In her novel The Diary of a Good Neighbor, through Jane (Janna) Somers' eyes, British writer Doris Lessing depicts the living conditions of aged people, and questions the stereotyped conception of old age in contemporary society. Applying Julia Kristeva's concept of abjection to the analysis of this novel, this paper argues that Janna's previous aversion to the aged people originates from her repulsion of ageing process, her denial of human fragility and her wish to break away from what Kristeva calls "the hold of maternal entity". As her contact with Maudie Fowler deepens, Janna gradually steps onto the path of self-reflection and self-discovery, and that enables her to view old age in a rational way and treat aged people with more sincerity and respect. In this sense, this novel is not only an exploration of old age problem, but also a hope for the change of social conception.
In his short story "The Man That Was Used Up", American classical writer Edgar Allan Poe presents a popular figure General John A. B. C. Smith who, after having been dismembered in the Indian War, not only reconstructs himself into an amazingly fine-looking man with the help of prosthetic devices, but also gains political and socializing capitals with his war experience. As a cultural code of the particular historical moment, his assembled body not only reveals the craze for technological products, but also reflects the way the white Americans viewed the frontier conflict. The huge discrepancy between Smith's sublime body and his mutilated flesh actually becomes a perfect case with which Poe mocks the self-adulation and pompous arrogance of the political world and the fetishism of technological products in the American society.
A holistic view sees the world as an entity in which each part is interlinked with and dependent upon the other. Emphasizing one and neglecting the other would lead to serious ecological and social problems. In the light of holism, an analysis of the poems written by Emily Dickinson, the nineteenth century American poet, would reveal the dominant roles that human-centered cognitive mapping and fragmented model of thinking have played in daily life and scientific research, and the possible influence of this world view on the future of human-nature relationship. Faced with the degenerating environment today, we have to admit that the concept of wholeness is much needed for the readjustment of human-world relationship.
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