The Forms of Apathy in Literature

Bachelor Thesis , 2011 , 109 Pages , Grade: 1,7

English Language and Literature Studies - Literature

This discourse focuses on the different concepts of apathy that appear in literature. Not only characterizations of apathetic protagonists, but also abstract concepts of apathy help to explore this special topic. Several important literary works from all sorts of genres function as examples to explain these concepts. Shakespeare’s "Hamlet", Camus’ "The Stranger", Palahniuk’s "Fight Club", Süskind’s "Perfume" and Dick’s "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" are only few of many literary works which are examined under the aspect of apathy in this work.

“Apathy is the lack of any kind of emotion. As emotions are essential to the conception of the human being, many approaches to understand this phenomenon have been made. The fields of psychology and biology are only two of several sciences which try to explain this phenomenon of alexithymia. But whereas the core and origin of this human condition are still being analysed, literature has been using the theme of apathy in several different ways. How this theme is used and which different concepts of apathy exist, will be examined in this discourse.”

Table of Content

1. Introduction
1.1 What is apathy?

2. Apathy as a character trait

3. Unawareness of emotions - The Stranger
3.1 First indications for apathy
3.2 Apathy and moral guilt
3.3 Reliability
3.4 Apathy as Meursault’s tragic flaw

4. Controlling/repressing emotions - Hamlet
4.1 Emotion and ratio
4.2 Examples of repressed emotions: Hamlet in interaction with other characters
4.3 Soliloquies and motivation
4.4 Apathy as Hamlet’s flaw

5. Striving to feel - Fight Club
5.1 Disrupting the state of apathy
5.2 Who is Tyler Durden?
5.3 From copy to original – From apathy to emotion

6. Emotion in relation to only one particular feature – Perfume
6.1 Apathy, smell and existence
6.2 Grenouille’s apathy and further analysis of the character’s motivation
6.3 Crime fiction from the view of the murderer

7. Apathy as social phenomenon - Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep?
7.1 The different social groups: three levels of human emotion
7.2 Empathy and emotion for oneself
7.3 Creating apathy in society
7.4 Dystopias and utopias

8. Apathy in the narration - Boyhood

9. Apathy in the setting – Endgame and Dubliners

10. Intermediate conclusion
10.1 The four types of apathetic characters
10.2 The two forms of apathy as external concept
10.3 Apathy in the setting and narration

11. Comparison of further key differences
11.1 Assimilation to society
11.2 Religion
11.3 Will to live and the downfall

12. Criticism in the text (philosophy in literature)
12.1 Existence precedes essence
12.2 Concept of time
12.3 Concept of humanism
12.4 Concept of freedom
12.5 Ethical considerations

13. Apathy in poems – Apathy and Enthusiasm

14. The reader’s experience / Differences between play, prose and poem

15. Final conclusion

16. References

• College: Technical University of Darmstadt
• Grade: 1,7
• Author: Tony McCracken (Author)
• Publication Year: 2011
• Pages: 109
• Catalog Number: V213395
• ISBN (eBook): 9783656416296
• ISBN (Book): 9783656416500
• Language: English
• Tags: Forms, Apathy, Apathie, Literature, Literatur, Anglistik, Shakespeare, Hamlet, Do Androids Dream, Androids, Dick, Philip K. Dick, Fight Club, Palahniuk, Camus, Emotion, Albert, Chuck, Chuck Palahniuk, Dubliners, The Stranger, Stranger, Emotionslosigkeit, Emotionslos, Emotionless, Albert Camus, Comparison, Forms of Apathy, Apathy in Literature, Tyler Durden, Boyhood