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The Generation of Anxiety and the Recovery of Self-awareness-interpreting The Sea, the Sea Based on Rollo’s Existentialist Psychology

Received: 7 October 2019     Accepted: 1 November 2019     Published: 8 November 2019
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Abstract

Rollo’s existentialist psychology not only finds the reason for human anxiety but also comes up with a solution to the anxiety. Based on Rollo’s existentialist psychology, this thesis applies the close reading to interpret Murdoch’s novel The Sea, the Sea, and then analyze the reason why Charles, the protagonist in the novel, returns to the current and real life from the disordered life at the seaside. His boring childhood has led to his desire for material life, his individual competitiveness and the dominant values of being loved, accepted, and approved, which is presented by his later life when he was working in the theater. With the retirement of Charles from the theater, the lonely life at the seaside destroys his values and consequently causes the loss of his sense of himself, which leads to his disordered life. But Charles’s experience of death and the death of other people have brought back his self-awareness. By interpreting this novel, this paper attempts to explain that the psychological reason for Charles’ chaotic life is his anxiety and the reason for anxiety is the destruction of dominant values. And the recovery of self-consciousness is the key to overcoming anxiety, making him break away from the past and return to his current life. By analyzing the psychological course of the protagonist Charles, this paper tries to strengthen readers’ attention to anxiety, and help them understand anxiety, so as to lead readers find ways to overcome anxiety.

Published in International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation (Volume 5, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijalt.20190504.13
Page(s) 64-71
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Existentialist Psychology, Disordered Life, Anxiety, The Dominant Value, Self-awareness

References
[1] Conradi, P. Iris Murdoch: The Saint and the Artist [M]. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1986.
[2] Murdoch, Iris. The Sea, The Sea [M]. London: Penguin Random House, 1999.
[3] Tucker, Lindsey. Released from Bands: Iris Murdoch’s Two Prosperos in The Sea [J], The Sea. Contemporary Literature, 3 (1986): 378-395.
[4] Dipple, Elizabeth. Iris Murdoch: Work for the Spirit [M]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.
[5] Weese, Katherine L. Feminist Uses of the Fantastic in Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea [J]. Mfs Modern Fiction Studies, 3 (2001): 630-656.
[6] Arikan, Seda. There is no Such Thing as a Sexual Relationship: Lacanian Principles in Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea [J]. Journal of Graduate School of Social Sciences 3 (2015): 103-126.
[7] Gordon, David J. Iris Murdoch's Comedies of Unselfing [J]. Twentieth Century Literature 1 (1990): 115-136.
[8] Liu Huishu. On Rollo May’s Existential Thought [J]. Journal of Lanzhou University (Social Science), 2016, 44 (1): 68-74.
[9] Pan Qiuyang, Feng Tao. Existentialism Philosophy in Sartre’s Situation Drama [J], Academic Exchange, 2018, (2): 171-174.
[10] May, Rollo. Man’s Search for Himself [M]. Guo Benyu& Fanghong translated. Beijing: China Renmin University Press, 2013.
[11] May, Rollo. Man’s Search for Himself [M]. London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009.
[12] Liu Xiaohua, Hening. The Natural Writing In Iris Murdoch’s Novel The Sea, the Sea [J]. Journal of Yangtze University (Social Science), 2014, 37 (03): 47-50+78.
[13] Weese, K. Feminist Uses of The Fantastic in Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The sea [J]. Modern Fiction Studies, 2001 (3): 630-656.
[14] Duan Daoyu. From Falling Prey to Being in Freedom - The Sea, the Sea and Heideggerian’s View of Truth [J]. Xian: Foreign Language Education, 2017, 38 (6).
[15] Gordon, D. Iris Murdoch’s Comedies of Unselfing [J]. Twentieth Century Literature, 1990 (2): 115-136.
[16] Xing Zhanjun. The Loss and Return of Self-consciousness [J]. Theory Journal, 1998, (6): 76-80.
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  • APA Style

    Zhou Xia, Li Jing. (2019). The Generation of Anxiety and the Recovery of Self-awareness-interpreting The Sea, the Sea Based on Rollo’s Existentialist Psychology. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation, 5(4), 64-71. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20190504.13

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    ACS Style

    Zhou Xia; Li Jing. The Generation of Anxiety and the Recovery of Self-awareness-interpreting The Sea, the Sea Based on Rollo’s Existentialist Psychology. Int. J. Appl. Linguist. Transl. 2019, 5(4), 64-71. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20190504.13

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    AMA Style

    Zhou Xia, Li Jing. The Generation of Anxiety and the Recovery of Self-awareness-interpreting The Sea, the Sea Based on Rollo’s Existentialist Psychology. Int J Appl Linguist Transl. 2019;5(4):64-71. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20190504.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijalt.20190504.13,
      author = {Zhou Xia and Li Jing},
      title = {The Generation of Anxiety and the Recovery of Self-awareness-interpreting The Sea, the Sea Based on Rollo’s Existentialist Psychology},
      journal = {International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation},
      volume = {5},
      number = {4},
      pages = {64-71},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijalt.20190504.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20190504.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijalt.20190504.13},
      abstract = {Rollo’s existentialist psychology not only finds the reason for human anxiety but also comes up with a solution to the anxiety. Based on Rollo’s existentialist psychology, this thesis applies the close reading to interpret Murdoch’s novel The Sea, the Sea, and then analyze the reason why Charles, the protagonist in the novel, returns to the current and real life from the disordered life at the seaside. His boring childhood has led to his desire for material life, his individual competitiveness and the dominant values of being loved, accepted, and approved, which is presented by his later life when he was working in the theater. With the retirement of Charles from the theater, the lonely life at the seaside destroys his values and consequently causes the loss of his sense of himself, which leads to his disordered life. But Charles’s experience of death and the death of other people have brought back his self-awareness. By interpreting this novel, this paper attempts to explain that the psychological reason for Charles’ chaotic life is his anxiety and the reason for anxiety is the destruction of dominant values. And the recovery of self-consciousness is the key to overcoming anxiety, making him break away from the past and return to his current life. By analyzing the psychological course of the protagonist Charles, this paper tries to strengthen readers’ attention to anxiety, and help them understand anxiety, so as to lead readers find ways to overcome anxiety.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AB  - Rollo’s existentialist psychology not only finds the reason for human anxiety but also comes up with a solution to the anxiety. Based on Rollo’s existentialist psychology, this thesis applies the close reading to interpret Murdoch’s novel The Sea, the Sea, and then analyze the reason why Charles, the protagonist in the novel, returns to the current and real life from the disordered life at the seaside. His boring childhood has led to his desire for material life, his individual competitiveness and the dominant values of being loved, accepted, and approved, which is presented by his later life when he was working in the theater. With the retirement of Charles from the theater, the lonely life at the seaside destroys his values and consequently causes the loss of his sense of himself, which leads to his disordered life. But Charles’s experience of death and the death of other people have brought back his self-awareness. By interpreting this novel, this paper attempts to explain that the psychological reason for Charles’ chaotic life is his anxiety and the reason for anxiety is the destruction of dominant values. And the recovery of self-consciousness is the key to overcoming anxiety, making him break away from the past and return to his current life. By analyzing the psychological course of the protagonist Charles, this paper tries to strengthen readers’ attention to anxiety, and help them understand anxiety, so as to lead readers find ways to overcome anxiety.
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Author Information
  • School of Foreign Language, North China Electric Power University, Baoding, China

  • School of Foreign Language, North China Electric Power University, Baoding, China

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