A Study Of The Death Complex In Marsha Norman's 'Night,Mother And Traveler In The Dark

Marsha Norman(1947-)is a famous female American playwright.Her plays not only show her great concern over the issues of marginalization and trauma of women,but also explore some common themes like interpersonal relationship.'night,Mother describes the story of Jessie,a woman in her middle age,trapped in life,who commits suicide in the end.Whereas Traveler in the Dark shows Sam's experience of being deeply indulged in the agony caused by the death of his relative and friend,but ultimately,he walks out of the shadow.This thesis,by means of Beauvoir's and Levinas's theories of the other,attempts to adopt'night,Mother and Traveler in the Dark as its research objects with the intention to disclose the death complex,the subject of critical wrangling with regards to the texts.Beauvoir believes that women gradually become the other when playing social roles as married woman,domesticated wife and mother.They are often marginalized and suppressed in the male-dominated society,finally,some of whom are forced on the road to death.Levinas points out that death is the absolute other,which cannot be controlled by the self.Furthermore,he stresses that one should be responsible for the other with an ethic relation in-between.Based upon theories of the other,the thesis elaborates on death themes in the two plays.Firstly,the thesis reviews the evolution of the death complex and the other theories in the history of western philosophy and explains the connections among the themes of the two plays,the other and death.Secondly,it analyzes the relationship between the other and"death" in the two plays by virtue of Beauvoir's theory of the other.In the two plays,husband treats wife as the other and mother regards daughter as the other,causing their dilemma inmarriage or self-destruction.Finally,the thesis analyzes two protagonists' understandings of death from the perspective of Levinas's theory on the relationship between one and the other,indicating that as a subject,one should properly handle the relationship between the self and the other when facing death:one should be responsible for the other.Through the analysis of the other theories and death,the thesis finally draws a conclusion:Starting from Beauvoir's view of the other,the female characters,placed in the position of the other,are passing on this plight to their children.While seen from the other view put forward by Levinas,changes occur in the relationship between the self and other:the self is no longer opposed to but responsible for the other and the protagonist in the play bravely bears his responsibility for family.Based upon the discussion on the death complex of the characters,the Other theories by the two theorists are well reflected in Norman's two plays.