麦克尤恩《水泥花园》中人物成长的非典型性

Special features of characters’ growth in the novel 《Cement Garden》

Abstract

Cement Garden，a novel written by Ian McEwan’s is about a story of a special family. The unhealthy family environment plays a negative role on adolescents’ growth. 

The thesis briefly introduces the main characters: Jack, Julie, Sue and Tom. Then, the thesis analyzes the three themes of the novel: puberty, death and fear. In the end the narrative style of the thesis is analyzed. 

Based on the analysis, it is found that the tragedy is caused by unhealthy family environment. Adolescents are frightened about life and can not face their parents’ death and life after that because of lack love from their parents.

Key words: Bildungsroman; Death; Fear；Unguided adolescence

The Cement Garden is the story of a mother and father's death and the children’ dysfunctional attempts to cope with their loss. The story begins with Father, Mother, and their four children, Julie, Jack, Sue and little Tom living together. Things are well, for the most part, although Jack, the narrator, is somewhat isolated from the rest of his family, feeling distant from his father and fighting with his mother and Julie, along with harassing Tom for attention from the others.

When Father dies, Mother and the children are left alone. The family is already isolated from the rest of the community; they have few friends and no one visits the house. Mother grows sick and only the children know. She tells Julie she is going to die but they hide it from Jack, Sue and Tom until it is too late for her to inform the three children. Soon the mother passed away, leaving the all four children on their own in the cold and dark cement garden or the society, here begins the story.

But this novel has its special features to be different from other bildungsroman.It is what I want to discuss.

2.Characters in the Story

     The main character is Jack. He is fourteen and when his parents are both dead, he is at first very hard and keeps a big distance between him and his brother and sisters. But when his youngest sister tells him that and she tells him that he smells (he hadn't washed himself for a while) he gets a stronger relationship with his brother and sisters. He is entering puberty and he begins to learn about love, sex, relationships and begins to act rebellious. Brother tom, sisters Julie and sue. In the end of the story, Jack and Julie commit incest .Jack tells the whole story, so it's told in first person. We look through his eyes. This is a contemporary story. The whole story is told in chronological order. There are also some flashbacks in the book, for example when Jack thinks about the game he played with Julie and Sue when they were younger.

     As the eldest child Julie becomes the family head following the mother's death. Although she is initially more responsible and level-headed than Jack she is also much less perceptive and than him. As a surrogate mother Julie is clearly out of her depth. The focus of her attention is her demanding four year-old brother Tom, but it is her responses, not his behavior, which reflects the inner world of the children. If the grieving processes had been unsatisfactory and inadequate following the father's death, the children secret internment of their mother becomes a grotesque parody of the closure procedures necessary for natural grief.

     We cannot enter Julie's world as we only see her through Jack's eyes, but her mindscape is shown by her actions as the unhappy immature mother figure. It is interesting that Julie starts to dress Tom like a little girl before their mother is dead. Jack challenges Julie on thus issue and she is unsure and defensive about it. She is equally confused by her own actions when she starts to make Tom regress into babyhood because she cannot control him. The reader can see why Julie does this but she cannot. Sue, the least featured, quietest and third youngest child, is the one who wants to tell someone about their mother's death. It is Jack and Julie, however, who warn her that such an action would mean them going into an orphanage (p.53). From this point on Julie takes over as the head of the home with very disturbing consequences.

     Sue becomes even more introverted and bedroom ridden and Julie quickly tires of Tom's demands. Tom becomes a cross between a wild child and a baby house pet. Jack withdraws further into his shadowed onanistic world. Sue retreats into her bedroom and her books whilst their mother's corpse decomposes and Julie struggles to run the home on her own idiosyncratic terms.

     Tom is the youngest child. We can the merits of Oedipus complex in him just like Jack. He likes to stay in mother’s bed. After mother dies, he wants Julie to treat him like a baby. He also starts cross-dressing and behaves like a girl .