心の闇-再生の場としての可能性 : "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"と"Young Goodman Brown"の比較検討

概要

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The purpose of this paper is to explore the dark side of the human mind and its possible function as the place of rebirth in two stories; one is Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and the other is Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?". Although they were written in different time and places, both stories seem to address the same concepts. In both stories, "the darkness" is used as a symbol of evil: Goodman Brown went deep into the dark forest with a man of the serpent and it was a dark night when Connie met Arnold. It was indeed in the darkness when evil characters tempt and seduce protagonists, even threaten into ruin. The protagonists' encounters with evil results in coufusing their minds and bringing in troubles, though, the results differ. Brown is condemmed to live the rest of his life in gloom because he cannot believe anyone. In contrast, Oates ends her story with a scene which suggests that Connie is going to make her way to the unknown but vast sunlit land, thus suggesting Connie's rebirth as a matured person. Compared with Hawthorne, Oates seeks and believes in the possibility of the young.
2000-12-20