A Study Of Interpersonal Crisis In Enduring Love From The Perspective Of Empathy

Ian McEwan(1948-)is an eminent English novelist and screenwriter in contemporary English literature.His sixth novel,Enduring Love,published in 1997,is well accepted by critics and readers,not only because it has a fascinating plot,but also because it tries to explore the fundamental problems of human beings about the meaning of love and the purpose of life.This thesis tries to analyze the interpersonal crisis in Enduring Love from the perspective of empathy.Empathy,as the core of human nature,is the art of stepping imaginatively into the shoes of other people,understanding their feelings and perspectives,and using that understanding to guide their actions.Empathy plays a vital part in interpersonal relationships.However,the empathy capacity has declined in modern society,which causes crisis in interpersonal relationships.So,it is significant to explore the interpersonal crisis from the perspective of empathy.With reference to empathy,this thesis tries to make a systematic study of the protagonists' different empathic responses in Enduring Love.Taking Logan,Joe and Jed for analysis,this thesis undertakes to explore three different empathic responses in interpersonal interactions.Logan empathizes with the boy trapped in the balloon blown in the air,so he sacrifices himself to rescue this boy.On the one hand,his excessive empathy saves the boy's life;but on the other hand,excessive empathy causes his death,which also brings a great disaster to his family.Highly empathic responses promote interpersonal relationships.Compared with Logan's highly empathic response,other protagonists show totally different empathic abilities.Joe and Clarissa lack mutual empathic understanding,so the empathy obstacles between them hinder their interpersonal communications.Jean's fragile empathy causes her distrust in Logan.Empathy obstacles in relation with other people,even with the husband or wife,can lead to troubles in the interpersonal interactions and communications.The third kind of empathy in Enduring Love is the empathyerosion represented by Jed Harry,who is so deficient in empathy that he can't feel Joe's emotions and reacts cruelly.Empathy erosion deteriorates interpersonal relationships and empathy deficiency becomes a serious social problem.This thesis finds that narcissistic personality traits,the crisis of self identity,misunderstanding and lack of communication prevent the protagonists from empathizing with others.Through the representation of the decline of empathy in the modern society,Ian McEwan shows great concerns about the ethical and psychological state of human beings and,with his penetrating perception,he brings to light his hope of improving the interpersonal relationships among human beings.