1、AbstractThe Return of the Native is one of Thomas Hardys famous novels. Some ofHardys majors novels reveal the relationship betn nature and character. Nature,the sustainer of all lives, has never been absent in English literary works, but in worksof different historical periods or of different write

2、rs, the role of Nature varies. InRompoems, Nature is the source of the poets ideas and feelings; in Englishtraditional novels, Nature mainly acts as background;odernist literature, Natureis often connected with human instinct. However, in the major fiction by ThomasHardy, Nature plays a dominant rol

3、e: Nature foreshadows the tragic ending of thestory, and it is some novels.This pnt of the development of the plot and even the real character ofr elaborates Naturalism in Hardys major novels and puts spelemphasis on the landscnovel of Nature. Then, the phe Return of the Native, demonstrating the wo

4、rk as ar goes further to probe Hardys view of Nature.hisway the pr aimsooking ardys fiction from a newof Natureand gaining better understanding of Hardys sus in English literary history.Key words: Naturalism, The Return of the Native, character摘 要還鄉(xiāng)是的一部著名小說，在這些小說里，揭示了人與自然的關(guān)系。大自然為萬物生長提供養(yǎng)分，而且可以發(fā)現(xiàn)大自然的身

5、影在英國文學(xué)作品里比比皆是。在不同的歷史時(shí)期或不同作家的作品里，自然扮演的角色各不相同。在浪漫主義的詩歌中，自然是詩人和感情的源泉。對于傳統(tǒng)英國小說而言，自然通常作為故事的背景而存在，在現(xiàn)實(shí)主義文學(xué)中，自然又常常與人類的本能聯(lián)系起來。生活在英國傳統(tǒng)文學(xué)向現(xiàn)代主義文學(xué)的時(shí)期。在他的主要作品中，自然的地位舉足輕重。它常常預(yù)示著故事的悲劇性結(jié)局，它影響著小說情節(jié)的發(fā)展，甚至成為某些作品真正的主角。本文了主要小說中的自然主義，并重點(diǎn)了小說還鄉(xiāng)中的自然描寫。在此基礎(chǔ)上，本文進(jìn)一步闡明了的自然觀。本文旨在從描寫自然的藝術(shù)和自然觀的新角度來探討的小說，以便更好都得理解在英國文學(xué)史上的地位。： 自然主義；還鄉(xiāng)

6、；人物ContentsAbstract in EnglishiiAbstract in Chi. iiiI.roductioniiA.A briefroduction of Thomas Hardy and his workiiiB.A briefroduction of The Return of the Nativeiv1. Importance of Study on Hardys work The Return of the Nativeiv2.Significanto study naturalismhe Return of the Native and itscontributio

7、n to the disciplinevII. NaturalismviiA.Research sus on Hardys work and naturalismviiB.The naturalismhe Return of the Nativeix1.The ideas of American naturalismix2. Its relation with tragedyhe Return of the NativexIII. Research procedures and methodsxivA.Research procedures and DollectionxivB.Researe

8、thods and DataysisxviiIV.xxWorks Cited.21AcknowledgmentsxxiiiI.roductionOver a century, study on English writer Thomas Hardy and his works has neverstopped, and there are an immense number of books abourdy himself, his ideas,and his literary works. However, with the passage of time, the focus of the

9、 studychanges. In recent years, the study on Hardys novelshe world and in China hastaken on a new look. Some researchers pay their attention to the tragic effect ofHardys Wessex novels, someyze the psychological predicament of the charactersand indicate the modernism of Hardys works, and some others

10、 put emphasis onNature in his novels. Chiprofessor Nie Zhenzhao explains Hardys novel writingthrough Darwinism in one of his recently published articles. However, there seems tobe no article on systematic research in Hardys treatment of Nature in his novels or inHardys view on Nature and its relatio

11、n to Darwinism. In the history of Englishliterature, great importance has always been attached to Nature both as a means ofartistic expresand as theme. If the study of Nature in English literary works ise with the combination of some scientific and philosophic ideas like Darwinism,there will be new

12、understanding of the literary works. Hardy and his works areappropriate for this study. So, the author of this pr tries to do some researchhisarea through the study of Hardy and his novels.1. A briefroduction of Thomas Hardy and his workThomas hardy was a famous critical realistic writer in England.

13、 He was one ofthe represenives of the English critical realism novelist, he was also a poet. He isfamous for novels of character and environment. His birthplace was in a countrywhich named Egin the westland; this natural environment formed the mainenvironment in the hardy writes. His father was a st

14、onecutter, but like music, hisparents paid more attention on Hardys education. In his childhood，he received theeducation for theology, but when he grew up, he turned to learn the literary. AfterHardy left school he became a architects apprentice in 1856. And then he went toLontoe at of the building

15、draftsman in 1862. He also took courses inLonUniversity. His literature career began with poetry, but due to note thegood fortune to publish it he changed the matter for novel creation. His firs novel waspublished in 1871, the cerated work was his fourth novel Far From the MaddingCrowd(1874),from th

16、en on, he dropped construct industry and devoted to the novelcreation.Hardy wrote nearly 20 long novels his life, the most famous novels are TheMayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the DUrbervilles (1891), Jude the Obscure(1896). His works reflected the changed of sol economy, political, moral andt

17、radition when the hypocritical bourgeoisie invaded the countries in England.As a transitional writer, Hardy was both influenced by both the past and themodern, as a result he is known asellectually advanced and emotional traditionalwriter. In his novels on the one hand he showed an apparent nostalgi

18、c feeling in hisdescription of the simple and beautiful though primitive rural life, which wasgradually declining and disappearing as England marchedo an industrial country.He was deeply influenced by Influenced by Darwins The Origin of Species andSpencers ThePrinciple, he accepted the idea of survi

19、val the fittest and bevedt mans fate is pre-determinedly tragic, driven by a combined force of nature bothinside and outside. The natural environment is shown as some mysterioussupernatural force, which is veryerful.B.A briefroduction of The Return of the Native1. Importance of Study on Hardys work

20、The Return of the NativeThe story of The Return of the Native is a tragic story, beginning wivividdescription of the gloomy and mysterious setting, EgHeath. Then Hardy presentus with a picture of the tough struggle betn humans race and nature, abetn men and their fate, through the clash betn Clym Ye

21、obright and EustaVye, who are two major typical victims of this tragic novel. Their oping soulsdecide the whole progresof their tragic life and the tragic story.As we know, Hardys famous works, such as The return of the Native, Tess of theDUrbervilles, etc. They focus on thebetn Nature and the solen

22、vironment.he Return of the Native, nature plays an important role. Manyscholars put emphasize on Naturalism in Hardys novels. Theyyze works fromdifferent. Therefore, The Return of the Native is very worthy of studying.It can help us toe a better understanding of Naturalism.2. Significanto study natu

23、ralismhe Return of the Native and itscontribution to the disciplineNaturalistic thinking has a long history, but is been espelly prominent inrecent decades, and its influence is felt all across philosophy. This article will look atwhy and in what ways it is prominent and will describe some of the mo

24、st influentialvers of naturalism.Therefore, acan be: the naturalisminfluenced Thomas Hardys work heavily. Check out the literary experience ofThomas Hardy, the author was famous for Wessexnovels, and combined the naturewith the plot.The Plot of the novel is in some way in accordance with Nature. The

25、Proceeding of Nature is controlled by the natural law，yet it is prone some accidentalchange. Therefore，behind Nature there seems to be logical force andateforce. The same is with the plot of the novel. Bothhuman pasand logic playtheir partshe development of the plot. Eustas keen love for an imagined

26、 lover(then she only heard of Clym) drives her to risk playing the mummery ;Thomasin, outof convention, is still willing to marry Wildeve in spite of theunrealized marriage.Pasand logic more oftenn not work together. Diiggory Venn succeeds inrudingo the whole story by using tactics ， but he does thi

27、s out of hiswhole-hearted，deep and persistent love for Thomasin. Mrs Yeobright succeeds inarousing Wildeves jealousy by implying Thomasins another suitor，but what makesWildeve finallyman Thomasin is his revenge on Eusta. Plot is Parallel to Naturehat bore driven by Pasate and logical for.The rustics

28、 on EgHeathare narrowand rigid and refuse to change. Therefore, there exists a gap betnEgHeand the outside world .There is also a gap betn Clym and the rustics,because Clym has been influenced by some new ideas after years of city life at paris.so, though Clym cherishes an inbom and deep love for th

29、e land of EgHeandplans to carry out the reunion with the rustics upon his return. let alone civilizethem .Moreover, Clym is too idealistic and fails to see these two kinds of gaps, andtherefore failturn . Clyms return is a failure because in an evolutionary order itis notsible to choose to return to

30、 an earr se.In a word，the landscof Egis not just a stage for the tragic story But alsoan agenthe operation of plot. The Plot developshe wayt Nature proceeds，on the whole driven by logic forand human Pasbut Sometimes exed toaccidental changes and even some mysteriouser.Hardys sus as a distinctly regi

31、onal writer is probably the most apparent inThe Return of the Native.EgHeath is baseBlack Heath, which borderedHardys childhood home in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset.In no other novel isHardys Wessex mythology more pronounced. EgHeath is truly a microcosm for aPre-Industrial Englandits inhabitants are

32、solly conservative laborers who areattached to the natural landscin an almost mystical fashion. The communityslivelihood is compley dependent on the landscitself; they are bound to thecapricious EgHeath in an eternal struggle for survival.II. NaturalismA. Research sus on Hardys work and naturalismHa

33、rdy criticizes certain sol constrast hindered the lives of those livinghe 19th century. Considered a Victorian Realist writer, Hardy examines the solconstrast are part of the Victorian sus, suggesting these rules hinder the livesof all involved and ultimay lead to unhappiness. The term Naturalism de

34、scribes atype of literaturet attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity anddetaent to its study of human beings. Unlike realism, which focuses on literarytechnique, naturalism imps a philosophicalition: for naturalistic writers, sincehuman beings are, in EZolas phrase, human beasts, char

35、acters can be studiedthrough their relationshipsto their surroundings. Zolas 1880 description of thismethod in Le roman experimental (The Experimental Novel,1880) follows ClaudeBernards medical mand the historian Hippolyte Taines observationt virtueand vice are products like vitriol and sugar -t is,

36、t human beings as productsshould be studied impartially, without moralizing about their natures. Other influenon American naturalists include Herbert Spencer and Joseph LeConte.Through this objective study of human beings, naturalistic writers bevedtthe laws behind the fortern human lives might be s

37、tudied and understood.Naturalistic writers thus used a verof the scientific method to write their novels;they studied human beingserned by their instincts and pass as well as theways in which the characters lives wereerned by forof heredity andenvironment. Although they used the techniques of accumu

38、latingpioneered bythe realists, the naturalists thus had a specific object in mind when they chose thesegment of realityt they wished to convey. The teninvolves the theme of thenaturalistic novel. The naturalist often describes his characters as though they areconditioned and controlled by environme

39、nt, heredity, instinct, or chance. But he alsosuggests a compensating humanistic value in his characters or theirfates whichaffirms the significance of the individual and of his life. The tenhere istbetn the naturalists desire to represent in fiction the new,fiting truthswhich he has foundhe ideas a

40、nd life of his late nineteenth-century world, and alsohis desire to find some meaning in experience which reasserts the validityof thehuman entrise.The themes of it,is Walcutt identifiervival, determinism, andtaboo as key themes. Second is the brute within each individual, comed ofstrong and often w

41、arring emotions: pass, such as lust, greed, or the desire fordominance or pleasure; and the fight for survival in an amoral, indifferent universe.Thein naturalistic novels is often man against nature or man against himselfas characters struggle to retain a veneer of civilization despite external pre

42、restthreaten to release the brute within. Third is Nature as an indifferent force acting onthe lives of human beings. The romviof Wordsworth-t nature never didbetray the heartt loved her-herees Stephen Cranes viewhe Open Boat:This tower was a giant, standing with its back to the plight of the ants.

43、It representedin a degree, to the correspondent, the serenity of nature amid the struggles of theindividual-naturehe wind, and naturehe viof men. She did not seem cruelto him then, or beneficent, or treacherous, or wise. But she was indifferent, flyindifferent. Forth is the forof heredity and enviro

44、nment as they affect-andafflict-individual lives. Fifth is an indifferent, deterministic universe. Naturalistictexts often describe the futile attempts of human beings to exercise free will, oftenironically presented,his universet reveals free will as an illu.B. The naturalismhe Return of the Native

45、1. The ideas of American naturalismAmerican naturalism was a new and harsher realism, and like realism, idcome from Europe. Naturalism was an outgrowth of Realismt responded totheories in science, psychology, human beiour and sol thought current in thelate nineteenth century. In the last decadeof th

46、e nineteenth century, with thedevelopment of industry and modem science,elligent minds began to seet manwas no longer a free ethical being in a cold, indifferent and essentially Godlessuniverse.his chance world he was both helpless and hopeless. European writerslike EZolahad already developed this a

47、cute sol consciousness. They sawmans lifeaserned by the two forof heredity and environment, forabsoluymans control. American naturalism had been shd by the war,by the sol upheavalst undermined the comforting faith of an earr age, and bythe disturbing teachings of Darwinism. Americas literary natural

48、istsdismissed thevalidity of comforting moral truths. They attempts to achieve extreme objectivity andfrness, presenting characters of low sol and economic classes who weredetermined by their environment and heredity. In presenting the extremes of life, thenaturalists sometimes displayed an affinity

49、 to the sensationalism of early romism,but unlike their rompredesors, the naturalists emphasizedt the world wasamoral,t men and women had no free will,t lives were controlled by heredityand environment,t the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death.The pessimistic and determinist

50、ic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of suchAmerican writers as Stephen Crane, FrNorris, Jack Lonand ThreDreiser.Although naturalist literature described the world with sometimes brutal realism,it sometimes also aimed at bettering the world through sol reform. Thiscombination of grim reality an

51、d desire for improvement is typical of America as itmovedo the twentieth century.2. Its relation with tragedyhe Return of the NativeAs one of the mastieof Tomas Hardy, The Return of the Native is a storyof extremes, of all-consuming pass and fierce ambitions, played out in the vastand overwhelming s

52、etting of EgHeath. It is a tragedy of ordinary lives: a familyquarrel, romentanglements and the desire to escare the elements which arebrought together with a life-shatteringensity. Here, all life is a struggle forexistence and the working of an apparently malign fate drives the story witragicinevit

53、ability. A foreboding atmosphere dominates most of the novel, and superstitionand pagan rites contribute to the sense of theerful forwhich seem hostile tohumanity, yet in control of human destiny.Like all of Hardys work, The Return of the Native is pasate andcontroversial, with themes and sympathies

54、what a good Victorian would everadmit. A modern and honest novel of chance and choice, faind infidelities, thisdark story asks what is free will and what is fate? What is the true nature of nature,and how do we fit together? Can we fit together?A tragedy sethe barren land of Edgon Heath. Oure, Eusta

55、, is proud,pasate, cruel, fickle, avaricious, and desperate. She burns every life she touches,never able to find the mad love and exotic world she dreams of. Our suped hero,Clym, is modest, plain, moral, and dutiful. He is satisfied returning from Paris to thesimple comfort of home.When they come to

56、gether, the Heath will come apart. Originally released as fivebooks, in classic tragic form, a sixth, tacking on aending, was added by editorand public prere.The term naturalism describes a type of literaturetempts to apply scientificprinciples of objectivity and detaent to its study of human beings

57、. Unlike realism,which focuses on literary technique, naturalism imps a philosophicalition: fornaturalistic writers, since human beings are, in EZolas phrase, humanbeasts,characters can be studied through their relationships to their surroundings.(Pfizer)Through the objective study of human beings,

58、naturalistic writers bevetthe laws behind the fortern human lives might be studied and understood.The author demonstrates more regional mythologyhe Return of the Nativethrough an exploration of local superstitions. The novel opens and closes on GuyFawkes Day, a holiday notorious for the collapse of

59、sol order and its nearly paganobseswith fire.One of the most haunting parts of the novel is when SusanNonesuch, an embittered neighbor, makes a wax fetish doll of EustaVye and burnsit in hopes of causing her death.This instance of voodooilluminates whatHardy saw as an inherently superstitious and pa

60、ganism aspect of rural culture.Through the exploration of these pagan rituals, the author illustrates how the Wessexpeoples profound connection with the natural landsccan potentially encouragethem to forsake polite society and Christian values and pursue the dark arts.,there is an inherent danger in