An Exploration of Joe Ross's Modes of Empathy in Enduring Love
Ian McEwan's novel Enduring Love tells the story of how an accident that triggers a moral crisis changes the lives of individuals,subtly bringing out the complexity and fragility of human emotions and psychology.Focusing on the interpersonal conflicts and ethical dilem-mas faced by the protagonist,Joe Ross,we can identify three modes of empathy—empathy erosion,inhibited empathy,and other-oriented empathy—that Joe shows when coping with strong personal emotions and feelings such as love,grief,fear and so on.In the mode of em-pathy erosion,Joe's capacity for empathy is severely lacking,leading to his violent attack on Jed Parry,a homosexual.In addition,Joe's male identity anxiety and self-centeredness affect and inhibit his empathetic understanding and caring for his girlfriend,causing the eventual breakdown of their intimate relationship due to insufficient empathy.While in the mode of other-oriented empathy,Joe's multiple ethical responses to others demonstrate the complex re-lationship between empathy and altruistic behavior.Through an in-depth exploration of Joe's three different modes of empathy and the complex ethical responses they trigger,this novel uncovers the psychological mechanisms and motives behind these three modes of empathy,analyzes the complex connection between empathy and altruistic behavior,and reveals the complexity of empathy and the multiple difficulties in achieving genuine empathy.Through this exploration,McEwan's reflections on the multifaceted relationship between empathy and ethics are brought to light,highlighting the role the novel plays in advancing an ethical world-view.
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