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本论文共包括五章：第一章是导论。导论部分主要是对梅勒的生平和《裸者与死者》进行整体介绍。第二章主要是对存在主义理论、权力、人性三者之间的关系进行探究，共分三节。第一节阐述了存在主义及其特点；第二节介绍了权力对人性的影响；第三节探索了《裸者与死者》中蕴含的存在主义思想。在第二章的基础上，第三章主要对小说中的典型人物（将军卡明斯、少尉赫恩、中士克洛夫特、士兵雷德）进行分析，从而表现权力对人性的扭曲。此外本部分还将讨论刻画这些人物的意义。第四部分是本文作者对权力在现实生活中的影响进行的反思。最后一章对研究课题进行了总结，即权力至上的态度只会给人带来空虚和失败。
毕业论文关键词：《裸者与死者》，诺曼•梅勒，存在主义，权力，人性
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments i
Abstract ii
摘要 iii
1 Introduction 4
2 Relationship among Existentialism, Power and Human Nature 6
2.1 A Brief Introduction of Existentialism 6
2.2 The Influence of Power on Human Nature 8
2.3 Existentialism in The Naked and the Dead 9
3 Analysis of Main Characters 11
3.1 General Edward Cummings 11
3.2 Lieutenant Robert Hearn 12
3.3 Sergeant Sam Croft 14
3.4 Soldier Red Valsen 15
3.5 Historical Significance of the Portrait 16
4 Contemplation on the Influence of Power in Real Life 18
5 Conclusion 20
Bibliography 21
1 Introduction
Norman Mailer (1923-2007) was born in a well-known Jewish family in Long Branch, New Jersey. When he studied in Harvard University, he became interested in writing and published his first story at the age of 18. He was Drafted into the U.S. army after his graduation and served in the Philippines as a rifleman until 1946. Norman Mailer self-proclaimed as philosophical “existentialist” and political “left conservative”. As a contemporary American writer, Norman Mailer led a colorful and notorious life and gained world-wide fame for his achievements in the unique portrayal of a series of brilliant characters. He has written many splendid works and has won the Pulitzer Prize twice for literature. His works has a deep influence on American literature and society as a whole. Having experienced the upheaval of war and witnessed the frailties of human beings, his works mainly focuses on power, violence, disloyalty, death and so on. The problem of power is involved in most of his works. One of his most representative works is the Naked and the Dead.
During the late 1940s and the early 1950s, many notable American novels of World War II mushroomed in America. The Naked and the Dead is Norman Mailer’s first and most representative work. The plot was based on Mailer’s personal experience in World War II. Since its publication in 1948, it has been unanimously acknowledged as the earliest and the best postwar novel. It does not merely include lots of details about the hardship of army life and the cruelty of war; more significantly, it explores the deeper layer of humanity and the society. Mailer expresses his reflections about the twentieth-century American army and American society, which further lead to the discussion of the destructive effects of war and the distortion of human nature under power in extreme circumstances.
The novel questions the competence and motives of high-ranking officers, as well as the integrity of each of the many men depicted by demonstrating in great details the extreme circumstances in war and the sharp conflict between soldiers and their leaders. Moreover, it shows how war destroys humanity and how powerful the lust for power is to deprive people of reason and compassion. The novel is full of pessimistic and gloomy atmosphere. Ever since its publication, it has been widely-accepted that the experience and result of main characters in this novel have a clear ideological mark of existentialism. Nowadays, despite the benefits people can gain from power, they, especially officials, suffer from a loss of the right attitude towards power. Therefore, a study of power under human nature is also of great realistic significance.