A Study On The Themes Of Burmese Days And Nineteen Eighty-Four From The Perspective Of Existentialism

This thesis attempts to make a study on the themes of George Orwell's Burmese Days and Nineteen Eighty-Four from the perspective of Existentialism,exploring the existentialist thoughts reflected in the novels.Heidegger's and Sartrean existentialist thoughts on the notions of "absurdity","hell is other people","bad faith" and"authenticity" highlight the essence of Existentialism.This thesis aims at analyzing Burmese Days and Nineteen Eighty-Four on these basic notions from existentialist perspective,exploring Orwell's existentialist thoughts.This thesis can be divided into six parts.The first chapter gives a brief introduction to Orwell,Burmese Days,Nineteen Eighty-Four and Existentialism.The second chapter is literature review,introducing the current knowledge of the two novels and putting forward the theoretical basis and innovation of the thesis.The third chapter begins with the discussion of "absurdity" and "hell is other people" and then analyzes absurdity,inhumanity and alienation reflected in the two stories.The fourth chapter is centered on"bad faith" of Flory,Winston and Julia.They all fall into the situation of "bad faith"and face with existential predicament in the world of absurdity.The fifth chapter focuses on "authenticity",the opposite side of "bad faith",analyzes how the protagonists achieve authentic existence and turn to be existentialist practitioners by insisting on their individuality,freedom of choice and responsibility.The last chapter is the conclusion which summarizes the previous parts.It points out "absurdity","hell is other people","bad faith" and "authenticity" embodied in the two novels,reinforcing Orwell's existentialist thoughts reflected in Burmese Days and Nineteen Eighty-Four.