented cognition/reality-oriented cognition opposition and self/others cognition opposition. On one hand, the characters’ psychological cognition, which sways between fancy and reality as well self and others, implies the subtle relationship among psychological cognition, environment and external behavior, on the other hand, these opposite cognition reveals the psychological state of people in reality. All of these manifest McEwan’s humanistic care.The fourth chapter interprets the opposition in characters’ behaviours, including children/adults opposition, and violence/peace opposition as well. Influenced by his special growing environment, McEwan extends great enthusiasm on the themes such as children, growth family violence and all kinds of social violence. The behavior contradictions in the characters of his novels could prove this. Besides, the behavior opposition in these aspects also transfers McEwan’s deep humanistic care.The last part is the conclusion which again reviews the contents and states the enlightenment from this thesis. It firstly highlights the sense of binary opposition characterization. Then it manifests the practical significance of interpreting the characterization from the angle of binary opposition, including its value in literary critics and its humanistic significance. Finally, it points out the novelty and deficiency of this thesis, as well as the necessity of keeping on studying his new literary works.