Abstract Darwinism is a theory concerned about biological evolution, which is also known as Evolutionary Theory. It was put forward by Charles Darwin in the 19th century, but this theoretical system also includes other social Darwinists’ ideas such as Herbert Spencer and Thomas Henry Huxley and so on. This theory exerted great influence not only on scientific development but also on the literary field. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy is one good example. This thesis aims to critically explore the influence of social Darwinism on Wessex area, the peasant class and personal fate in the case of “survival of the fittest”.54055

Keywords: social Darwinism; survival of the fittest; personal fate; the peasant class; rural community

摘要达尔文主义是查尔斯·达尔文于19世纪提出的与生物进化有关的学说，即进化学说。这一学说还包括赫伯特·斯宾塞、托马斯·亨利·赫胥黎等人的社会达尔文主义的思想。这一学说不仅对19世纪的科学发展产生影响，还对当时的文学领域也产生了重要影响。托马斯·哈代的《远离尘嚣》便是其一。本篇文章旨在从社会达尔文主义出发，运用“优胜劣汰，适者生存”这一理论来探究达尔文主义对威塞克斯农村社会、农民阶级和个人在社会演化过程中的命运的影响。

毕业论文关键词：社会达尔文主义；适者生存；个人命运；农民阶级；农村社区

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Influence of Darwinism on Personal Fate 3

2.1 Comparison among Bathsheba, Boldwood and Oak 3

2.2 Darwinism’s Effect on Personal Fate 6

3. Influence of Darwinism on the Peasant Class 8

3.1 Social Situations of Farmers 8

3.2 Darwinism’s Effect on the Peasant Class 9

4. Influence of Darwinism on the Demise of Rural Southern Area 10

4.1 Brief Introduction of Rural Area 10

4.2 Darwinism’s Effect on its Demise 12

5. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 14

1. Introduction 

Thomas Hardy is the last Victorian novelist and the first modern novelist. Living in an age of transition and great social upheaval, he witnessed industrialization of production, the cruelty of modern capitalist civilization and the vanishing life of the locality. Hardy, a man in advance of his age, viewed the vanishing life as an irresistible trend, influenced by social Darwinism. Such philosophy runs through all his works, especially, Far from the Madding Crowd. This novel, published in 1874, a novel establishing his reputation is generally read as a pastoral tragicomedy. “Among modern critics, the novel receives either slight attention in any general consideration of Hardy’s works or agreement on its strength (such as a picture of rustic life) and vices (preoccupation with plot).”(Nelson, 1996: 124)Therefore the studies made by our predecessors of the novel often turn out to be static and incomplete. As a matter of fact, the novel deserves more attention and further study. In the present thesis, Far from the Madding Crowd will be re-interpreted from the perspective of the Theory of social Darwinism, specifically from the perspective of “survival of the fittest”.源'自:吹冰:"论-文'网www.chuibin.com

Social Darwinism is a modern name given to various theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, and which allegedly sought to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology and politics. Social Darwinists such as Herbert Spencer generally argue that the strong should see their wealth and power increase while the weak should see their wealth and power decrease. The theory includes competition between inpiduals for limited resources, popularly but inaccurately described by the phrase “survival of the fittest”, a term coined by sociologist Herbert Spencer. In The Social Organism, Spencer compares society to a living organism and argues that, just as biological organisms evolve through natural selection, society evolves and increases in complexity through analogous processes. He argues that “the inpidual, rather than the collectivity, is the unit of analysis that evolves, that evolution takes place through natural selection, and that it affects social as well as biological phenomena.”(Spencer, 1867: 145)Spencer also holds that “Evolution is definable as a change from an incoherent homogeneity to a coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter…At the same time that Evolution is a change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, it is a change from the indefinite to the definite. Along with an advance from simplicity to complexity, there is an advance from con fusion to order — from undetermined arrangement to determined arrangement.”(Spencer, 1867: 343)And in terms of the society, according to Spencer, the strongest and fittest should flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to die. This is the concrete explanation of the concept of survival of the fittest to human society. Several scholars have their studies from the perspective of this principle.