论《不存在的女孩》中穿越时空的救赎_英语论文

Redemption Across Time And Space In A Tale For The Time Being

摘要

本篇论文着眼于《不存在的女孩》一书中的四个主人公展开讨论。该论文通过分析这些人物各自所面临的困境，以及解放自我的方式而得出结论:通过来自其他时空的帮助，主人公们最终寻回自我、获得了救赎。尽管这些人物身处不同时空，但他们却有着相似的困境。因为无法适应新的环境，所以他们都苦于安全感的缺失。与此同时，新环境带来的各类问题促使主人公们开始怀疑自身的价值。这些困惑便使他们迷失了自我。

所以，为了获得救赎，主人公们需要寻回安全感和迷失的自我。然而，他们最初应对困境的自然反应消极又无用，比如自寻短见。幸运地是，经过了这些挣扎，他们开始意识到生命的可贵。于是，他们开始用更加积极正确的方式去应对困境。然而，想要获得救赎，别人的帮助起到了不可或缺的作用。因此，除了要消去佛教中的“业”，他们需要别人的帮助。小说中的一位尼姑给予主人公们鼓励和安全感。而其中一位更是穿越了时空，来消除人物之间的误解。因此，通过来自其他时空的帮助，主人公们最终寻回自我、获得了救赎。

关键词：困境；业；时空；救赎

Abstract

The paper focuses on the four characters in the novel, A Tale for the Time Being. By analyzing their predicaments and ways of unbinding themselves, the paper comes to a conclusion that the help coming from other spaces and times, the protagonists finally redeem their self-identity and achieve redemption. Although the characters inhabit in different times and spaces, their sufferings share many similarities. All of them suffer from emotional insecurity because they cannot adapt themselves to new environments. Meanwhile, all kinds of risks deriving from new environments make the characters begin to doubt their existential values. These confusions trigger their loss of identity.

Therefore, in order to free themselves from the sufferings, the characters need to redeem their emotional security and self-identity. However, at the beginning, their natural reactions to their predicaments are negative and useless, such as committing suicide. Luckily, after these struggles, they gradually realize the preciousness of life. Hence they begin to face their sufferings in a more positive and correct way. But in order to achieve redemption, the influence from others plays a key role in helping them. Therefore, in addition to dissolving karma in Buddhism, they need further support from others. The nun in the fiction gives them encouragement and a sense of security. Then one of the protagonists also eliminates their misunderstanding across time and space. As a result, with the help across time and space, the characters finally retrieve their self-identity and achieve redemption.

Keywords: predicaments ; karma ; redemption ; time ; space

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Predicaments 2

2.1 Respective Sufferings 2

2.2 Similarities of Characters’ Predicaments 5

3 Characters needs to free themselves 6

3.1 Respective reactions to predicaments 6

3.2 the characters realize the preciousness of life 7

4 Ways of Achieving Redemption 8

4.1 Dissolving karma in Buddhism 8

4.2 Jiko’s influence on the other characters 9

4.3 Ruth’s crossing time and space 10

4.4 The effect of granduncle’s journal 11

Conclusion 13

References 14