Abstract

Puritan ethics have great influences on the spirit of modern capitalism, finding expression in American’s working and domestic activities. Since the 20th century, however, the prevailing consumerism has been implanting the different values in people, which results in conflicts between consumerism and Puritan ethics. This kind of conflicts is going on in a number of American families, like the Lamberts in The Corrections, where family members share different family ethics and try to correct each other. This paper is intended to analyze conflicts and corrections between consumerism and Puritan family ethics in context of Jonathan Franzen’s novel, The Corrections, from the perspectives of family, marriage, and education.
The paper contains five parts. The first part is a brief introduction to the background, previous studies, and significance of this paper. After introduction of the study, the paper discusses conflicts caused by different functions of families and shift of family authority in Chapter One by analyzing some plots in The Corrections. In Chapter Two, the paper compares Alfred’s and Gary’s marriages to elaborate on conflicts between Puritan and consumerist concepts of marriage. Different ways of education are mentioned in Chapter Three. At the end of the paper, a conclusion is given. Through analysis, the paper hopes to seek for family ethics which can reach a compromise between consumerism and puritanism in consumer society.

Key words: Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, consumerism, Puritan ethics,

摘 要

清教伦理对近代资本主义精神的形成影响深远，这一伦理观在美国人的工作和家庭活动方面得到了完美的体现。但是，自20世纪以来，盛行的消费主义逐渐给人们灌输不同的价值观，导致消费主义和清教伦理发生了碰撞与冲突。在美国，许许多多家庭正如《纠正》中兰伯特一家一样正在经历这种价值观的冲突，家庭成员各持不同的家庭伦理观念，并试图纠正对方的伦理观。本文拟从家庭、婚姻及子女教育三个角度入手，以乔纳森·弗兰岑的小说《纠正》为背景，分析消费主义与清教家庭伦理产生的冲突。
论文由五部分组成。第一部分在综述前人研究成果的基础上简单介绍本文的研究意义。第一章通过分析《纠正》中的一些情节讨论因建立家庭的不同功能和家庭权威的变化引发的冲突。第二章通过比较阿尔弗雷德和加里的婚姻，详述清教徒和消费主义者在婚姻观方面的冲突。第三章讨论教育的不同方式，论文最后得出结论。通过分析，本文希望能寻求在消费社会中使消费主义和清教主义相融合的家庭伦理。

关键词：乔纳森·弗兰岑；纠正；消费主义；清教伦理

Introduction
Background of the Study
Puritan ethics have lasting influences on the development of American culture, economy, and society. According to Chai Huiting, Puritan ethics, formed by the virtues of piety, abasement, seriousness, honesty, diligence, and thrift, has found great expression in Puritans’ outlook on the occupation, wealth, and family (95). In terms of family ethics, the aim of family and marriage for Puritans is to glorify God. They hope to make contribution to an ideal society by building a pious family. However, as Max Weber says, victorious capitalism, since it rests on mechanical foundations, needs support of the spirit of religious asceticism no longer (181). Currently, the prevailing consumerism has been implanting the different values in people, which results in conflicts between consumerism and Puritan ethics. In the consumerist family, money has become the bond among family members when people pay full attention to consumption.