A Study on Humanity Entanglement inEileen Chang’s Love in a Fallen City

• Main Authors: Jen Yung-fang, 任永方
• Other Authors: Dr. Szu-i Sylvia Yu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/81133716234075179463

碩士 === 玄奘大學 === 應用外語學系碩士班 === 102 === Abstract The study is based on the theory that if someone wants to survive in chaotic times, he needs to combine his primitive desires with the hope of survival. The consequences of merely aiming at private benefits turn out to be untrustworthy in family ethics and the family relationships become unfamiliar and alienated. Eileen Chang’s celebrated short novel, Love in a Fallen City, is included in her masterpiece The Legend. It describes the lives of the middle and upper classes in Shanghai and in Hong Kong during the war time of Resistance Against the Japanese in 1940s. Most of the story is about family values and Eileen Chang is exceptionally brilliant in describing humanity in her novels. Human natures are severely distorted because of the oppression of the war, the burdens of ancient Chinese tradition and the dark side shadows of the author’s childhood. When the feeling of love gradually evaporates and disappears, the marital relationships between husband and wife have left nothing but physiological drive and financial needs. As for the siblings, with the living environment gets more and more difficult, the competitions among them also become keener and keener. Love in a Fallen City has a unique historic background; therefore, the humanity and human relationship revealed in the story are with isolated and desolate nature. Because the characters do not have faith in each other, they feel unsecured and distant in heart though they closely live together. Key words：private benefits, Eileen Chang , Love in a Fallen City, humanity, desolate