英语论文A Comparison between Different Kinds of Humanism in Lord of the Flies and Robinson Crusoe.pdf

毕业论文 设计 1 a comparison between different kinds of humanism in lord of the flies and robinson crusoe a comparison between different kinds of humanism in 1 lord of the flies and robinson crusoe 1 1 the definition of humanism 1 1 1 different performance of humanism in different periods 2 1 1 1 eighteenth century humanism 2 1 1 2 twentieth century humanism 3 2 the relationship of religious beliefs and humanism 4 2 1 religion and humanism 4 2 1 1 crusoe s repentance vs simon s consciousness 5 2 2 different worldview makes different culture in the islands 8 2 2 1 civilization vs savagery 8 2 2 2 selfishness and independence 10 2 2 3 loss of innocence vs mastery over nature 12 3 the relationship between the characters in the novels from a humanist perspective 14 3 1 ralph and simon 14 3 2 parallels between ralph and piggy crusoe and friday 15 conclusion 16 references 17 net 1 李运晖 马斯洛理论 doc 2005 3 4 17 net 2 方心 人文主义 2005 2 6 17 net 3 allegory 2005 2 6 17 毕业论文 设计 2 1 the definition of humanism there is not a unified definition of humanism for humanism is a philosophy and a worldview lot of people called themselves humanists but sometimes their worldview and their opinion of human beings are absolutely different personal interest values and dignity are particular as the starting points of humanism the most important components of humanism are human tolerance non violence and freedom of thought among human beings net 2 1 1 different performance of humanism in different periods according to the development of humanism in western culture of different periods scholars find few different types of humanism such as ancient humanism renaissance humanism 18thcentury humanism and 20thcentury humanism take 18th century humanism and 20thcentury humanism for example there are some differences between them although both of them can not bear the mission of leading the western culture because of their insurmountable constraints from the perceptive of features and effectiveness their established reasons are the same they all mention human is the main point of transforming the world net 2 some concepts of humanism are contradictive in ancient rome it has had humanistic ideas which can be called humanism of today but humanism of that time is totally different from humanism of today the humanist ideas of john wolfgang goethe and friedrich schiller are usually called historicism and the humanism ideas of william von humboldt are different from enlightenment humanism humanism of 毕业论文 设计 3 today pays more attention to the liberation of the human personality and peace in the period of renaissance philosophy was thought as the fundament of thinking but in the period of humboldt science instead of philosophy all of them have connection with each other 1 1 1 eighteenth century humanism eighteenth century humanism is established by thinking of the abstract intellectual it also paid more attention to civilization and order than other periods it not only built the joy of life and personality or success is based on individual life loving nature but also emphasis on the group working and living harmony with others it promotes human nature and the value of human beings for the enjoyment of the life for the liberation of the human personality freedom and equality expects the emotional experience and rational thinking net 2 at the beginning of the novel robinson crusoe the protagonist crusoe thought that the disaster was caused by his disobedience of his father s suggestions so he has a deep religious fear he is steady and plodding in everything he does he prays to god and asks for more grain he makes a great cross and set it on the shore where he first landed all of these represent that 18thcentury humanism and god is not absolute people thought that god was supreme and put their beliefs in god but when crusoe fails to get grain he finds that he must work hard to gain it on his own he built a house and started raising animals the greatest joy of crusoe is to pursue material things necessary for living in the story we also can find that crusoe lives in harmony 毕业论文 设计 4 with friday this novel shows the importance of the material and the importance of basic human value 1 1 2 twentieth century humanism twentieth century humanism takes for granted that everyone is equal people have freedom of thought and opinion it paid more attention to order and peace at the same time it emphasizes to leadership and teamwork transforming the nature by human create a favorable condition for survival and development of the environment a long time ago people made a purpose of conquering nature by science and technology means to the growth of material wealth people try to conquer nature in fact they become the object of conquest of nature the novel lord of the flies tells a story on a group of boys who are leaded by jack how to use cruel ways to solve problem in order to get more power the novel tells how most of boys lose their kids innocence step by step on the opposite side the behavior of keeping civilization by ralph simon and piggy is small the story happened during the war which background indicates that savagery also exists in adults world the story shows the writer s desire of peace one s behavior will gratify one s own desires scorn moral rules and indulge in violence 20thcentury humanism has connection with 18th century humanism on emphasizing capacity of transforming the world but it differs from 18thcentury humanism on pursuing peace we can see that 20thcentury humanism pays more attention to the basic human needs 毕业论文 设计 5 2 the relationship of religious beliefs and humanism 2 1 religion and humanism eighteenth century humanism is indicated in moral and religion this kind of worldview can be called religious humanism lots of people take the religious beliefs as their standard of behavior at the same time they also can find a new way to live better over the tradition when they fail to get anything from god they know god is not always effective some problem can be solved by people themselves we can find lots of religious factors mentioned in robinson crusoe for example just as the christian cross is a symbol of christians new life in christ after baptism although crusoe is not a man who always prays to god the cross is the sign of his repenting of sin he knows clearly that human beings have power of conquering nature so he never gives up and uses his hands to build a big community on the island from then on his target changes and becomes to pursue materials we also can call the thought the material basis lord of the flies is usually recognized as christian parable because some parts of the book show certain christian images and themes but religion is not the primary key to interpret the story religious images are just the products of spiritual civilization that all the boys of lord of the flies learn from the adult world they discard these and pursue physiological needs such as food tools shelter et cet we can find that the relation between those little boys can be based on primitive hunters collectivism all boys seem gripped with a strange frenzy when the hunter has just returned with their first kill and no other boys are willing to help ralph and piggy to 毕业论文 设计 6 build huts for shelter their living target is to pursue the material interests in this group everyone has no senses of security and trust that kind of humanism can be called the human relationship based on the material 2 1 1 crusoe s repentance vs simon s consciousness crusoe s experience is not only a simple adventure story which just tells what happen but also a moral tale illustrating the right and wrong ways to live one s life the novel tells us about the importance of repenting for crusoe repenting consists of acknowledging his wretchedness and his absolute dependence on the deserted island this admission marks a turning point in crusoe s spiritual consciousness and is almost a born again experience for him after repentance he complains much less about his sad fate and views the island more positively for he knows that the only way to change his fate is to create everything all by him god is just a belief and it is not all powerful god cannot help us to obtain everything we need so in the end he does not always trust in god because he knows it is not enough praying god to get more grain this kind of world outlook had changed a lot since he landed on the island and all of these are the new beginning of crusoe facing his fate correctly it exemplifies the culture of pursuing the material basis of life reflected by 18thcentury humanism the story mentions that crusoe lives in harmony with the environment and tells how he uses the existed tools and the ones he made himself to build his community for example he seeks shelter and food for himself he finds goats and grazes them for 毕业论文 设计 7 meat he trains a pet parrot takes a goat as a pet and develops skills in basket weaving bread making and pottery all of this changes his life and show humanism of 18thcentury which emphasizes the value of human beings for the enjoyment of life for the liberation of the human personality in this story robinson s harmonious living with friday is the important component it emphasizes the leadership of crusoe and the trust relation between him and friday the essence of humanism is interaction between humans and society so the spirit of humanism in this story is embodied vividly in lord of the flies the boys are affected by the war of outside world they are out of adult supervision so the most essential component of human nature is evil and this evil nature becomes very obvious and dominant the boys are afraid of the beast because it exists in their mind the stronger the beast grows in their beliefs the more savage the boys grow they adore the sow s head as their totemic god they believe the lord of the flies is all powerful it is a symbol of power of evil and it demonstrates the origin of human religion beliefs in systems of power based on fear of the unknown in this group only simon realizes the beast exists within each of them he is the only boy who can keen to his beliefs ralph and piggy once lost the desire to join the jack s group to an extent even the civilization of ralph and piggy are products of social conditioning as can be seen in their action in hunt dance in the psychology of the novel the civilizing impulse is not as deeply rooted in mind as the savage impulse alone of all the children on the island simon acts morally not out of some guilt or shame but because he believes in its inherent value he always has the desire to return 毕业论文 设计 8 to society he advocates science and desire to build an ordered group for all boys he represents a kind human nature he stands for the products of human civilization he desires peace and order while others pursue power and violence it emphasizes the importance of human being s morals it exemplifies the basis of human civilization lord of the flies is an allegory in the expansion of western thought allegory has played a major part from the earliest times to the present allegory is a form of oral story which mainly show people how to use their wisdom to live and work allegory usually uses a short story to tell a deep philosophical meaning it can be seen as the presentation of humanism of that period net 3 2 2 different worldview makes different culture in the islands 2 2 1 civilization vs savagery evil and good of one person are innate evil nature can be reflected in barbarous acts and good nature can be manifested in acts of civilization civilization can be destroyed by savagery and savagery can be conquered by civilization the moral values of a person are a standard that can be decided whether the action is civilized or not morality is the product of human wisdom it is the rule of behavior that made by human beings to conquer the evil of human nature it is also a great change of an outlook of the world and life if morality of one person can not be easily changed by the environment his action will be civilized and he will keep his beliefs of goodness 毕业论文 设计 9 there are a lot of differences between the main characters in the novels crusoe is an adult he has his own belief of how to live he uses some things that come from the civilized world to help him and soon provides himself with food he complains much less about his sad fate and views the island more positively after he found that he can change his life all by himself he trusts in science especially when he finds some footprints on the beach he first assumes that is devil s but he quickly decides it must belong to cannibals after then he arms himself and remains on the lookout for cannibals he can use human wisdom to protect himself on the contrary boys in lord of the flies believe in the existence of the beast the young boys are only half formed perched between civilization and savagery and thus embodying the novel s central conflict little boys cannot control their behavior very well lots of things they do are mostly learned from the adult world throughout the novel golding s foundation is the idea that moral and societal constraints are learned rather than innate that the human tendency to obey rules behave peacefully and follow orders is imposed by a system that is not in itself a fundamental part of human nature young boys are a fitting illustration of this premise for they live in a constant state of tension with regard to the rules and regulations they are expected to follow robinson makes a house to live which show crusoe is no longer focused solely on survival for the first time since his arrival he thinks in terms of pleasantness but what he suffers in the deserted island changes him a lot he look the opportunity of living in the island as his enjoyment he trains a parrot as pets for 毕业论文 设计 10 fun he brings the civilization of human beings to the desert island that is just what 18thcentury humanism said people need the emotional experience and rational thinking free from the rules and structures of civilization and society the boys on the island in lord of the flies descend into savagery the writer golding paints human struggle between the civilizing instinct and the savage instinct the central concern of lord of the flies is the conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings the instinct to live by rules act peacefully follow moral commands and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one s immediate desires act violently to obtain supremacy over others and enforce one s will this conflict might be expressed in a number of ways civilization vs savagery order vs chaos reason vs impulse law vs anarchy or the broader heading of good vs evil throughout the novel golding associates the instinct of civilization with good and the instinct of savagery with evil 2 2 2 selfishness and independence selfishness is a part of evil of human nature jack is a strong willed and selfish boy and he represents the instinct of savagery violence and the desire of power the novel is around the struggle between jack and ralph jack is furious when he loses the election to ralph at the first he desires to control all the boys he devotes himself to kill pigs he never joins to build the huts he is selfish and almost furious to pursue the material and ignore the harmonious living with other boys all of these are exposed jack s innate savagery in the end not only jack pursues the basic needs but 毕业论文 设计 11 also all boys join jack s group it tells us that the boys don t need love and honor when their food is not adequate they can disobey ralph s order and join the hunt that is human nature but ralph knows how to do things to help all the boys while jack devotes himself to hunt the conflict between the two instincts is the driving force of the novel explored through the dissolution of the young english boys civilized moral disciplined behavior as they accustom themselves to a wild brutal barbaric life in the jungle the more savage jack becomes the more he is able to control the rest of the group indeed apart from ralph simon and piggy the group largely follows jack in casting off moral restraint and embracing violence and savagery jack s love of authority and violence are intimately connected as both enable him to feel powerful and exalted by the end of the novel jack has learned to use the boys fear of the beast to control their behavior a reminder of how religion and superstition can be manipulated as instruments of power he over pursues power and it made him lose the goodness of human nature crusoe is so independent and takes adventure for few times this is not savagery but a spirit of exploiting and creating he has courage to change his living on the contrary although he refers to himself as king over the natives and europeans he teaches friday to call him master when he saves friday he is not selfish crusoe is also very interested in possessions power and prestige but he is also a man who is independent although both of crusoe and jack desire to control others there are some differences between them for example robinson is kind to friday he lives in 毕业论文 设计 12 harmony with friday he teaches friday to speak english but jack just orders other boys to obey without reasons we see that in his normal day to day activities crusoe keeps accounts of himself in various ways for example it is significant that crusoe s makeshift calendar does not simply mark the passing of days but instead more egocentrically marks the days he has spent on the island it is about him a sort of self conscious or autobiographical calendar with him at its center similarly crusoe obsessively keeps a journal to record his daily activities even when they amount to nothing more than finding a few pieces of wood on the beach or waiting inside while it rains we can also sense crusoe s impulse toward self awareness in the fact that he teaches his parrot to say the words po