A Study Of Adolescent Images In American Novels In The 1960s

The image of youth is a character image that American literature is keen on creating.Its passionate and positive characteristics of age are often used to refer to the bourgeoisie in the rising stage.However,the 1960 s were a tumultuous time.In the post-industrial society of the United States,the conflict between material abundance and spiritual scarcity created anxiety among teenagers.Under the different value judgment standard and behavior orientation,they have formed their own youth culture.This radical,romantic and emotional youth culture has a certain impact on the mainstream culture.The construction of adolescent images in American novels during this period is one of the explicit ways of adolescent culture.This paper is composed of three parts: introduction,text and conclusion.The introduction defines the two concepts of the 1960 s and teenagers,combs the domestic and foreign research status of American literature and images of teenagers in the 1960 s,and on this basis,expounds the research ideas,methods and significance of this paper.The first chapter,based on the complex context of the growth of American teenagers in the 1960 s and by tracing the source of traditional images of teenagers in American literature,explores the reasons for the emergence of new images of confused,decadent and rebellious teenagers in American novels in the 1960 s.The second chapter classifies the images of teenagers in American novels in the 1960 s.According to their different attitudes towards dominant power and mainstream culture,teenagers are divided into three types: insiders who "escape from freedom",lonely outsiders and power space breakers.According to the attitude of the subject,the insiders who "escape from freedom" can be divided into those who abide by the rules and those who give up and return.Lonely outsiders,starting from social choice,can be divided into dissociators who take the initiative to stay away from the center of power and social "outcasts" who are excluded by power discourse.Compared with the former two,the breaker of the power space is more inclined to break the power space and announce the arrival of the age of self as the anti-hero of "breaking the god" and the new idol of "creating the god".The third chapter analyzes the narrative strategies of adolescent image building from the perspective of narratology.First of all,the novel usually uses the narrative mode of "the generation of temptation--ritual self-determination--the loss of innocence",and in the process of injecting the core of "anti-growth" into the theme of "growth",the novel explores the spiritual dilemma faced by teenagers in the period of social transformation.Secondly,by analyzing the geographical space and social space of youth activities,this paper finds out the power network in public space,and expounds the construction of personal private space and the arrogation of power space by teenagers in order to get rid of power surveillance.In this process,with the expansion of the youth group,they begin to construct their own new power field.The fourth chapter takes the youth as a cultural symbol in combination with the text,analyzes the cultural significance and internal contradictions behind it,and explores the profound influence of American youth culture in the 1960 s on literature and society through the analysis and reflection of the emotional utopia built by the youth.The conclusion part is a review and summary of this paper.After elaborating the great impact of American youth in the 1960 s on cultural development across time,space and fields,it discusses how mainstream culture and emerging culture extract the essence and remove the bad in the collision,and jointly promote the development of human culture.This article is not limited to the postwar American Holden’s bewilderment rebellious teenagers image,but in the transformation of society to provide a variety of value choice,analysis of different race,gender,class teen behavior orientation,and from the aspects of power,space exploring their options under the common social characteristics,and emotional utopia to construct the era demands and reflection.Through the images of teenagers in American novels in the 1960 s,we can have a further overall grasp of American literature and a deeper understanding of American culture.At the same time,the discovery and exploration of today’s youth culture also has far-reaching social significance.