Shen Congwen and Thomas Hardy are both known for their regional novels,Hardy for his "Wessex" novels,and Shen Congwen for his "World of Xiangxi" .Both writers display a sense of transcendence and wandering in their female characters.Both Xiao Xiao in Shen Congwen' s Xiao Xiao and Eustacia in Hardy' s The Return of the Native transcend the traditions and customs of their times,and experience a consequent wandering.But the ways of the two writers in presenting their heroines is quite different.While Xiao Xiao was mentally active but did nothing except follow the traditional system,Eustacia' s thought was followed by her own words and actions.
The Scarlet Letter makes the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne known all around the world. There are many aspects worth our consideration in The Scarlet Letter, but one about human nature and moral problems is especially deserving of our discussion. This paper mainly reveals the beauty and ugliness of human nature by analyzing the honesty and hypocrisy of the three leading characters in The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne is an honest woman, who bravely admits her love to the young minister Dimmesdale and never cheats her husband Chillingworth. Whereas, honesty and hypocrisy have no clear borderline on Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Because of atonement, the timid, hypocritical minister surpasses himself and returns to honesty at last, but the once-honest scholar changes himself into Satan due to revenge. The paper mainly tells people that the best policy for man is to be true, honest, and ever ready to show one's worst to the outside world.
Thomas Hardy,one of the representatives of English critical realism in the 19th century,describes a tragic story about Tess,a beautiful and kind girl.Tess' s tragic life is caused by Alec,Angel and even herself.But all these are connected with the social environment of that day.Tess' s tragedy is a tragedy of the whole society in fact.An analysis of the causes of Tess' s tragic life will provide some enlightenment in accurately understanding the socialist society.
