Author(s)

Gao Juan ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ School of English Studies, Xi'an International Studies University, Xi'an, China

Corresponding Author

Gao Juan

ABSTRACT

By virtue of close reading, this paper draws on the French philosopher Levinas's theory of hostage to analyze the abnormal love triangle among two men and a woman in "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe". They all have experienced three stages of change in which the three subjects become hostages for no reason, suffer for the other, and diminish gradually. Hence, it tends to explore the issue of how the subject live with the self within the contemporary context. In this way, the novel reveals the crisis of the subjects when they face the ethical choice to suffer for the other, which helps the readers to clarify the inescapability of loneliness and the significance of the build-up of the core within themselves. 

KEYWORDS

Carson McCullers; Theory of Hostage; Levinas; The Ballad of the Sad Café

CITE THIS PAPER

Gao Juan, Research on the Hostage of the other in "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe". Philosophy Journal (2023) Vol. 2: 71-77. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/phij.2023.020112.

REFERENCES

[1] McCullers, C. The Mortgaged Heart [M]. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
[2] McDowell, M. B. Carson McCullers [M]. Boston: Twayne, 1980:31.
[3] White, S. G. Strange Bodies, Gender and Identity in the Novels of Carson McCullers [M]. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 2003:68.
[4] Westling, L. "Carson McCullers' Amazon Nightmare." Carson McCullers' The Ballad of The Sad Café. Ed. Harold Bloom [M]. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publisher, 2005, 45-53.
[5] McCullers, C. The Ballad of the Sad Café [M]. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1951.

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