【摘 要】人的內(nèi)心世界是深?yuàn)W的，難以琢磨的，它是積極與消極的統(tǒng)一體，而文學(xué)作文可以幫我們?nèi)ヌ剿魅祟惖膬?nèi)心世界。欣賞文學(xué)作品的同時(shí)，我們可以探索到自己的內(nèi)心世界。本文在探討詹姆士·路易斯和約翰·斯威夫特作品的同時(shí)，從兩個(gè)方面討論了人類內(nèi)心世界的探索過(guò)程。

【關(guān)鍵詞】文學(xué)作品；內(nèi)心世界；詹姆士·路易斯；約翰·斯威夫特

What is literature？

Till now， I am not clearly sure of what it is. But there is one thing I am sure that I love literature works. Recently， I touched upon some Irish literature works， which gave me chance to understand literature better and deeper. Their works give me so much inspiration and enlightenment.

What are hidden selves？

“Hidden self” means something we don’t know clearly， or something we don’t want to show out. It has both positive and negative aspects. How can we find it？ Literature can help us to do this.

So， here I will express my idea from two perspectives， mainly dealing with the works of two writers： James Joyce and Jonathan Swift.

1. Negative aspects

①desire

In fact， it is very difficult to judge the value of desire， and we can not say it is good or bad. I put it here to discuss just for convenience. At the beginning of this term， I studied one of the stories of “Dubliners”. Probably because the things came first would give you a deeper impression， I am deeply absorbed in the story “A Little Cloud” and after class I read the whole “Dubliners”. Here I will only deal with two characters mainly， Chandler and Eveline. Living in the city of Dublin， on the one hand they feel the depressing atmosphere there and desperately desire to escape from the city， on the other hand they love the city where their homes are located since home is one of the things we shall never forget in our lives. Why are the characters in such a contradiction， and where does the contradiction come from. It is human desire， i.e. nobody is satisfied with his/her life.

After reading it， it seems to me that I find myself in the stories and I’m one of the characters in the stories. I’m living in a world of depression， too. I love but hate it， from which I want to escape very much. Well， I know it’s only a dream， a day-dream. My desire tells me I am not satisfied and I want something fresh， but my reason tells me that there is something attracting me which I can never leave. Dream is one thing， while turning it into reality is another thing， i.e. dreaming it freely does not mean we have to put it into action. Human beings are born with the right to desire， but if you desire too much， it will turn out to be a bad nature. We are all human beings， we are living in societies， and we are not isolated being. My inner self always tells me， “You should not be like that， and you should make a change and change to the one you would like to be.” To escape from reality， and to look for an ideal realm， can these become true？

②Greed

The work of Swift， “Gulliver’s Travel”， is also a work of revealing the hidden selves of human beings. Yahoos have the appearance of human being， but with an ugly， greedy， and dirty soul. Are real human beings same？ In fact， some people have this kind of tendency. Though the society we are living in is quite different from that of Swift， the nature of human being does not change much. To some extent， the cruel competition today is the same as the primary jungle principle： the survival of the fittest. Only the name changed from a primitive one to a civilized one. Exposed to the severe competition， how can a poor creature survive？ It’s very hard. We should be optimistic and satisfied. When the competition comes， first and the most important， don’t take it too seriously. Of course， everyone wants to succeed， but there must be ones who fail. If you are unlucky to be the failed one， don’t envy others. If you succeed， don’t be proud. Second， try your best to deal with it well.

2. Positive aspects

In fact， a holy spirit is one of the positive aspects of human nature. Some writers pay too much attention to the negative aspects of human nature， though they also noticed the positive ones. Here shall we still take the works of James Joyce and Jonathan Swift as examples.

①Responsibility

We， as advanced animals， should be responsible to our parents， our work， our family… At least， we should be responsible to ourselves. A person who is not responsible to him/herself can not be called a real person. Sense of responsibility is one of reasons for peace and development of society. This reminds me of terrorists’ fighting against authority. Can we deny them？ We have no right to do so. Everyone is born equal. They have the right to gain their own freedom when living under suppression. For them to fight against authority is to be responsible to themselves， but meanwhile they forget to be considerate of others who are innocent. So the sense of responsibility not only includes the responsibility to oneself but also responsibility to others. During the activities of terrorists， many innocent people died and suffered. Actually， it is this group of people that suffered most. However， it is a satire to say that to protect oneself without doing harm to others is rather difficult. There is a dilemma everywhere. The point is how to deal with the dilemma.

②Kindness

From the ancient time to now， Chinese people believe in the principle that“human beings are born of being kind.” Kindness is another virtue of human nature. Kindness is also one thing that Swift was once looking for in “Gulliver’s travels”. It seems to him that Yahoos were lack of kindness most while the intelligent horses possess the virtue in nature.

Just as what is said in different kinds of literature works， the world is full of evil things， but instead of stopping developing or being broken into pieces， the world is developing healthily and quickly. That is the kind nature of human beings which is playing a critical role. Kindness is a nature born with you and it is hidden in your nature， though you may pay no attention to it， it influences your daily life. Remember the sentence： to be kind to others is to be kind to oneself.