An Analysis Of The Biblical Archetypes In Sophie's Choice

As the winner of Pulitzer Prize in 1968,William Styron is one of the most distinguished Southern novelists in modern American literature.His representative work—Sophie's Choice is published in 1978.Its publication helps its author win the National Book Award in 1980,and it is selected as one of the “Time's 100 Best English-Language Novels of the 20 th century” by Random House.Besides,it is also regarded as a milestone in the history of Western Novels and is required reading in many universities in America.Since its publication,this novel has attracted the attention of many critics from home and abroad.They have analyzed this novel from various points of view,for instance,feminism,trauma theory,psychological analysis,thematic analysis,power and discourse theory,narratology.Several scholars have also studied the work from James Frazer's cultural anthropology and Carl Gustav Jung's collective unconsciousness.However,there are few scholars who have systematically analyzed Sophie's Choice from the perspective of biblical archetype.Therefore this thesis intends to concentrate on biblical archetypal study of this novel on the basis of Frye's theory.Sophie's Choice will be explored in an objective perspective based on the link between Sophie's Choice and biblical culture.By adducing and contradistinguishing Sophie's Choice from Bible,this thesis aims to explore the connotative meaning of Sophie's Choice,to touch the religious consciousness in Styron's writing ideas and to make a further supplementary analysis of this novel on the basis of previous studies.This thesis consists of five parts.The first part is to begin with a brief introduction to the author and Sophie's Choice and a general review of previous studies on Sophie's Choice and basic points of Frye's biblical archetypal criticism.The second part is mainly to explore the biblical archetypes in Sophie's multiple images in her different stages of life.Sophie is the triple body of Eve,Judas and Martyr.Like Eve,Sophie is not only a victim oppressed by patriarchal ideology and society,but also an intermediate mother who undergoes the process from committing sin to questing for redemption.To figure for her benefits,she plays the role as Judas and betrays her morality and conscience.Being as a martyr,her death bears some similarities to Jesus' death.From these analysis,one can get a deep understanding of the character of Sophie.The next part is to explore several significant imageries in the novel and their implied meanings,including the biggest imagery in the novel,Auschwitz concentration camp,the oft-repeatedly occurring cross and the anthems in the novel.The fourth part will mainly analyze the U-shaped narrative pattern of the novel on the basis of the narrative strategy of Bible.Through analysis,the last part of this thesis will sum up the viewpoints of this thesis,and come to the conclusion that Sophie's Choice is the result of Styron's creative inheritance and innovation from Bible.