Inadequate Reconstruction

Ian McEwan(1948-)is one of the most influential writers in English literature.With a plain,delicate and sharp writing style,McEwan pictures the inner unease and fear of modern people.His early works are surreal and filled with dark elements as violence,death and horror,which won him the nickname of “Ian Macabre”.The Cement Garden,as his first novel,published in 1978,is marked as “Macabre literature”.The Cement Garden has received different critical reviews by foreign and domestic critics because of its uniqueness,such as absurd content,dark elements of death,incest and sex.However,this work can also be read as a postmodern cautionary tale.Guided by Hassan's “indetermanence” principle,the present thesis purports to make a thematic study of The Cement Garden by focusing upon their inadequate reconstructions of family,identities and values.In so doing,the thesis intends to argue that the tragedy of these four children in The Cement Garden is caused by their vain hope of completely subverting present patterns,identities and values without knowing that they are not well-prepared.Thus,their reconstructions are doomed to be inadequate and failed.In addition to the Introduction and Conclusion,the main body is divided into three chapters.Based on the broad sense of “indeterminacy”,the first chapter discusses children's inadequate reconstruction of family patterns from three aspects of patriarchy,masculinity and family orders.The second chapter starts with the narrow sense of “indeterminacy”,focuses on the inadequate rebuilding of indeterminate self-identities and displacing relationships.And with the application of Hassan's “immanence” principle,the third chapter focuses on the inadequate reestablishment of children's immanent values of death,game and hope.