The “twin mode”, which is extended from the “group image” and duplication has obtained its independent status gradually. In reality, as for the primitive people, having a partner doesn’t always mean getting rid of loneliness. (Waiting for Godot) The primitive residents believe that the meaning and value of their self-existence can be fixed when they found the “alter ego”. In other words, “other self” is a partner who can truly help oneself to get rid of the sense of loneliness. Under such background and requirement, the “twin mode” was born at the right moment. More precisely, the twin mode is the further development of the “group image”. The twin mode seems to be a unique perspective of literary researching. When the normal physiological phenomenon of twin combined with culture, it becomes more complex and forms an ample motif.
The “twins image” has appeared repeatedly in Mark Twain’s writings. It is not difficult to find that the leading characters appeared in pairs in Twain’s works. In his five important novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), The Prince and the Pauper (1882), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894), the leading characters appeared in pairs. The most prominent representative is the “twins” in the book The Prince and the Pauper, the prince and the pauper are twined but unrelated, and they exchanged their life by accident. Later they both go through a lot during the exchange time.
The innovative points of the present thesis in academic field are around two aspects:
1) The paper proposed and studied the question of the “twin mode” in a new perspective getting out of the “duplication” which has a profound influence on the traditional literature theories;
2) The paper stands on a specific novel The Prince and the Pauper to illustrate the “twin mode” through analyzing and interpreting the literature and cultural phenomena relevant to the present theme;
By present thesis, the paper wants to make an implication to inspire a further systematic study.源-自/751+文,论`文'网]www.751com.cn
The paper regards The Prince and the Pauper as an intermediary and further illustrates the twin mode. The first part is a brief introduction of the paper. The second part talks about the twin mode which includes the definition, development and genre of the twin mode. The third part mainly illustrates the twin mode in the Prince and the Pauper. And the fourth part is the conclusion of the paper. There are some exact researches already done on the frequent topics of the phenomenon of “group image” and “twin”. But the paper puts great emphasis on the twin mode and believes it is a topic which deserves a deep researching on.
2. The twin mode
2.1. The definition of the twin mode
In the field of medical science, identical twins are produced by a fertilized egg which splits into two cells of embryo. Consequently, it is called monozygotic twin which differed from the dizygotic twin. In terms of medical science, the monozygotic twin have exactly the same DNA which means the twin have such an amazing duplication in their appearances and other traits of characters. The phenomenon of twin happened in the field of medical science arouses great concern of the public. Then the twin images changed a lot to turn into the literary world and became different vivid images in different literary works. “The phenomenon of the twin images appeared in literary has become more and more common and it can be defined as the “twin mode”. The existence of the twin image in the literary work is like an associated point which can connect to the great discourse space. Fabricating a brand-new concept is not a easy work, but what I can do is to arrange my thoughts and refine the sameness from the theory of imitation in the ancient Greek to the ‘duplication’ at the moment.” (孟慧丽 2006)