| Abstract (Chinese) | 第1-6页 |
| Abstract (English) | 第6-10页 |
| Introduction | 第10-15页 |
| Chapter One An Introduction to Joyce Carol Oates and Her Novel them | 第15-25页 |
| ·Background Information about Joyce Carol Oates | 第15-18页 |
| ·Oates's Life Experience and Its Influence on Her as a Writer | 第15-17页 |
| ·Oates's Major Works and Achievements | 第17-18页 |
| ·Oates's Theory of Art and the Characteristics of Her Writing | 第18-22页 |
| ·The Mimetic Nature of Art | 第19-20页 |
| ·The Moral Function of Art | 第20页 |
| ·The Optimistic View of Art | 第20-22页 |
| ·An Introduction to them | 第22-25页 |
| Chapter Two The Exposure of the Cultural Limitations | 第25-35页 |
| ·Oates's Understanding of the Cultural Limitations | 第25-26页 |
| ·The Domination of the "Ego-Consciousness" in Western Culture | 第25-26页 |
| ·The Pathology of This Cultural Sense | 第26页 |
| ·A Dark and Violent World in them | 第26-35页 |
| ·The Violent and Unfair Hierarchical Society | 第27-29页 |
| ·The Isolated and Alienated Self | 第29-32页 |
| ·The Indifferent and Hostile Human Relationships | 第32-35页 |
| Chapter Three The Transcendence of the Cultural Limitations | 第35-52页 |
| ·Oates's Belief in the Transformation of Western Culture | 第35页 |
| ·The Collective Way for Transcendence: the Substitution of the "Communal Consciousness" | 第35-41页 |
| ·Oates's View of the "Communal Consciousness" | 第36-37页 |
| ·The Challenge of the Binary Moral Vision in them | 第37-39页 |
| ·The Subject of Establishing "a Single Human Family" in them | 第39-41页 |
| ·The Personal Way for Transcendence: the Assertion of Human Instinct and Passion | 第41-52页 |
| ·Oates's Affirmation of the Human Instinct and Passion | 第42-43页 |
| ·Two Forms of Passion in them: Violence and Love | 第43-46页 |
| ·The Contrast of the Story of Jules and Maureen | 第46-52页 |
| Conclusion | 第52-56页 |
| Bibliography | 第56-60页 |
| Acknowledgements | 第60页 |
