首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Both versions of the myth—the West as a place of escape from society and the West as a stage on which the moral conflicts confro
Both versions of the myth—the West as a place of escape from society and the West as a stage on which the moral conflicts confro
admin
2013-03-27
46
问题
Both versions of the myth—the West as a place of escape from society and the West as a stage on which the moral conflicts confronting society could be played out—figured prominently in the histories and essays of young Theodore Roosevelt, the paintings and sculptures of artist Frederic Remington, and the short stories and novels of writer Owen Wister. These three young members of the eastern establishment spent much time in the West in the 1880s, and each was intensely affected by the adventure. All three had felt thwarted by the constraints and enervating influence of the genteel urban world in which they had grown up, and each went West to experience the physical challenges and moral simplicities extolled in the dime novels. When Roosevelt arrived in 1884 at the ranch he had purchased in the Dakota Badlands, he at once bought a leather scout’s uniform, complete with fringed sleeves and leggings.
Each man also found in the West precisely what he was looking for. The frontier that Roosevelt glorified in such books as The Winning of the West(four volumes, 1889— 1896), and that the prolific Remington portrayed in his work, was a stark physical and moral environment that stripped away all social artifice and tested an individual’s true ability and character. Drawing on a popular version of English scientist Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory, which characterized life as a struggle in which only the fittest and best survived, Roosevelt and Remington exalted the disappearing frontier as the last outpost of an honest and true social order.
This version of the frontier myth reached its apogee in Owen Wister’s enormously popular novel The Virginian(1902), later reincarnated as a 1929 Gary Cooper movie and a 1960s television series. In Wister’s tale, the elemental physical and social environment of the Great Plains produces individuals like his unnamed cowboy hero, "the Virginian," an honest, strong, and compassionate man, quick to help the weak and fight the wicked. The Virginian is one of nature’s aristocrats—ill-educated and unsophisticated but upright steady, and deeply moral. The Virginian sums up his own moral code in describing his view of God’s justice; "He plays a square game with us. " For Wister, as for Roosevelt and Remington, the cowboy was the Christian knight on the Plains, indifferent to material gain as he upheld virtue, pursued justice, and attacked evil.
Needless to say, the western myth in all its forms was far removed from the actual reality of the West. Critics delighted in pointing out that no one scene in The Virginian actually showed the hard physical labor of the cattle range. The idealized version of the West also glossed over the darker underside of frontier expansion—the brutalities of Indian warfare, the forced removal of the Indians to reservations, the racist discrimination against Mexican-Americans and blacks, the risks and perils of commercial agriculture and cattle growing, and the boom-and-bust mentality rooted in the selfish exploitation of natural resources.
Which of the following is probably the main reason for the author to mention Theodore Roosevelt, Frederic Remington and Owen Wister?
选项
A、They glorified the frontier life.
B、They were constrained by the genteel urban world.
C、They spent much time in the West.
D、They were famous members of the eastern establishment.
答案
A
解析
根据文中第一段的“Both…writer Owen Wister.”可知,关于西部传奇有两个版本,一种是将西部看做逃避社会的地方,另外一种是将西部看做展现社会道德冲突的舞台。在年轻的西奥多·罗斯福的历史著作和文章中、艺术家弗雷德里克·雷明顿的绘画和雕塑中以及作家欧文·威斯特的短篇故事和小说中,这两种描述都占据了显要地位。在文中第二段又提到“The frontier that Roosevelt glorified in such books as The Winning of the West(four volumes,1889—1896),and that the prolific Remington portrayedin his work”,罗斯福在诸如《西部的胜利》(四卷,1889--1896)这样的书中对西部边远地区给予了赞美,著述颇丰的雷明顿在他的作品中也对西部进行了描述。文中第三段又提到“This version of the frontier myth reached its apogee in OwenWister’s enormously popular novel The Virginian(1902)”,在欧文·威斯特非常受欢迎的小说《弗吉尼亚人》(1902)中,对西部传奇的描述达到了顶点。据此可知,作者提及西奥多·罗斯福、弗雷德里克·雷明顿和欧文·威斯特的主要原因可能是他们赞美了西部的生活。A项正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/VDmO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
TheuniquenessoftheJapanesecharacteristheresultoftwoseeminglycontradictoryforces:thestrengthoftraditionsandsel
Probablyoneofthemostrevolutionaryinnovationsinscienceduringthiscenturywastherecognitionofthedualityofmatter;【
AlthoughordinarilyskepticalaboutthepurityofRobinson’smotives,inthisinstanceJenkinsdidnotconsiderRobinson’sgener
Manyinstructorsbelievethataninformal,relaxedclassroomenvironmentis【C1】______tolearningandinnovation.Itisnotuncom
Between1833and1837,thepublishersofa"pennypress"provedthatalow-pricedpaper,editedtointerestordinarypeople,cou
Amidremarkableprogressoninflationandfiscalreform,Italyheadsinto1998withbrightprospectsforeconomicgrowthandits
71.ItwasnotuntilmodernscholarshipuncoveredthesecretofreadingMiddleEnglishthatwecouldunderstandthatChaucer,fa
RealPolicemenhardlyrecognizeanyresemblancebetweentheirlivesandwhattheyseeonTV.Thefirstdifferenceisthata
Successfulbusinesstendstocontinueimplementingtheideasthatmadethemsuccessful.Butinarapidlychangingworld,ideaso
Generationgapsarenothingnew.ImperfectcommunicationbetweenagegroupsplaguedtheancientGreeksandcurrentworksalike.
随机试题
(2005年第27题)下列代谢物经相应特异脱氢酶催化脱下的2H,不能经过NADH呼吸链氧化的是
A.维持神经与肌肉活动B.调节能量释放C.是构成血红蛋白的成分之一D.参与合成甲状腺素E.提高机体免疫力钙的生理功能是
下列描述中,符合渗出液特点的是
伤寒病人进行粪便培养的最佳时间是
男,4岁。从小咳嗽,近日来咳嗽加重。少量痰液,昨夜突然出现呼吸困难,大汗,面色发白,肢冷,脉搏120次/分,血压90/60mmHg,肺普遍哮鸣音,心脏无杂青,口唇发绀,胸片无异常。最可能的诊断
采用班轮运输时,凡FOB后未加“理舱”或“平舱”字样,则由买方负担理舱或平舱的费用。()
有根据认为会员或者客户违反期货交易所交易规则及其实施细则并且对市场正在产生或者即将产生重大影响,为防止违规行为后果进一步扩大,期货交易所可以对该会员或者客户采取的临时处置措施包括()。
关于“精神分裂症”,下列说法中不正确的是()。
一个学雷锋小组的大学生们每天到餐馆打工半小时,每人每天可挣3元钱,到11月11日,他们一共挣了1764元。这个小组计划到12月9日这天挣足3000元,捐给“希望工程”,因此小组必须在几天后增加一个人。增加的这个人应该从11月几日起每天到餐馆打工,才能到12
程序调试的任务是( )。
最新回复
(
0
)