An Analysis Of The Characters' Predicament In Self-pursuit Under Alienation Theory In The Lowland

Jhumapa Lahiri,the Pulitzer Prize winner in 2000,is one of the promising new talents in contemporary American literary world.She is famous for depicting the life story of ordinary immigrants and perfectly infusing the story with thought-provoking themes.The Lowland(2008),a typical story of immigrants,is Lahiri's newest practice on the situation of modern people's lives.This thesis,on the basis of Erich Fromm's explanation of alienation theory,tries to explore the characters' predicament of self-pursuit as a result of social alienation,the alienation in interpersonal relations and self-estrangement.In The Lowland,the characters' self-pursuit is first prevented by social alienation.Under the background of capitalist society,man has to be submissive to the state and social norms.In doing so,the characters hand over the dominance of their own lives to others,and thus lose the power to achieve self-pursuit.Moreover,the alienation from interpersonal relations also exerts effects on the characters' self-pursuit.In different interpersonal relations,the characters have to play different roles,which are often against what they really want to be.So the choice between fulfillment of inner desires and conformity to outer demands often confuses the characters,leading them to a directionless journey of self-pursuit.Last but not least,the characters' powerlessness in their wrestling with the internal and external forces blocks their way to self-pursuit.Falling into irrational passions,they feel powerless while trying to control their own lives,and finally become indifferent to themselves and the world.Lahiri meticulously depicts the difficulties that the characters in The Lowland have encountered in their self-pursuit resulted from social alienation,the alienation in inter-personal relations and self-estrangement.It fully shows Lahiri's deep insight into human existential dilemma as well as their awkward predicament on the journey of fulfilling a real self,which is of great significance for people today to have a reflection on what to be and where to go.