烏托邦的幻滅－談《記憶傳授人》的覺醒

The Illusion of Utopia: On the Conditioning and Self-awareness in The Giver

劉美瑤(Liu Mei-Yao)

《兒童文學學刊》 14期 (2005/12) Pp. 151-185

https://doi.org/10.6739/ttchl.200512_(14).0006

摘要

烏托邦是人類對於更美好的生存境域的渴望，援此渴望，人類在文學作品中描述一個又一個不虞匱乏的樂園來紓解苦難頻仍的現實生活。然而事實上烏托邦其實並不是完美的終極目標(可抵達之處)，反而是吞食現世人生的夢魘，因此近代諸多反烏托邦作家紛紛使筆針砭烏托邦的困阨。但是以成年讀者為書寫對象的反烏托邦小說裡因為筆調過於晦澀冷酷，因此無法給予少年讀者更積極光明的希望。本文首先概述烏托邦敘事，讓讀者對烏托邦文類有一輪廓，之後援引烏托邦敘事與《記憶傳授人》作相互觀照。在論述中，筆者發現成人反烏托邦小說雖然以晦暗的結局點出烏托邦的畏懼與虛無，諭示人類必須從烏托邦夢魘中覺醒過來，但是書中主角不是自殺，就是屈服在烏托邦的宰制下，渾噩度過殘生，這種過於灰色的書寫方式對青少年讀者不見得恰當，無法給青少年正面積極的希望。相較於成人烏托邦灰色的書寫方式，勞瑞的《記憶傳授人》設計了三種更有勇氣的抗拒方式:從信民變成移民的喬納思、堅持到底的老傳授人、選擇解放的蘿絲瑪莉，並強調傳授人的拯救者特質。勞瑞藉著三人的抗拒傳達烏托邦的虛無與可怕，並點出人最重要的價值就是自覺的批判精神，藉由三人的犧牲，她諭示讀者要作出無私無我的選擇，唯有勇敢的接受種種未知的挑戰，以無私的選擇盡量補足人生的不美滿，看淡未能達成的遺憾，視不完美也是一種美，人類才會抵達心中的樂園。成人的反烏托邦小說宣示no-where的不存在性，而勞瑞的《記憶傳授人》則告訴我們no-where也能變成now-here，這種宣示勇敢、希望、正視現實的敘述正是少年烏托邦小說與成人烏托邦小說最大的不同。

關鍵字

少年小說 ； 烏托邦 ； 覺醒

並列摘要

There has been a huge abundance of literary works and articles about ＂Utopia,＂ which follows its ambiguity between the two references of ＂an ideal realm＂ and ＂a non-existing realm.＂ Nevertheless, ＂Utopia＂ is not a perfect ultimate goal. Once ＂Utopia＂ is realized, it has become a kind of totalitarianism, and everyone would try to escape from it, where the absolute domination of human beings is exerted in a form of a tyrannical monism. In The Giver, a cozy and safe community in the future is created based on the two sources: a paradise and the technological civilization; it appears to be a perfect Utopian paradise. This paper compares and contrasts The Giver with other Utopian narrations and descriptions, aiming to explore more snags under the Utopian community, removing the control of the community over its people, so as to feel the existence of individual subjectivity and experience that heaven is in fact readily available around human beings. This paper is composed of six chapters. Chapter One describes what ＂Utopia＂ is like. It also introduces the background of The Giver and the history of the writer, Lois Lowry. Chapter Two concisely delineates and discusses Western Utopia and articles in Chinese with similar Utopian topics. Through examining the plots and dialogues in these texts, Capers and investigate how the Utopian community dominates and conditions its citizens, making the citizens live like a cog in a machine. Living under rigorous and harsh censorship, the citizens are muddle-headed and their life is in chaos. Chapter Five is concerned with exploring the three different methods of raising awareness as well as the deep religious symbolism in The Giver. The paper concludes that the feature of ＂Utopia＂ is an eternal desire to escape. The writer also passes on a message to the reader: ＂no-where is now-where.＂ The Giver, by focusing on the youth, writes about the problems and a dilemma of ＂Utopia,＂ and implied that ＂Utopia＂ is merely a contrast to reality. The theme is to arouse the reader's self-awareness continuously, to persist in maintaining self-confidence, and to make an unselfish choice in order to get to the paradise in one's own mind.

並列關鍵字

Utopia ； illusion ； conditioning ； awareness