The Image Of Superfather In The Road From The Perspective Of Nietzsche's Superman

Cormac McCarthy(1933-),is a famous American novelist and playwright.His The Road published in 2006,as his tenth novel and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner,draws a wide attention of readers at home and abroad.The novel tells a story of the father and the son who are struggling for survival in the end of the world with a simple language style.As a matter of fact,The Road has been studied by many experts and scholars from different aspects,but the philosophical analysis of the protagonist-the father in the novel has few been concerned.The writer of this thesis mainly applies Nietzsche's Superman concept to analyze the image of the Superfather in The Road,and aims to explore how the Superfather saves and transcends himself in such a chaotic world.This thesis is mainly composed of introduction,main body and conclusion.The introduction part mostly makes a presentation of the background knowledge of the novelist,The Road and its literature review at home and abroad,and covers the theoretical origin of Nietzsche's Superman.The main body falls into the following three chapters.Chapter One,starting with the Superman's standards of good and evil,analyzes the moral choice of the Superfather in the bad natural environment which leads to the loss of old moral view in the novel.As a Superman,the father doesn't uphold the old moral view,but chooses to protect his son and himself.Chapter Two,going from the creation of Superman's religious values,explores the Superfather's doubt about the Christian values and his way and action to create his new values.As a Superman,the father begins to question God,and take his son's safety as his new belief.Chapter Three,beginning with the Superman's self-transcendence,elaborates the Superfather's wonderful dreams and memories which provide spiritual supports for him in the face of the disaster,and stimulates his desire for survival and self-affirmation.Even when facing death,the Superfather can also keep a positive and optimistic attitude,and thus go beyond death.The last part functions as the conclusion,summarizing that the interpretation of the Superfather reflects his virtue in keeping self-morality and self-value in the doomsday.Thus,in the era with the collision between the material civilization and spiritual civilization,the image of the Superfather will offer positive thinking to human beings about how to adhere to our beliefs and hope,and how to save and transcend ourselves in the crisis of civilization.