Analysis of Alison Moore’s The Lighthouse from the Perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism

Abstract

The Lighthouse is an excellent contemporary novel that tells the family tragedies of two generations which involve numerous individuals and families. After being shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize, it has been noticed by many researchers and scholars from home and abroad. Starting from the perspective of ethical literary criticism, this paper intends to have a detailed analysis of the ethical issues existing in The Lighthouse through the method of close reading. This paper also attempts to have an insight into the moral and ethical problems in modern families, or the problems between contemporary people, trying to analyze the main characters’ self-developments of morality and the author’s ethical values from the discussion of the main characters’ ethical choices, the construction of ethical identities and the human and human relationship in this novel.