Decoding Human Behaviour in Relation to Capital: An Analysis of Maugham’s The Ant and The Grasshopper in Light of Huxley’s ‘Selected Snobberies’

IF 0.4 3区文学 0 LITERATURE

ENGLISH Pub Date : 2021-06-01 DOI:10.34293/ENGLISH.V9I3.3844

Keya Chakraborty, Subrina Islam

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Abstract

Huxley’s works have not been acknowledged till the dawn of the 20th Century because of his exponential philosophy of showing /revealing man’s true face. He wanted to change human nature by encouraging people to resist oppression, violence by passive means, with non-cooperation, and with strikes. In relation to that, Huxley overtly deals with social and political issues and introduces a re-definition of and a new outlook on the modern. Huxley’s lifelong preoccupation has remained to probe into human behavior and its confrontation with the different facets of truth. To identify human behaviour in association with capitalist ethics, this study examines Huxley’s one of the most brilliant essays Selected Snobberies, where he sarcastically unveils how snobbery is embedded in human nature from all kinds of perspectives. According to Mirriam Webster, a snob is the “one who blatantly imitates, fawningly admires, or vulgarly seeks association with those regarded as social superiors”. The factors that determine what is socially superior are mostly associated with the idea of commodification. OPEN ACCESS

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解读与资本相关的人类行为:从赫胥黎的“精选势利”看毛姆的《蚂蚁与蚱蜢》

赫胥黎的作品直到20世纪初才得到承认，因为他的指数哲学揭示了人的真实面目。他希望通过鼓励人们以消极的方式抵抗压迫、暴力、不合作和罢工来改变人性。与此相关，赫胥黎公开处理社会和政治问题，并引入了对现代的重新定义和新的观点。赫胥黎毕生致力于探索人类行为及其与真理的不同方面的对抗。为了确定与资本主义伦理有关的人类行为，本研究考察了赫胥黎最杰出的论文之一《势利之选》，在这篇文章中，他从各个角度讽刺地揭示了势利是如何嵌入人性的。根据韦伯斯特的定义，势利小人是“公然模仿、谄媚奉承或庸俗地寻求与社会地位高的人交往的人”。决定什么是社会优越的因素大多与商品化的想法有关。开放获取

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来源期刊

ENGLISH LITERATURE-

CiteScore

0.40

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： English is an internationally known journal of literary criticism, published on behalf of The English Association. Each issue contains essays on major works of English literature or on topics of general literary interest, aimed at readers within universities and colleges and presented in a lively and engaging style. There is a substantial review section, in which reviewers have space to situate a book within the context of recent developments in its field, and present a detailed argument. English is unusual among academic journals in publishing original poetry. This policy embodies the view that the critical and creative functions, often so widely separated in the teaching of English, can co-exist and cross-fertilise each other.