“Abnormal” Characters In The Works Of Carson Mc Cullers And Huang Liqun

Living in different times,Carson McCullers from southern American and Huang Liqun from Taiwan are skilled in short fiction writing.In the fictional worlds they create,characters brew their “abnormality”,and freakiness co-exists with reality.Focusing on the perspective of “abnormal”,this thesis studies the protagonists in six short fictions by the two novelists.Through close reading of the texts,combining theories on gender and cultural studies,I would make a comparative study on the six protagonists.The thesis is consisted of five parts: Introduction,three chapters and conclusion.The introduction makes a summary of influential reviews about the two writers and their works and outlines the topic basis.The word “abnormal” is not a defining term but a descriptive word for the common traits shared by the six characters.Chapter One focuses on the connection and difference of the six characters and divides them into three groups: the sexless characters in The Ballad of the Sad Café and The Cat Disease;the loveless characters in A Tree,A Rock,A Cloud and The Room by the Sea;the delusional characters in Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland and The Dreamer.Chapter Two discusses the traits of the characters.All of them suffer from loneliness and the lack of social bonding,hence they demonstrate enthusiastic pursuits for connections.However,the peculiar actions they take to alleviate the loneliness result in a more alienated situation.Chapter Three works on the significances of the “abnormal” characters and discusses the writers' exploration of humanity,reflections on love and social reality.In the conclusion,I would summarize the connections and literary significances of the characterization of the two writers.Carson McCullers and Huang Liqun are dedicated explorers of the spiritual world of human.The “abnormal” characters they create are not freaks but representative agents of the marginalized groups.As keen observers of the complexity in humanity,they write with great sensitivity.In subjective yet bleak narration,the two writers become the bystanders of life as an absurd play,exploring the limitless possibilities of fictional writing.