Dilemmas and Choices in Graham Swift's Waterland from the Perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism

Abstract

Waterland is one of the representative works of Graham Swift, a contemporary British novelist. From the perspective of ethical literary criticism, this paper interprets the ethical choices of the main characters in the Waterland and analyzes the influence of different combinations of Sphinx factors. On the one hand, influenced by their animal instinct, some people make irrational ethical choices, resulting in irreversible ethical tragedies. On the other hand, after being controlled by animal factors, some people return to their ethical consciousness, recover their rationality, make the right ethical choice and usher in salvation for themselves.