| Raymond Carver depicts the existential plight of the characters in his short stories,who mainly come from the working and middle class of society,a large share of whom suffer from economic hardship and psychological problems,stuck in spiritual and sometimes physical quagmire.They experience unforeseeable misfortunes such as a car accident,a flood or disease and suffer a sense of loss,disillusionment,menace or uncertainty.They are often not on good terms with their family,friends or acquaintances,especially themselves,unable to find meaning and strength,yearning for a different life yet powerless to change their life for the better.In the view of Existentialism,they are alienated from others,unable to find their authentic self in an absurd world where passive subjection cannot redeem them from existential sufferings.But on rare occasions,there is a ray of light that penetrates the dim and cramped life of the characters and promises hope and betterment,implying that love and fellow feeling are the key to establish positive interpersonal connection to rebel against absurdity,and find one's authentic self,reclaim dignity and the power to love.This thesis will be comprised of five parts:introduction,conclusion and three chapters for the body.The first chapter will analyze how the Carverian characters'existential crises are attributed to the state of absurdity.Characters in the Carverian world are perpetually under the dominion of the unpredictable ever-changing fate.Misfortunes strike unexpectedly at any time on any person.They die for understanding and control of fate for which they resort to multiples ways.Despite all the speculation and trepidation,no living person can get the upper hand of the mysterious force of chance,all endeavors made in vain.Camus' definition of"absurdity" in The Myth of Sisyphus,he declares that "what is absurd is the confrontation of the irrational and the wild longing for clarity whose call echoes in the human heart".(26)The rationality of the characters' expectations is put in stark contrast to the irrationality of fortune.Without predestined meaning or plausible explanation to its happenstances,living can be unsettling and cruel,depriving man of dignity and subjectivity.To climb out of this existential limbo,the characters have to muster strength from within and embark on a rebellion against absurdity and consolidate the shaky foundations of living that they once deemed as normal and natural before this realization.They have to deal with the alienation between self,others and the world and find meanings for themselves.The second chapter will inspect the Carverian characters' existential predicament by reviewing how most of their choices are failed attempts to find authentic self and achieve self-realization,the wrong kinds of rebellion in Camus' sense.As Existentialists so earnestly propose,man has the freedom to make choices,despite of limitations.Camus calls for rebellion to salvage man from absurdity.But he also warns of rebellion that is not liberating but destructive,for instance,nihilistic rebellion.Characters define their own being and are in pursuit of authentic self,but oftentimes they are lost in the wrong direction and end up with a self distorted by external ideologies,stranded in the middle ground.Entrapped in inaction,they are unable to deliver themselves from absurdity,as are most cases of Carverian characters.It is not rare in Carver's stories that characters'vitality leaks away and they become numb and apathetic like a car without dynamic.Deactivated,they are reduced to inanimate objects.They resort in vain to binge drinking,violence,voyeurism and extra-marital affairs for self-assertion.Be the world a madhouse full of absurdities or not,Camus asserts that man has a choice and can and must take a stand against all the odds that a merciless and meaningless world throws at one.People slip into alcoholism,violence and so on to ease their insatiated desire to be loved,respected and to make something out of their life.Easily beaten down,they are quite the opposite of Sisyphus the Camusian role model for his tenacious and unflinching spirit.They are beaten down and self-alienated,unwilling to try to climb back on feet and reach out for other people.The third chapter will discuss what choices lead to the rebellion that can truly reclaim man's dignity and subjectivity,taking cue from both textual manifestations and reviewers' philosophical arguments.However pale it is,Carver allows a ray of light into the dim and suffocating world of some of his characters.Man must assert their subjectivity and agency to fight mental agony rather than foregoing all their will to control their own life.Their passive resignation to fate does not forebode well.Without courage and strong will,they will only sink deeper to the mud of life and be enslaved by whatever may come in their way.To live decently,one has to put on active rebel.Whatever the result,human dignity and subjectivity is kindled by action.It is common that one is not rewarded with what he yearns for and absurdity will not cease to exist just due to one gesture of rebellion,but the fight must continue and sometimes the gesture itself suffices to create meaning.To come to grips with addiction is an effort to both to transcend oneself and absurdity.Willing to empathize,care and love can forge an alliance that liberates all of its members who would have undergone their predicaments inconsolably alone.The Carverian characters need to reach out to successfully start a conversation,make communication and establish emotional connection with others.Although theoretically speaking,man are endowed with the freedom to make choices for their own,practical limits can be too powerful for a single individual to revolt against alone.Thus Camus calls for united rebellion of people who share the same fate.His concept of rebellion is not only metaphysical,but has a strong political connotation.When what we rebel against is a gigantic monstrosity that overpowers the individual,it is time to forge a unity and revolt as a whole.Some of Carver's stories with a brighter tone underline the importance of breaking interpersonal barriers and making connection with people so that individual experiences put on a more universal quality which makes united rebellion feasible. |
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