An Analysis Of Heroine’s Fate In Sophie’s Choice From The Perspective Of Spatial Criticism

William Styron was one of the most famous American novelists in the 1950 s.His novel Sophie’s Choice was regarded as a classic of contemporary American fiction,and also known as “a milestone in the history of Western Fiction”.The novel won the National Book Award in 1980,and was listed in the “one hundred classic novels of the twentieth century” list of Landon House.Sophie’s Choice is considered a work of reflective literature based on the Nazi Holocaust.Sophie was the heroine of the novel,and her painful memories and the tragic love affair with Nathan formed the main plot of the novel.Sophie’s fate was short and tragic.She was the representative of the innocent victim of the terrible war.She had endured a life of great suffering,both physically and mentally.The torture she suffered during the war and the confusion she faced after the war to survive led her to the fate of suicide.This thesis will analyze Sophie’s Choice under the guidance of Spatial Criticism,a western critical theory in the 21 st century.This thesis will be written from three aspects:geographical space,mental space and social space to dig out the rich cultural connotation of the novel,and reflect the disasters brought to people by the Nazis,while calling on people to face up to their own suffering,make rational choices and give the value and significance of individual survival.This thesis consists of three parts: introduction,main body and conclusion.The first part is the introduction,which mainly introduces William Styron and his works.In addition,this part also includes the literature review of William Styron’s work Sophie’s Choice at home and abroad.The second part is the main body.This part includes three chapters,which mainly use the theory of spatial criticism to analyze the relations between Sophie’s fate and shift of space.The first chapter explores the geographical space in the novel.The geographical space includes two aspects: the living space and the scene space.In Sophie’s whole life,she mainly lived in three spaces: the quiet Cracow,the cruel Auschwitz Concentration Camp and the postwar America.Living in the period of the World War II,Sophie was tortured not only in the physical aspect,but also in the mental aspect.Her fate was closely related to the spaces that she were forced to transfer.As to the scene spaces,the basement,Coney Island and beach were discussed in the novel,which reflected the changes of Sophie’s fate.The second chapter is about the mental space in Sophie’s Choice.Sophie’s mental development experienced two processes.In the beginning,she was faithful to religion.But later,after experiencing so many tortures,she began to lose belief and did not believe in God.She thought that God turned back on her.As to the reasons,we can find that she was mainly affected by her families,especially her father and American lover Nathan.The third chapter is about the social space in the novel.Living at that time,Sophie was deeply influenced by the racial conflicts and patriarchy society.The social space oppressed Sophie,which put her at the bottom of the society.And it quicken her process of death.The third part is the conclusion.On the basis of analysis of the work and the theory of spatial criticism,it expounds the innovative points,the research ideas and shortcomings of this paper,and highlights the theme of this book.At the same time,it calls on people to face up their own suffering and make rational choices.