本文是一篇英语毕业论文，笔者认为在探索《更多的人死于心碎》中异化的表现、原因和解决方法的过程中，论文希望引起人们对消除异化的重视，并为如何克服异化提供启示。
Chapter I Introduction
1.1 Brief Introduction to Saul Bellow and More Die of Heartbreak
Saul Bellow (1915-2005) was considered as the spokesman for contemporary American literature, and this great literary master made a tremendous contribution in the post-World War II era. As a prolific writer, his career stretched over 60 years. Over the decades, he published more than ten full-length novels, middle-grade short stories, essays, reviews, travelogues, and plays. As a representative of realistic literature, a master with profound literary knowledge, and the most prominent spokesman of humanism, Bellow undoubtedly won many important honors. Saul Bellow was the only novelist who won the National Book Award three times, including The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, and Mr. Sammler’s Planet. Moreover, in 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Humboldt’s Gift. In 1976, the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to him. Bellow is the first Jewish writer to win the Nobel Prize in American history, which is of great significance to American Jewish literature.
Bellow began to know the Old Testament when he was four years old, and he was instilled with Jewish doctrines and traditions by his elders in his childhood. As a result, Jewishness has been an essential part of Bellow’s work throughout his career. Bellow enrolled in the University of Chicago in 1933 and transferred to Northwestern University two years later. Bellow got a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology from Northwestern University. In the same year, Bellow entered the University of Wisconsin for a master’s degree. Bellow’s insight into human nature came partly from his ghetto upbringing.
1.2 An Overview of Alienation and Fromm’s Humanism
The term alienation has a long history, and the word originated from the Latin words Alienatio and Alienare. It was later translated into alienation in English, meaning transfer, separation, alienation, insanity, and so on. Initially, alienation was the transfer or sale of ownership. Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), in the 18th century, used the word alienation to express transfer in his The Social Contract. Rousseau is regarded as a person who combines alienation with economics and sociology. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831), Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872), and Karl Marx (1818–1883) are regarded as the first generation of theorists to present the term alienation. Studying alienation from the perspectives of philosophy, sociology and psychology begins with their views of alienation. Based on Rousseau’s unique views on alienation, as a German classical philosopher, Hegel introduced alienation into philosophy. In Phenomenology of Spirit, alienation is ubiquitous and eternal. Nature and human society are the products of self-alienation of ideas. Alienation is the expression of ideas, and to some extent, Hegel’s concept of alienation is a theory of spiritual alienation. Feuerbach rejects Hegel’s theory of spiritual alienation, believing that nature is the foundation of everything (Lu and Cheng 3). Feuerbach believes man creates God, so God is the alienation of man’s essence. The essence of man is the nature of man, but when man gives his nature to God, he loses his humanity. In the case of losing nature, people have to worship God, which is human nature’s alienation. Both philosophers regard alienation as a general law of natural and social development, so alienation becomes an abstract concept. Marx’s view of alienation refers to his theory of alienated labor. In Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Marx uses alienation to summarize the relationship between laborers and their labor products and labor itself under the condition of private ownership. Marx divides alienation into four parts: alienation between man and labor activities, alienation between man and his essence, alienation between man and his labor products, and alienation between people.
Chapter II Embodiments of Alienation
2.1 Alienation from Oneself
Self-alienation is a crisis of the relationship between man and himself, or a distortion of human nature, which often appears in Bellow’s works. Self-alienation is mainly manifested in two aspects. On the one hand, “That is the way he experiences himself, not as a man, with love, fear, convictions, doubts, but as that abstraction, alienated from his real nature” (Fromm, Sane 138). In other words, self-alienation indicates that an individual alienates the relationship with himself and deviates from his nature and true self. More specifically, according to Fromm, self-alienation is defined as:
He does not experience himself as the center of his world, as the creator of his own acts-but his acts and their consequences have become his masters, whom he obeys, or whom he may even worship. The alienated person is out of touch with himself as he is out of touch with any other person. (Fromm, Sane 117)
On the other hand, people who fall into self-alienation have internal divisions, and there will be at least two distant and contradictory parts. The individual cannot shape his sane self in this state. In More Die of Heartbreak, it is mainly Benn and Kenneth who are facing the crisis of self-alienation: Benn Crader struggles between ideal and reality, and falls into self-estrangement. Benn deviates from his true self and becomes a stranger. Kenneth Trachtenberg struggles with self-division between narcissism and inferiority, thus losing his sane self.
2.2 Alienation from Interpersonal Relationships
The following two parts analyze the manifestations of interpersonal alienation in More Die of Heartbreak. The first is embodied in alienated gender relationships, such as sexual relationship without love, morbid and unbalanced lovers, and commercialized couples who utilize each other. The second is embodied in family relationships, such as hostile kinship relations, antagonistic father-son relationship, and estranged family pattern. In Fromm’s view, the relationship between people in the West is mainly a relationship of utilization. Utilization and interchange not only appear in the economic field, but also enter the field of interpersonal relationship. “Not only the economic, but also the personal relations between men have this character of alienation; instead of relations between human beings, they assume the character of relations between things” (Fromm, Escape 140). Interpersonal relationships are full of evaluation of each other’s values, but care and love are absent.
On the other hand, the relationships of utilization and exploitation can’t cover the present situation of social relations of the West in the 20th century. Another state of interpersonal alienation exists. That is: “There is not much love or hate to be found in human relations of our day. There is, rather, a superficial friendliness, and a more than superficial fairness, but behind that surface is distance and indifference” (Fromm, Sane 135). The relationship among people is filled with defensiveness and hostility.
Chapter III Causes of Alienation ........................................ 39
3.1 Causes of Self-alienation ............................... 39
3.1.1 Benn and Kenneth’s Receptive Character .................................. 39
3.1.2 Irrational Need for Relatedness and Alienated Way to SatisfyRelatedness ....................... 41
Chapter IV Resistance to Alienation ......................... 60
4.1 Resistance Through Self-improvement of Individual ...................... 60
4.1.1 Benn’s Embrace of Nature .................. 60
4.1.2 Kenneth’s Realization of Transcendence ................................... 63
Chapter V Conclusion ................................ 76
Chapter IV Resistance to Alienation
4.1 Resistance Through Self-improvement of Individual
To overcome the alienation that hinders the establishment of a sane self and society, the operation of the internal mechanism is necessary, namely the self-improvement of individual. People need to develop their strength to improve themselves and rebuild their relationships with themselves. This part discusses the efforts of Benn and Kenneth to resist alienation through self-improvement. The attachment to nature helps Benn truly experience himself and overcome self-alienation. Kenneth’s way of escaping the split between narcissism and inferiority is to transcend himself. Getting rid of the emotional chains that bind him and then rebuilding the whole self are effective for Kenneth.
4.1.1 Benn’s Embrace of Nature
In the process of self-persistence and self-improvement, people’s accumulated spiritual strength comes from their harmony with nature, themselves, and fellows. The harmonious relationship between man and nature can provide people with a sense of security and belonging and shield people from alienation and loneliness. However, while stepping into society, people are immersed in technological development and material prosperity but lose the primordial bond with nature. In the process of conquering nature, man has created a new material world, which stands above nature (Guo Yongyu 206). People live in this world and become more and more alienated from nature. Like Marx and many other social critics, Fromm believes that human beings are firstly a natural existence (Wu Xinghua 23). Thus Man’s naturalness determines his attachment to nature. According to Fromm’s view of human and nature, at this time, “While he has lost the unity with nature, he has not been given the means to lead a new existence outside of nature” (Fromm, Sane 23). Fromm affirms the importance of nature to human beings and believes that it is frightening to cut off ties with nature (Fromm, Sane 37). In More Die of Heartbreak, embracing nature is Benn’s choice to seek salvation and inner peace. 
Chapter V Conclusion
Saul Bellow is a modernist writer with realistic tendency, and most of his works are based on the circumstances of his protagonists’ lives. Bellow vividly depicts human beings’ social conditions and nature in the United States in the middle and late 20th centuries. Bellow’s profound and unique portrayals of the morbid state of modern civilization reflect the characters’ state of existence and highlight the author’s humanistic concern.
More Die of Heartbreak is highly compatible with Fromm’s humanism, and embodies Bellow’s humanistic sentiment. It is a work that epitomizes the alienation of American society in the late 20th century. Individuals lose their true selves and suffer self-division. Gender love is in crisis, and family affection is on the verge of collapse. Political democracy is tainted by corruption and mendacious democracy, and consumption that should bring joy becomes a chain that binds people. Erich Fromm’s humanistic thought is also closely combined with social criticism and devoted to revealing the phenomenon of alienation in contemporary society. Bellow and Fromm show deep reflection and optimism about people’s conditions in contemporary society, so combining the two scholars’ thoughts is of certain research significance. It can be observed that alienation is not only a crisis encountered by people in the novel, but also a relatively obvious and common phenomenon in contemporary western society. Therefore, analyzing More Die of Heartbreak from the perspective of humanism can help us better understand the novel’s rich connotation, Bellow’s humanistic concern, and the practical meaning of alienation.
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