The Sartrean Existential Reading Of George Orwell’s Coming Up For Air

George Orwell(1903-1950)was one of the most important British novelists of the 20th century.With his strong social conscience and keen political insight,he vividly reproduced social life at the time of totalitarianism,and was called "wintry conscience of a generation".Coming Up for Air(1939),written in the late 1930s,continues the literary theme of resistance to colonialism and imperialism,and opens up new literary horizons of resistance to totalitarianism in the 1940s,which has certain research value.Based on the above background,the thesis proposes to conduct a study of Sartre’s existentialism in Coming Up for Air.The first chapter of the dissertation briefly introduces the author’s biography,literary achievements,outline of Coming Up for Air,and a review of domestic and international literature.Chapter Two introduces the theoretical foundations,including the origin and development of existentialism,Sartrean existentialist ideas,and mostly introduces the concepts of absurdity,being-in-itself,being-for-itself,and free choice.Chapter Three explores the absurd world in which the main character Bowling lives,analyzing the absurdity of the times embodied by modern life,deteriorating environment and brutal war.Chapter Four analyzes the being-in-itself,being-for-itself of Bowling and how he achieves self-transcendence.Chapter Five explores Bowling’s free choice.Bowling chooses fishing,reading and returning to his hometown as a way to escape from the real dilemma,but in the end,he has to face a failed ending.The chapter analyzes the reasons of the tragedy.Chapter Six summarizes the thesis’ views and outlines the research value of existentialist ideas in the work.The thesis shows the absurd world shown in the novel from the perspective of Sartre’s existentialist philosophy,analyzes Bowling’s self-transcendence from being-in-itself to being-for-itself,summarizes the process of Bowling’s making free choice and the final result,and concludes that the novel Coming Up for Air is a typical existentialist novel.This paper helps to further understand Orwell’s concern for human development as a humanitarian,and also provokes contemporary readers to think about the value of freedom in real life,to search for the way to survive with freedom and hope,and to pursue personal values.