| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立師範大學 === 英國語文學研究所 === 82 === The aim of this study is to examine Sammy Mountjoy's quest of
understanding from a hermeneutic perspective. Hermeneutics is
the ontology of understanidng. Understanding is neither
manipulation nor control; instead, participation and openness
are the keys to understanding. The thesis is composed of five
chapters. The introductory chapter traces Golding's
antirational background, which constitutes the binary mode--the
worldly and the spiritual--of perceiving the world embedded in
most of Golding's fictions. In Free Fall, the interrelationship
between the two forces of the duality is so complex that to
distinguish between the two becomes a quest for understanding
the shifting and incomprehensible reality. In addition,
Chapter One outlines the author's primary concern in doing this
research. In Chapter Two, attempts are made to show the
condition of true understanding from an ontological viewpoint.
There are no absolute rules for valid understanding;
understanding is not like a changeless property of an object,
but is always positional. Chapter Three concerns itslef with
the tension between the past and the present in Free Fall. Our
historicity is constantly at work in understanding. Only with
the passage of time does true historical significance emerge,
and can Sammy discover the true meaning hidden in events he
encountered. In terms of historical consciousness, Sammy's
personal story is an epitome of the Fall, the fall of each man.
Chapter Four is devoted to exploring how understanding and
communication take place by means of interrogations in Free
Fall. From these interrogations, we can see that it is only in
the very condition of openness that understanding can virtually
occur. The concluding chpater highlights the main idea of this
study as well as assesses Golding's achievement as a
distinguished contemporary novelist.
|
|---|
