摘要：

麦克尤恩是英国当代杰出的小说家和剧作家，因为其早期作品主要关注乱伦，施虐，异装癖等主题，被称为“恐怖伊恩”。《水泥花园》正是他早期的一部代表作，讲述了失去正常秩序与伦理的家庭中，未成年孩子们的混沌成长，最终酿成了悲剧。本论文从象征角度分析，明确象征及象征意义的含义，从而结合小说内容，对《水泥花园》中水泥，水泥花园，父亲，初次射精，房子，德里克这六个象征进行初步探索，研究这六个象征在原文中所隐藏的象征意义，进而揭示小说主题。更重要的是，吸取小说中的教训，预防现实生活中发生同样的悲剧。

关键词：麦克尤恩；水泥花园；象征；象征意义

Abstract:

McEwan is an outstanding contemporary novelist and playwright in English literature. Because of his early works mainly about incest, sadism, transvestite themes, he is known as “Ian Macabre”. The Cement Garden is one of his early masterpieces. It describes a story that four children grew up painfully in a family without normal order and ethics, and led to a tragedy. This thesis, from the perspective of symbol, defines symbols and symbolism. Combined the context of The Cement Garden, it has a brief study on cement, the cement garden, father, first ejaculation, house, Derek, aiming to interpret hidden symbolic meanings of the six symbols, then to reveal the theme of the novel. More importantly, we learn lessons in the novel, avoiding the same tragedy happening in real life.

Key words: Ian McEwan; the cement garden; symbol; symbolism

1. Introduction
  1.1 Ian McEwan and his works
Ian Russell McEwan (born 21 June 1948), novelist and screenwriter, is one of the most important and influential writers in English literature, and he is still active in contemporary literary world. He was born in a military family, and spent early life in the Far East, Germany, and North Africa. He graduated from the University of Sussex, getting a B.A. degree in English literature and French. Subsequently, he entered the University of East Anglia, where he received a M.A. degree in modern fiction and creative writing. Moreover his individual experience in childhood has great influence on his writing.
In 1974, McEwan started to live in London. And his first collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, was published in the following year, which won the Somerset Maugham Award. It evoked unprecedented responses. Some prized his outstanding narrative capacity, while there were some people caring more about the dark side of humanity and the taboo zone of morality in his book. During the whole 1970s, he tried to write without restrictions. Influenced by other writers and social environment, he began to produce more works.