A Comparative Study On Of Human Bondage And Fortress Besieged From The Perspective Of Existentialism

“Freedom” is an everlasting theme in literature.The changing world brings man chances as well as challenges in obtaining real freedom.Many people are easily lost in the mood of anxiety and desperation in modern society.Existentialism,focusing on human existential experience and subjectivity,profoundly reveals the absurdity of the world and the nothingness of human existence,thus existentialists encourage man to struggle for individual freedom in the face of absurdities and nothingness in the world.Sartre is one of the most well-known representatives of existentialism,whose thoughts have influenced the literary creation of many writers.Both Maugham and Qian Zhongshu are deeply influenced by Sartre's existentialism.Maugham is a great English writer whose representative work Of Human Bondage reveals the influence of existentialism.The Chinese writer Qian Zhongshu won people's hearts by his great literary works,especially Fortress Besieged.The two different writers' works both reflect the existentialist influence,but few people have attempted to compare these two works in light of existentialism.This present study tries to reveal the human frustration and aspiration for freedom by comparing the two main protagonists in the novels who make different choices in their fights against their tough lives.This thesis analyzes the two novels by following the three principles of existentialism: “The world is absurd”,“Existence precedes essence” and “Man is free”.In the first part,based on the principle of “The world is absurd”,a comparative analysis is made to reveal similarities and differences in the novels.The external environment and the weakness of human nature show the absurdity of the world and the nothingness of life.In the second part,based on the principle of “Existence precedes essence”,the predicaments in the two novels are analyzed.In the third part,based on the principle of“Man is free”,a detailed comparison is made between the lives of the protagonists in these two novels.The comparative study between these two novels is meaningful both in academicstudy and life inspiration.On the one hand,the study provides us a new angle to examine these two novels in writing style and theme.On the other hand,through the study,we may gain deeper understanding of human predicaments in these two novels.What's more,it is revealed to us that it is of significance to pursue the spirit of making free choices to gain happiness and take responsibility in our life.