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Freedom And Existentialism In Sontag's Short Stories

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In Sontag’s fiction, freedom and self are the two things that Jekyll eager for. Freedom, certainly means fancy free, however, it’s far from the so-called illusion that someone can do what he or she wishes without restraint in the real society. (柯英， 2013) She cites the Sartre’s words to lead to the other aspect of freedom, reads as if I am a short person, can I have the chance to be a tall man? If I am a one-armed person, can I make the choice to be a double-armed man? These two questions exactly indicate the limitation of freedom that the situation can bring to us.（让·保罗·萨特，1998）
Ke Ying (柯英 2013) expresses her own understanding about freedom after researching lots of Sontag’s short stories. She thinks that after the completely dissipated pursuit of freedom, people need to take responsibility for the things they have done, and at the same time, they overcome the fear of freedom, finding their way to new life with braveness. Sontag blends her view of responsibility and existentialism in the definition of freedom. When people enjoys the …show more content…

The self-knowledge, self-establishment and self-actualization usually form with contradiction and conflict. Jekyll to Hyde, it’s self to ego, and to Utterson, its self to superego. He hates the timid and overcautious self, looks at the fearless ego horizontally, and despises the constraint of superego. He looks like the lion closed in the cage, each choice derives from his eager for freedom. Besides, these subversive choices are a reflection of free social situation. In the 60s of 20th century, the Americans wakes up from the war, the free trend of thought and atmosphere promotes people’s pursuit of self and liberation.Therefore, under the absurd plots of the fiction, it is right the reflection of liberty and new social trend. The deny for ourselves help us to establish and realize a new

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