| Summary: | 碩士 === 淡江大學 === 西洋語文研究所 === 82 === Oates is particularly concerned with the struggling masses of
poor and working-class people in America. In "them", Oates
delineates the nightmarish conditions of the economically
destitute, and shows deep identification with the American
lower classes. In this thesis, I explore the three main
protagonists' struggle for survival in the world of poverty and
violence, to demonstrate Oates's great social concerns about
the conflicts between the individual and social environment in
twentieth-century America. Loretta, Jules and Maureen each
stands for a distinct way of coping with the chaotic life.
Loretta's le reveals how a female within social and economic
restraints, remains invincible after confronting incessant
obstacles. Maureen's struggle contains all the problems and
fears a female would face, and her survival manifests a
traumatic transition from innocence to experience, from
imprisonment to liberation. Jules's struggle indicates how a
male is allowed to have more opportunity to achieve survival,
and his escape from the plight belongs to an ironic success.
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