Abstract

Oliver Twist is one of the most famous works of Charles Dickens. Based on the bottom life in London society in the early nineteenth century, Oliver Twist describes an orphan’s miserable life and encounters, which have revealed the darkness and hypocrisy of London society at the beginning of capitalism. Zhang Leping’s Wanderings of Sanmao describes a waif’s miserable life in old Shanghai before liberation. The work demonstrates the cruel jungle law that fittest survive. With orphans’ miserable life as the theme, both Oliver Twist and Wanderings of Sanmao display social-historical problems. Thus, this thesis adopts a comparative and contrastive analysis of the two orphans’ images, to explore the reasons for the great sufferings of the people at the social bottom.
The thesis consists of five parts. The first part briefly introduces the two works, and life experiences of Charles Dickens and Zhang Leping. The second part makes a comparative analysis of the social backgrounds in the two works. The third part analyzes similarities and differences between the two heroes in Oliver Twist and Wanderings of Sanmao from the aspects of personalitis, words and actions, life experiences, and so on. The fourth part focuses on the comparative analysis of some less important characters closely related to the heroes, and of their roles in the formation of the heroes’ fates. In the last part, the thesis discloses the causes of the two orphans’ similar miserable life, and exposes profoundly the cruelty of the dark society and the destruction of human nature.

Key words: Oliver Twist; Wanderings of Sanmao; character analysis

摘  要

   《雾都孤儿》是查尔斯•狄更斯的名作之一。这部作品以十九世纪初伦敦底层社会生活为背景，描写了孤儿奥利弗•退斯特的悲惨身世及遭遇，揭示了英国资本主义初期的社会黑暗和虚伪；张乐平的《三毛流浪记》则刻画了解放前旧上海的流浪儿三毛的悲苦生活，揭露了旧中国弱肉强食、适者生存的残酷生存法则。两部作品都以孤儿的苦难生活为主题，展现了各自所处时代的社会历史问题。本文采取比较的研究方法对比分析两个孤儿形象,探究底层人民必然遭受巨大苦难的社会原因。
本文由五个部分组成。第一部分简要介绍两部作品及其作家的人生经历。第二部分主要对比分析两部作品在社会背景方面。第三部分从人物性格、言行、人生经历等方面分析两部作品主人公人物形象的异同。第四部分对比两部作品中与主人公命运紧密相关的重要人物。最后一部分揭示两个孤儿相似悲惨命运的成因，并且深刻揭露当时黑暗社会的残酷和对人性的摧残。

关键词：《雾都孤儿》；《三毛流浪记》；人物分析