An Interpretation Of Sinclair Lewis' Main Street From The Perspective Of Cultural Ecology

Sinclair Lewis was the first American writer awarded the Novel Prize.Main Street is his first prominent masterpiece,which caused a sensation and became the bestseller upon its publication.The story happened in an American western small town Gopher Prairie in the end of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century.City girl Carol came here with her husband dreaming of improving the small town.However,her dream was disillusioned by the failure of a series of reformations.Eventually she compromised to the reality.This novel reveals parochialism,ugliness and utilitarianism of American western small town.In view of the rich cultural phenomenon in the novel,this thesis tries to interpret the“village virus”,prejudices and discrimination,rural civilization and urban civilization from the perspective of cultural ecological criticism raised by Professor Hubert Zapf.The thesis consists of five parts.The Introduction mainly explains the life and works of Sinclair Lewis,literature review and the theory of cultural ecological criticism of Hubert Zapf.The first chapter mainly focuses on the“village virus”and sums up three features:complacency,dull lifestyle,and parochialism.Lewis creates the term“village virus”through the eyes of Carol,which means an enthusiastic ambitious young man could be affected by the dull lifestyle of the small town and turn into a complacent,parochial and utilitarian citizen afraid of any change.The second chapter mainly discusses the prejudices and discrimination of the small town over three groups:manual workers,Scandinavian immigrants and the outsiders.The prejudices and discrimination over poor manual workers are mainly from hierarchy difference;the prejudices and discrimination over Scandinavian immigrants are mainly from protective society that restricts their types of work.The prejudices and discrimination over outsiders,caused by townspeople's parochialism,is mainly targeted on those who are different from townspeople in terms of values and lifestyles.The third chapter mainly analyzes the integration and conflicts of rural civilization and urban civilization from three aspects:rural civilization,urban civilization,the integration and conflict between them.The thesis concludes that urban civilization possesses the features of elegance,romance and enjoyment,while the rural civilization planless,narrowness,utilitarianism and ideological emptiness.The late 19^th century and the early 20^th century was the age of modernization and urbanization.It was also the age of cultural integration and conflicts of rural civilization and urban civilization.Nevertheless,rural urbanization was only superficial because rural values and living styles existed deeply in root.In the mean time,rural values affected urban values and spirit in the process of urbanization when plenty of young labors poured into big cities.The Conclusion briefly concludes the cultural reflection of Sinclair Lewis in Main Street from the perspective of“village virus”,prejudices and discrimination,urban and rural civilization.He hoped to wake Americans from narcissistic condition and further promote American culture through his masterpiece.Furthermore,the reflection of the rural and the urban civilization is of realistic meaning to China.