走不出的生命困境

——《合众为一》主人公桑托什的追寻“自由”之路

中图分类号： I106

文献标识码： A

文章编号：1009-895X（2026）02-0136-06

DOI： 10.13256/j.cnki.jusst.sse.231013492

The Inescapable Plight of Life

—A Study on Santosh's Pursuit of “Freedom” in One Out of Many

WU Jianjiao， YU Xixia

（College of Foreign Languages， University of Shanghai for Science and Technology， Shanghai ， China）

Abstract： The plight of marginalized people in former colonies is an important theme in Naipaul's novels. His early short story One Out of Many focuses on the protagonist Santosh's life between “freedom” and “unfreedom”， which mirrors the spiritual dilemma of immigrants living in the center of West and their difficulties in freeing themselves from their inner shackles of constraints. Based on Erich Fromm's Freedom Theory and Freud's Psychoanalysis， this paper explores the complex game among Santosh's “id”， “ego” and “superego” and his pursuit of “freedom”. Santosh gains a better understanding of both “self” and “freedom”， yet he still finds it difficult to break through constraints of “superego”. His belief in Hinduism from his motherland encourages his resistance to pursuing fame and high status in American society， so he chooses to pray for religious forgiveness and inner peace in an “unfree” state. By such an ironic image， Naipaul effectively critiques alienation by American civilization and modernity， delivering his profound humanism.

Keywords： V. S. Naipaul; One Out of Many; freedom; id; superego

2001年诺贝尔文学奖得主、英国当代最重要的移民作家V.S.奈保尔（V.S.Naipaul，1932—2018）的移民背景与丰富的人生阅历赋予了其作品独特的视角与意蕴，激发了许多学者浓厚的研究兴趣。（剩余9168字）