《垃圾道里的弃婴之死》的家庭伦理危机与重构

The Crisis and Reconstruction of Family Ethic in “Newborn Thrown in Trash and Dies”

约翰·怀德曼的《垃圾道里的弃婴之死》是关于伦理禁忌的道德小说,弃婴之死是其核心伦理事件。弃婴之死揭示了20世纪90年代美国代际伦理和两性伦理的失序以及家庭结构的失衡。弃婴之死与其父母传统道德观的下滑直接相关,同时也是社会、政府、媒体和大众组成的混乱伦理环境下的产物,是更多人和机构参与的集体道德事件。怀德曼通过弃婴之死及其伦理环境的书写表达了对和谐伦理的期待和诉求,认为美国社会应该提供向善的伦理环境,并建构良好的公共伦理空间,民众自身也需提高道德修为,构建和谐友爱的家庭伦理空间。

The ＂new born thrown in trash and dies＂ written by John Wideman is a short story about morality associated with ethical taboo, in which the death of new born is the core of ethical event. The death of new born reveals the disorder of intergenerational ethic and gender ethic among African Americans in 1990s, which contributes to the imbalance of family structure. The death of new born is directly related to her parents＇ traditional moral decline, but also the consequence of ethical environment in chaos composed of society, government, media and public, which is a collective moral event involved in more people and institutions＇ participation. Wideman expresses the expectation and demands of harmonious ethics by writing the death of new born and thinks that the good ethical environment should be provided for Americans to construct the good public ethical space and Americans＇ moral value should be cultivated to build a harmonious family ethical space.