頁籤選單縮合
題 名 | The Theme of Death in Joyce's “Clay”=喬艾思之「泥塊」的死亡主題 |
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作 者 | 陳佩民; | 書刊名 | 長榮學報 |
卷 期 | 4:2 2001.01[民90.01] |
頁 次 | 頁95-106 |
分類號 | 870 |
關鍵詞 | 死亡; 垂死; 萬聖節; 巫婆; 超自然; 癱瘓; Death; Moribund; Halloween; Witch; Supernatural; Paralysis; |
語 文 | 英文(English) |
中文摘要 | 本文的目的在於深討詹姆斯、喬艾思在「泥塊」故事中刻意所要表達的主題--「死亡」。「泥塊」是喬艾思早期作品「都柏林人」中一篇短篇故事。表面看來,故事的情節非常簡單。 描述瑪利亞在萬聖節前夕獲准請假,於是前往喬的家裡,探望他的家人。途中經過畢拉,在唐尼斯餅店買了一打什錦小餅,又轉到亨利街一家蛋糕店,買了一個糕餅,在德拉康得的電車上,遇見一位像上校的紳士。在運河橋下車後便步行到喬的家裡。 經過細讀之後,發現喬艾思呈現給讀者一個重要的主題,就是「死亡」。他首先以萬聖節前夕作為故事的背景(setting)。萬聖節前夕是西方文化中最富神秘和迷信的節日:眾鬼出沒,各種不可思議的事情都會發生,人們可以從鏡子裡看到自己的未來,也可以借萬聖節前夕的遊戲來預卜自己的命運。其後他使用意象(image)來表達「死亡」的主題。這個意象就是瑪利亞被描述為巫婆,她細小的身材,連坐在車尾一張小椅子上時,她的腳尖幾乎沒有觸著車底板。當她笑起來的時候,鼻尖幾乎碰到下巴尖;說話時輕柔的鼻音顯示了巫婆的特點;同時,她也俱備了神秘的力量:「那些餅好像沒有切開;不過,要是走近點,就看得出是切成厚長的片片,大小相等...這是瑪利亞親手切的。」 另外喬艾思也用了象徵(symbols)來襯托出「死亡」的主題。例如:光亮得可以鑑影的銅鍋(copper boilers)和瑪利亞房裡的鏡子(mirror),銅鍋和鏡子都有著預知未來的作用。洗衣婦莉茜、弗來說瑪利亞一定快要戴戒子(ring)和瑪利亞所買的糕餅(plumcake),都具有特別的意義。瑪利亞未婚、年老,對婚姻卻沒有多大希望。還有,象徵現在社會道德腐敗的雨水(rain)和衛護古代傳統與美德的棕色雨衣(brown waterproof),都是凸顯出都柏林社會的麻痺和癱瘓。 故事的高潮是萬聖節前夕的遊戲:大家蒙著眼去選擇擺在碟子裡的東西,各樣的東西各代表一種未來的命運。戒子代表結婚;祈禱書代表將進入修道院;水代表生命;泥塊代表死亡。瑪利亞經不住大家的要求也只好蒙住眼睛一試,她所觸摸到的東西是軟棉棉的泥塊。嘻笑聲驟然停止,一片寧靜,好一會兒後是一陣混亂和低語,顯然每個人都被這個不吉利的預兆驚嚇了。從「有人說到花園」,到後來瑪利亞再試一次,摸到祈禱書,唐耐萊太太說瑪利亞在年底前會進入修道院,象徵她將會在修道院有一個很平靜的終結。 從金裘、慕尼預言瑪利亞的死亡而提議為瑪利亞乾杯到萬聖節前夕的遊戲中瑪利亞觸摸到泥塊,死亡的影子瀰漫著整個故事。喬艾思透過情節的安排和象徵的運用,清楚地把「死亡」的主題呈現給讀者。 |
英文摘要 | The aim of this study is to explore the theme of death expressed in James Joyce's "Clay." "Clay" is one of the stories in Dubliners, published in 1914. Superficially, the plot of the story is simple, but after perusing the story, we find the story with deeper meanings. By representing the theme of death, Joyce used Halloween as the setting for the story in order to give readers an atmosphere of mystery and superstition. Then Joyce described Maria, the protagonist of the story, as a witch. "Maria was a very, very small person indeed, but she has a very long nose and a very long chin." As a witch, Maria had a supernatural power to do something impossible. "These barmbracks seemed uncut; but if you went closer you would see that they had been cut into long thick even slices and were ready to be handed round at tea. Maria had cut them herself" Besides, Joyce also made use of techniques of symbols to express his ideas: the copper boilers and the mirror depicting the foreshadowing of the future; the ring and the plumcake depicting marriage; and the rain and the brown waterproof depicting the moral corruption and the virtue respectively. The story reaches its climax when the Halloween game begins. Maria was asked to take part in the game. Of the four objects on the table -- ring, prayer-book, water, and clay -- Maria chose clay. From "something about the garden," we can see that the image being portrayed here is death, because "something about the garden," as the title implies, is clay as well as the corpse in the graveyard. Later she tried once again and chose the prayer-book. The theme of death is again confirmed, because the prayer-book is a symbol of the convent. From Ginger Mooney's foreshadowing of Maria's death at the beginning of the story to Maria's touch of the clay on Halloween game at the end, we feel the shadow of death pervading the whole story. |
本系統中英文摘要資訊取自各篇刊載內容。