英语本科毕业论文中国80后与美国迷惘一代的比较.doc

本科毕业论文 中国80后与美国迷惘一代的比较学生姓名: 学生学号: 200320207015 院（系）: 外国语学院 年级专业: 2003级英语本科5班 指导教师: 二七年五月 The Comparison Between the “Generation of 1980s” and the “Lost Generation” Feng Fei Under the Supervision of Li LiqinSchool of Foreign Languages and CulturesPanzhihua UniversityMay 2007ContentsAbstract.IKey words.I摘要.II关键词.IIIntroduction.1I. The Characteristics of the Two Generations2A. The “Lost Generation” .2 B. The “Generation of 1980s” . .2. Social Background of the Two Generations.3 A. The United States in 1920s.3B. China in the Turn of the New Century4. The Influence of the Economic Transformation.5A. The Influence on “lost generation”.61. The suffering of the War.62. The Diminish of the Traditional Values and the Worship for Money.6B. The Indulgence in the Materialistic Enjoyment.7 1. The Diminished Influence of the Confucianism.72. The Impact from the West.8IV. The Influence of the Different Political System.9A. The Losing Trust for the Government.9 B. The Indifference to Politics.10V. The Different Performance.11A. The Resort to the Literature.11B. More Indulgence in the Materialism.12Conclusion.13Acknowledgements.15Bibliography.16 AbstractThis paper analyzes the “spiritually lost” of the Chinese youth (the generation of the 1980s) and the “lost generation” in the U.S. And also it explores their spiritual performance when they face the transformation of the society. Through the way of comparing the United States economic conditions, political policies and culture in the period of 1920-1930 with that of China in the period after the year of 1980, this paper analyses the reason behind the spiritually lost. And it also probes the difference of their “spiritually lost” as well as the way the two generations adopted to step out of the “spiritual lost” when they face it. At last the writer proposes that the generation of the 1980s should find the way, which could help them step out the spiritual dilemma, in the Chinese cultural origins. Key WordsThe generation of 1980s; the lost generation; social transformation; spiritual lost摘 要 本文分析比较了中国青年 一代（80后）和美国迷惘一代在遭遇社会变革时的精神上的迷惘及其迷惘的表现. 文章通过对美国20世纪二，三十年代与中国20世纪80年代以来的社会政治、经济、和文化状况的阐述，分析了这种迷惘背后的原因，揭示了二者迷惘的差异.同时还探索了二者在步出这种迷惘时所采取的措施.最后作者提出中国的80后需要从中国的传统文化中找到步出迷惘的途径.关键词80后,迷惘一代,社会变革,精神迷惘 Introduction After 1990s, every aspect of peoples life has been changed. With an unexceptional pace, cities extended their territories and the market stretched its influence to every corner of the society. Packs of crowded skyscrapers, flows of mobilized people and expressways totally overturned peoples view toward moral principle and rational thinking. An industrial rudimentary began to take form in China. All the ideas and relations shared before no longer exist. There is a group of people, who was born in the 1980s and most group members are young writers. They wrote out their experiences toward the society, and this group is being regarded as the “lost generation” of China. Even some people equate the generation of “the 1980s” with the “lost generation” of America. Actually, people could easily find out that there are some shadows of the youth of America in 1920s-1930s on them. Both generations enjoyed great many similarities, such as, revolting against traditional forms, indulging in the materialistic enjoyment and unable to stop it, hating the industrial world leading a Bohemian life. Also both generations faced the same problem brought by the social transformation, and some scholars believed that they are spiritually bankrupted. Despite all of the seemingly similarities shared by the two generations, they are two different groups of people who lived in different times and different countries also the cultural origins and the social background they faced are not the same, but scholars of China seldom analyzes the different historical origins, explores their different performance in spiritual field and their reaction towards the social transformation. Some researchers studied the two respectively by putting the two in their own social background, and neglected comparing the two. On this basis, starting with comparing the two generations living environment, say, the two countries economic conditions and political system, this paper devoted to make a detailed analysis between the two, in the hope of this could enlighten the mind of the young generation and guide them spiritually. . The Characteristics of the Two GenerationsA. The “Lost Generation” “Gertrude Stein described intellectuals of the 1920s as a “lost generation”. Writers like Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos wrote out their World War I experiences and expressed cynicism about societys goals and purposes” (Faracher, Jo. Buhle,2000 30).Scott Fitzgerald likewise questioned the crass materialism of the opulent rich. H.L Mencken mocked the values of small town in America, themes echoed in the writings of Sinclair Lewis. Eugene ONeills plays depicted the darker side of family life and explored racism. T. S. Eliots the waste land use the metaphor impotence to comment on the postwar world. A group of southern writers known as Fugitives attacked industrialism and regarded traditional southern society as an alternative to crass materialism. As it stated above, the lost generation of the United States mainly refers to the expatriates writers, and many of the expatriate war writers were born in the end of the 19th century. In the 1920s, they created a new form of literature works, which criticized the industrialized world, and they tried to take the flags to create a world, which emphasized on reestablishing the moral rules by adopting the way of criticize the new forms of the industrialized world. Most of the members are stepped from the battlefield, in which they witnessed the cruelty of the World War I, they are nostalgic to the old happy times, and most of them lived in a small town of Paris, and lead a Bohemian life. Alienation toward the society fulfilled in the mind. At one side they disdained the new industrial civilization but at the same time they crazily cherished the materialistic enjoyment. Although the government prohibit alcohol drink, but they went to the bar enjoyed every thrill of drinking and also they tried fashionable experimentation of love affairs. This generation is a combination of a rational mind and a crazy action. B. The Generation of “1980s”.According to RenLanlan, “the the generation of 1980sof china refers to the group of people (especially the young writers) who was born in China between 1980 and 1990 after China adopt free-market economic policy, and open her door to the outside world, at the turn of the new century, they published books which expressed their dissatisfaction toward the world.”(Ren Lanlan, 2006 38) Some years ago, Han Han HeiKe ManZhou and rock singer Li Yang were regarded as the spokesman of this generation by Times. Too much has been commented upon the young generation of China. They are being regarded as self-centered, greedy, desperate, materialistic, and loves no one but themselves. This is a bewitched generation, they worship wealth very much, all of them dreamed to become a millionaire at the age of 30; this is a bewildered generation, they dont know who they are, and who he will be? They loved self-performance very much, and always stand at the front stage of the fashion show. The relationship between them and the traditional world had been cut off by the social transformation and they stick to the traditional virtues no more. . Social Background of the Two GenerationsA. The United States in 1920s The economy of United States underwent a transformation during the 1880s-1920s, the Second Industrial Revolution took place during this period. The society realized its transformation from the agricultural society to the industrial society. Driven by electricity and automated machinery, the whole society concentrated on producing consumer goods, the American economy got rapidly developed. The Civil War helped to pave the way for the Industrial mass produce. The economic structure of American was no longer being dominated by the agriculture, which symbolized by the far extended farms, and small manors have been taken placed by the roaring engine. Abundance of new commodities has been brought to the world. Secondly, free-market economy began to take its forms, which stimulate the exchange of the commodities. People almost could buy everything at the nearby super market. The market regulates itself according to the relationship of supply and needs, and government takes few hands to the economy affairs. After the World War I, the “lost generation” was dawning on a glorious future; the prosperity of the 1920s was a harbinger of a new era of plenty, in which all Americans could reasonably look forward to the share of an apparently endlessly expanding American pie. At the same time the economy boom brought the affluent commodities, the transformation of the society brought new problems. As the world entered into the 20th century, the first single event of any significance it witnessed was a global disaster for mankind World War I. It took place from Europe and was fought principally on that continent but eventually involved all the continents of the world. Americans believed that they had a god-given role to promote a moral world order. In a sense, World War I was the ultimate progressive crusade. The government depicted the German as a monster and leaded by the flags of to rescue the morality, fought for the peace, freedom and democracy. Nearly 10 million men registered for the draft, and 3.8 million served in the military. World War I stimulated tremendous changes in lost generations life. In the war, Over 100,000 American were died, half from diseases twice that number was wounded. (The Introduction of European Culture, 435) The government propaganda what they thinks the good deeds to the people, but actually it hurt the people. The military intelligence police force grew and a civilian bureau of intelligence (precursors to the FBI) was established, the Sedition Act widened the government powers to crush anti-war opposition, over 2100 people were arrested, mainly socialists and other radicals. On a private level, 250,000 people were mobilized to spy on their neighbors. The corrupted government officers enhanced their own wealth by using their power in the states is being reported by the newspaper everyday. At last after the World War I United States become the biggest creditors in the world, the rising power also extended his influence to the European continent and even on the Asia continent.B. China in the Turn of the New Century It is reported by the radio that: “China will realize her four modernizations all around in 2015.” Say, in 2015 the GDP of china will equal with the GDP of American in 1960s, and some experts estimated that the economy situation of China today is similar with the situation of the United States from 1910 to 1930. After 1980s, China adopted the open door policy and free-market economy, borrowed the high-technology and put more emphasis on improving the productive forces. Government also takes few hands on the economy affairs. Furthermore, after China enters into the world trade organization, she remodeled herself in the mirror of the western countries. The economy transformed from the agricultural economy to the industrial economy. After 1990s, with an unexceptional pace, cities extended their territories and the market stretched its influence to every corner of the society. The packs of crowded skyscrapers, the flows of mobilized people and the expressway totally overturned peoples view toward moral principle and rational thinking. An industrial rudimentary began to take form. While，as time goes by, the economy of China has its own characteristics. Firstly, the open policy helped China not only adopts the outdated skills but also helped her absorbed the innovations of the third industrial revolution, such as the biology and the information technology. Also she tried her best to develop her own technology so that in many technology fields she takes ahead. After 1980s, the economy of china realized her transformation from the agriculture to the industrial and even to the post- industrial. Secondly, the information technology makes the pace of development faster. The same as the United States, the 1980s of China witnessed prosperity unprecendently, which stirred up by the innovation of the new technology and especially indebted for the NET. Economy, China not only solved the problem of hungry but provided the high living standard for the people. And the same as the United States, the transformation of the society and the open door policy brought new problems to the young generation. With the interaction with the outside world got more frequently, the Western ideology flowed in and has been permeated in every corner of peoples life, many traditional arts disappeared and the tradition philosophy such as, Confucianism, Menfenciusim lost its influence. The Chinese people stepped out of the shadow of the Culture Revolution. The 11th sessions of CCP plenary conferences have pulled China from the Cultural Revolution's political shadow, and proposed the conception of constructing the socialism with her own characteristics. And this guided the way for later development. In more than 20 years, Chinese 80 enjoyed the Political stability, which their father's generation may not dare to imagine. After witnessed the cruelty in the “Culture Revolution”, China improved democratic and tried every method to protect the private properties and private life. People enjoyed the right of free speaking. It is the first time that Chinese people were given the right to criticize the government publicly. The Influence of the Economic TransformationRod w. Horton and Herbert w. Edwards wrote in the article “the sad young men” that：“the revolt of the young