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
21
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
Knowingthatthecruelcriminalhasdonealotofunlawfulthings,IfeelsurethatIhaveno______buttoreporthimtothelo
Well,nogainwithoutpain,theysay.Butwhataboutpainwithoutgain?EverywhereyougoinAmerica,youheartalesofcorporat
Theinfluenceofthemoralstandardsofthehomeisevident.Ifthereisnorecognitionofthedifference【46】rightandwrong,it
Manyinstructorsbelievethataninformal,relaxedclassroomenvironmentis【C1】______tolearningandinnovation.Itisnotuncom
Seventeen-year-oldQuantaeWilliamsdoesn’tunderstandwhytheU.S.SupremeCourtstruckdownhisschooldistrict’sracialdive
In1784,fiveyearsbeforehebecamepresidentoftheUnitedStates,GeorgeWashington,52,wasnearlytoothless.Sohehireda
OnApril20,2000,inAccra,Ghana,theleadersofsixWestAfricancountriesdeclaredtheirintentiontoproceedtomonetaryun
Butweneedtogofurther.Wemustasksomefundamentalquestionsaboutthefuturework.Shouldwecontinuetotreatemployment
Almostsincethebeginningofmankind,governmentshavebeenrecordingthenumbersoftheirpopulace.Thefirstknowncensusrepo
Economicshaslongbeenknownasthedismalscience.ButisanyeconomistsodrearyastocriticizeChristmas?Atfirstglance,
随机试题
造成营养不良的水肿型的主要因素是
审计人员需要函证应付账款的情形包括()
产后出血的主要原因是
世界上第一部药典是
建设工程规划监督测量包括()。
安全用水的规定,在非传统水源和现场循环再利用水的使用过程中,为了确保避免对人体健康、工程质量以及周围环境产生不良影响,应制定有效的水质检测与()措施。
以货物通过国境为标准统计的进出口,称之为()。
A注册会计师拟对H公司与借款活动相关的内部控制进行测试,下列程序中属于控制测试程序的是( )。审计工作底稿中有以下审计结论,恰当的是( )。
有的地质学家认为,如果地球的未勘探地区中单位面积的平均石油储藏量能和已勘探地区一样的话,那么,目前关于地下未开采的能源含量的正确估计因此要乘上1万倍。由此可得出结论:全球的石油需求,至少可以在未来5个世纪中得到满足,即使此种需求每年呈加速上升的趋势。
Wheredoesthewomanwork?
最新回复
(
0
)