A Comparative Study On The Great Depression Literature And The Subprime Mortgage Crisis Literature From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

Both the Great Depression of the United States between the 1920 s and 1930 s and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis in 2008 have exerted a profound and lasting influence on the beliefs and values that Americans have long held,and the devastating impacts can be seen almost everywhere in American society and every aspect in American life.Reflecting the social life of a certain era,both writers and their works have also been greatly affected by the two crises.At the same time,the impact of the two crises on American society could also be seen in many literary works.The Great Depression Literature marked by the trauma of the Great Depression,which began in 1929,has become an indispensable part of modern American literature.The representative literary works are The Grapes of Wrath,Tobacco Road,The Day of the Locust,etc.Compared with the Great Depression Literature,the Subprime Mortgage Crisis Literature2 based on the Subprime Mortgage Crisis at the beginning of this century is less radical and confused,but is more reflective.The representative literary works are Too Big to Fail,The Big Short,etc.However,up to now,few studies on the Subprime Mortgage Crisis Literature can be found both at home and abroad.Comparative studies on the characteristics and differences of the Great Depression Literature and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis Literature are even fewer.This thesis takes The Grapes of Wrath written by John Steinbeck,a modern American novelist during the Great Depression,and The Big Short written by Michael Lewis,a former bond trader and super best-seller during the Subprime Mortgage Crisis,as examples,and adopts the method of ethical literary criticism to make a comparative study of the different ideologies,emotions,and social influences between the two literary works,as well as the Great Depression Literature and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis Literature by analyzing different ethical environment of the novels,different ethical selections of the main characters and different ethical identities of the characters and authors.The thesis finds that the reason behind these differences is that the former directs the spearhead at the capitalist system,while the latter only criticizes Wall Street and American financial institutions.Finally,by making a comparative study,this thesis also hopes to attract the attention of more scholars to analyze literary works about the Subprime Mortgage Crisis.