Alienation And Salvation

Celeste Ng is a Chinese American female writer.Little Fires Everywhere is her latest work after Everything I Never Told You has achieved great success.Focusing on two American families,the novel tells how the Richardsons interact and conflict with Mia and her daughter.By depicting their different lives,Celeste Ng profoundly reveals the morbid alienated state of some people in American society.Based on Fromm's alienation theory,this thesis analyzes the characters' alienation dilemma in life in Little Fires Everywhere from three aspects: the alienation between man and self,the alienation between man and man,and the alienation between man and society.By revealing the general phenomenon of alienation,the thesis further discusses the salvation means of alienation in the novel.Firstly,there is alienation between man and self.Influenced by social norms,people repress themselves and even lose their subjectivity.Through creative activities and mature maternal love,they firm their own ideas and find their original selves,so as to realize the salvation of self-alienation.Secondly,alienation also exists between man and man.In modern society,for the sake of their interests and success,friendship is no longer pure and selfless.Lovers simply consider from their own point of view.Pure relationships require mature love.Mature love enables people to respect and understand each other,and then helps people eliminate alienated relationship.Finally,alienation has penetrated into the relationship between man and society.This kind of alienation is mainly caused by high consumption concept and uniform social culture.High consumption makes people lose their rationality.Uniform living style makes people's lives impersonal and monotonous.By establishing a sane society,people can own a healthy consumption concept and have a colorful cultural life,which dissolves their alienation from the society.Through the discussion of the alienation phenomenon and the salvation of alienation in Little Fires Everywhere,this thesis attempts to provide some lessons for the survival of modern people.When people are in an alienated state,they should take effective means to save themselves from alienation,and learn to get along with themselves,others and society in a creative,loving and humanitarian way.