Abstract

Loneliness and solitude are universal human experience. Even though the two concepts have something in common, philosophers tend to regard loneliness as a negative state whereas solitude positive. Loneliness and solitude have drawn great attention from many writers in literary works so far, among which there are two well-known novels. One is Robinson Crusoe, written by Daniel Defoe, the 18th century English novelist and the other is The Old Man and the Sea, written by Ernest Hemingway, the 20th century American novelist. The thesis aims to conduct a comparative study of loneliness and solitude embodied in the two novels under the guidance of philosophical concepts. By making such a comparison, the author wants to emphasize that readers need to view loneliness and solitude in different literary works according to their specific historical backgrounds and the identities of different writers. Moreover, analyzing loneliness and solitude from the perspective of philosophy will create a new way to study the loneliness and solitude embodied in the novels, which can enrich the meaning of the literary works in reverse. On the whole, study of human’s loneliness and solitude through comparative reading of literary works will contribute to the better understanding of human existence.

Keywords: loneliness; solitude; Robinson Crusoe; The Old Man and the Sea; comparative study

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1.Introduction-1

1.1 Background information-1

1.2 Brief introduction to Robinson Crusoe and The Old Man and the Sea-1

1.3 Literary review-1

1.4 Philosophical theories of loneliness and solitude-3

1.5 The significance of the study-4

2. Similarities between Robinson Crusoe and The Old Man and the Sea-5

2.1 Source of the Story-5

2.2 Human’s struggle against nature-5

3. Comparison of the loneliness and solitude embodied in the two novels-6

3.1 Comparison of the loneliness embodied in the two novels-6

3.2 Comparison of the solitude embodied in the two novels-9

4. Conclusion-12

Bibliography-13