无辜的“绝处逢生”—《一双最蓝的眼睛》中佩科拉的生存困境毕业论.doc

忻州师范学院2013届本科生毕业论文题 目 无辜的“绝处逢生” 一双最蓝的眼睛中佩科拉的生存困境 姓 名 李海旭 学 号 200902111014 系 班 外本0901班 专 业 英语 指导教师 王良生 职 称 讲师 2013年6月16CONTENTS汉语提纲I中文摘要 Abstract11. Introduction12. Pecolas Living Dilemma32.1 Social Factors32.1.1 Difficulty from the Great Depression32.1.2 Lost in the Internalized White Values42.1.3 Misery Transferred to Pecola by Some Minority42.2 Family Factors52.2.1 Fathers Rudeness52.2.2 Mothers Neglect62.2.3 Brothers Helplessness62.3 Personal Factors62.3.1 Displacement and Loss of Self-value72.3.2 Passive Enduring the Misery72.3.3 Desire for Love and Misunderstanding about Love83. Conclusion9References10Acknowledgements12毕业论文（设计）任务书13毕业论文（设计）开题报告14毕业论文（设计）指导记录表17毕业论文（设计）成绩评定表 （指导教师用）18毕业论文（设计）成绩评定表 （评阅教师用）19毕业论文（设计）成绩评定表 （评阅教师用）20无辜的“绝处逢生”（提纲） 一双最蓝的眼睛中佩科拉的生存困境1.引言文献回顾一双最蓝的眼睛于1970年出版，是1993年诺贝尔文学奖获得者托妮莫里森（1931- ）的第一部小说。国内关于这部小说的研究也较多，主要集中于主题分析、创作手法和人物分析（贺淑娟 2007），但大多从文化角度整体阐述美国白人文化渗透下黑人的抗争与生存,如袁彬、黄驰的“文化冲突中的抗争与生存论托妮 莫里森 最蓝的眼睛 ”（ 英美文学研究论丛2004,4 ），虞建华主编的美国文学辞典作家与作品（2005）以及王守仁主编的新编美国文学史（第四卷，2002）中对最蓝的眼睛的分析介绍等。单独对人物分析的较少，而对佩科拉的悲剧成因虽有涉及，也还是从成人视角去分析、探讨，如高继海的“佩科拉悲剧探源评托尼莫里森最蓝的眼睛 ”（河南大学学报，2001，43，3）中虽也提及佩科拉自身对其悲剧负有责任，但以成人的评价标准“哀其不幸，怒其不争”。与之不同的是，本文试以小说主人公佩科拉的立场和视角，从社会、家庭、佩科拉自身三方面探析佩科拉的生存困境，结合文本体会和分析佩科拉的心理变化，找出佩科拉的生存迷津。这一部分简要介绍托妮莫里森及其主要作品，主要介绍一双最蓝的眼睛这部小说的背景、情节，结构和叙述特点。2. 佩科拉的生存困境2.1社会因素佩科拉作为一个社会个体，她的命运与她生活的社会环境关系极大。佩科拉生存的周边环境的冷漠让她得不到群体的关爱，生活艰难。论文主要从以下三方面详述：2.1.1 经济大萧条影响下的困窘2.1.2 白人文化内化的黑人迷失2.1.3 少数异族将所受委屈对弱转嫁2.2 家庭因素 家本是温馨的港湾，但对佩科拉而言，家让她感受不到爱。取而代之的是父母无尽的争吵和难以读懂的复杂情感，他们不关心她甚至也像外人一样认为她丑；哥哥选择离家出走或加入到父母的厮打中而不是帮她一起面对。她只能孤独地忍受着父母成长阴影交织影响下的苦难生活。在这样的家庭中，她的生存陷入困境。笔者分别从以下三个方面探讨家庭对佩科拉的生存造成的困境：2.2.1 父亲的粗暴2.2.2 母亲的冷漠2.2.3 哥哥的漠然2,3 佩科拉自身因素 佩科拉只是一个小女孩，需要有人指引她成长；但冷漠的环境中，她只能自己摸索着生存。当遭受社区人们冷遇时，她只能凭借别人的审美标准去奢求自己有一双最蓝的眼睛。她渴望被爱，但没人给她爱，也没人告诉她什么是爱。她对爱的误解让她遭受致命的身心摧残。绝望中的她选择了疯癫而非轻生，在她的世界里“绝处逢生”。生存的希望似乎并未泯灭。笔者分别从以下三个方面探讨佩科拉的年龄和经历的局限对她的生存造成的困境和她做出的具有被动和主动双重含义的选择，她的生存迷津：2.3.1 自我价值错位和迷失 2.3.2 被动忍受惨痛遭遇 2.3.3 对爱的渴求和误解3. 结语从成年人的视角来看，佩科拉的遭遇是悲剧。但承受这样的悲剧却是无辜的：经济的困窘和白人世界里黑人群体的自我迷失让一个尚不具备独立生存能力的小女孩得不到正常的生存环境而不能正常生活。从佩科拉的心理角度感悟，她的疯癫成了无奈状态下的主动选择。尽管她最终独自探寻的爱之路失败了，但单纯的她依旧没有丧失希望。这样，无辜的佩科拉在悲惨的世界里“绝处逢生”了。而“希望”也是莫里森要传达给读者的。她以克劳蒂亚孩童的口吻说“解释这些事太难”，所以只呈现故事本身。作者以人文关怀讲述着故事，但却避免读者“对小说人物追根究源”继续伤害，重复错误（石琳 2009：6）。莫里森引导读者思考如何在以白人为主要群体的环境里保持清醒，更好地生存。“爱”，是最好的解决方法:自爱，他爱，团体爱。无辜的“绝处逢生” 一双最蓝的眼睛中佩科拉的生存困境系班：外语系本0901班 姓名：李海旭 学号：200902111014 指导教师：王良生摘要：一双最蓝的眼睛是1993年诺贝尔文学奖获得者托妮莫里森（1931- ）的第一部小说，讲述女主人公佩科拉11岁一年间经历一系列惨痛遭遇后坠入疯癫状态的故事。本文试图以佩科拉的立场和视角,从社会、家庭、个人三方面探析她遭遇的生存困境和她自己的生存迷津，旨在探寻莫里森人文关怀下对以黑人为代表的弱势群体的生存思考。关键词：托妮莫里森,一双最蓝的眼睛,佩科拉,生存困境19Innocent Hope for LivingPecolas Living Dilemma in The Bluest Eye系班：外语系本0901班 姓名：李海旭 学号：200902111014 指导教师：王良生Abstract：The Bluest Eye is the first novel of Toni Morrison (1931- ), the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature. This novel deals with the story of Pecola Breedlove, who has suffered from living dilemma to lose sanity at her age of 11. This study attempts to illustrate Pecolas living situation and her passive and positive choice from her stance and perspective. And it aims at learning Morrisons enlightenment about our better living from her humanized care about the weak group represented by the black.Key words: Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, Pecola, living dilemma1. Introduction Toni Morrison (1931- ), a contemporary American literature master (Elliott 2005: 520), was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, and the latter one made her become the first African American writer, and also, the second American woman writer after Pearl Buck in 1938 to enjoy the great honor. Her novels include Song of Solomon (1977), Beloved (1987), Love (2003), A Mercy (2008), etc.The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel of Toni Morrison and “established her place in black literature” (Wu 1998: 192). It is set in the Great Depression, the existed racial discrimination, and the Black is Beautiful movement (Shi 2009: 3). It illustrates an 11-year-old black girl gets insanity with hope for the bluest eyes after suffering a series of abuse from her family and her community and it presents the victim of internalized racism and “dominant white Americans aesthetic values” (Millard 2006: 15).Pecola, the protagonist of the novel, shows up as a boarder due to his fathers having burned down his familys house. She often gets the hosts dislike. However, after she moves back home with her family, Pecolas life is still difficult. Her father drinks, her mother is distant and they often beat each other. Her brother often runs away. Unconsciously, Pecola feels she is ugly and wishes a pair of the bluest eyes so that her life can be changed and she can be loved. However, she can not. When she buys candy, the grocer shows bitter; when she is on the street, boys make fun of her; when she meets a new “friend”, she gets insulted. Once again and again, Pecola receives confirmation of her own sense of ugliness. She desperately looks forward to love. However, nobody gives her. Nobody tells her. She tries to find love hard alone. After her visit to whores who live in the apartment above hers, Pecola ambiguously feels romantic or sexual love may be a joy, which seems what she wants simply. However, after being raped by her biological father and getting pregnant and without powerful help, Pecola loses sanity. In her fantasy world, she, with a pair of the bluest eyes as she wishes, talks with an imaginary friend. This novel is structured in a line of four seasons of one year, from autumn to the next summer with an opening story from the standard elementary school Dick-and-Jane reading primer of the 1940s (the time of the action), which is repeated three times in different styles one with the normally grammatical sentences，one with verbatim without punctuation and a third time even without spaces between letters(Wang 2002: 305) to sharpen the contrast between the ideal experience of the white world and the actual experience of the black portrayed and offer the signal of Pecolas psychological change. Of the novel, Morrison uses a multi-narrated method to tell the story. Among these, Claudias perspective skillfully deals with her childish viewpoint about what Pecola experiences and her adult viewpoint, which can correct the childish one when it is incomplete. In this way, Morrison tells the misery and conveys hope. In the afterword to The Bluest Eye, Morrison explains her goal in writing the novel. “She wants to make a statement about the damage that internalized racism can do to the most vulnerable member of a community a young girl. At the same time, she does not want to dehumanize the people who wound this girl, because that would simply repeat their mistake” (cited from Shi 2009: 5).2. Pecolas Living Dilemma “All men are created equal” is not fit for Pecola. As an 11-year-old black girl, Pecola even can not live her life normally let alone lives equally with others. In fact, her living dilemma is caused complicatedly. The social factors, her family factors and also she herself are inevitably associated. 2.1 Social FactorsPecola lives in the time of the Great Depression, when the racial discrimination still exists. The economy difficulty and marginalized group circumstances make the black community indifferent. Whats more, the internalized white values make the black lose themselves. They live a terrible life and pass it on the weaker than themselves. And even the children at the same age with Pecola bully her according to the white values. Besides, some other minority living on the margin of society like the black, such as a light-skinned West Indian, treats Pecola rough. In a word, Pecola can not get love from her surroundings. Her life is very hard. 2.1.1 Difficulty from the Great DepressionThe Great Depression makes a heavy effect on American economy and the black particularly suffer. When supporting their families becomes a big thing, the black are so tired physically and psychologically that they have no energy to care others. Even in the narrator of the novel, Claudias loving and stable family, they suffer racist beauty standards and material insecurity. “Her parents are more concerned with making ends meet than lavishing attention upon their daughters” (Shi 2009: 7). The sisters, Claudia and Frieda Mac Teer, gather coal that has fallen out of the railroad cars. And their mother lost her temper when Claudia unfortunately caught a cold during one trip to gather coal, even though Mrs. Mac Teer is not mad at Claudia, but at the sickness under the pressure of life. Based upon this, it is not difficult to understand Mrs. Mac Teers complaint about Pecolas drinking three quarts of milk out of the Shirley Temple (a hugely popular child actress of the day) cup in her family. After all, Pecola is a temporary boarder due to the countys arrangement after she becomes a homeless child, the object of pity, because of her fathers burning down the familys house. But this indeed hurts Pecola. “Pecola fingered the scar on her knee, heading aside with the sense of shame.”(Hu 2008: 8) Living in such an embarrassing living circumstances, a little black girl can not live her life normally when she needs lots of care.2.1.2 Lost in the Internalized White ValuesIn the white world, white Americans dominant aesthetic values acknowledge black skin is ugly while the blue eye, light skin and yellow hair belong to beauty. The black think they are ugly in common. They believe “You are ugly.” from the mass culture such as the advertisements and the screen and they read exact information from the eyes of the mass (Hu 2008: 14). So they prefer to buy the blonde, blue-eyed baby doll as Christmas present for their children even if it may not be accepted by their children, such as Claudia. And also, it is easy to understand why Pecola is so addicted to the Shirley Temple that she incurred Mrs. Mac Teers complaining as a result of her excessive milk drinking. In addition to the influence of the mass cultural norm about beauty, the racism reinforces the black losing their self-esteem. For example, when Pauline gives birth to Pecola in the hospital, “a doctor tells a group of students that black women do not feel pain while giving birth; they are just like horses ”(Shi 2009: 99). Also, Pecola is wrongly blamed for killing a boys cat and is called a “nasty little black bitch” by his mother. Thus, Pecola can not find her self-esteem. She gets lost.2.1.3 Misery Transferred to Pecola by Some Minority With the similarly difficult living situations, some minority still would transfer his sufferings and pain to other weaker than themselves. In The Bluest Eye, Soaphead Church, a light-skinned West Indian, adds fuel to Pecolas miserable life, where she has not been able to save herself. He cheats Pecola that if the dog he dislikes reacts to her given poisoned food, her wish for the bluest eyes will be granted. As a result, the dog convulses and dies in front of her, and Pecola is frightened and stimulated. Her spirit hurts. 2.2 Family Factors Family should be a warm nest. However, it is an exception to Pecola, where love and affection are unfamiliar to her. Economic and social pressures put unbearable strains on the Breedlove family. Pecolas parents pass the misery from past on to her but Pecolas elder brother chooses to run away from home or joins the fight instead of helping her to solve the difficulty. Pecola is an outsider. “She wills herself to disappear. She can imagine each body part dissolving except for her eyes” (Shi 2009: 69). Neither can she do. The only practical thing for Pecola is to endure alone. Living in such a loveless family, Pecola is in a dilemma. 2.2.1 Fathers RudenessCholly, Pecolas father, is “impulsive and violent-free, but in a dangerous way” (Shi 2009: 11). He burned down his family house to put the family “outdoor”, which leads to Pecolas embarrassing boarding experience. He drinks and fights with his wife, which makes Pecola innocently and increasingly blame herself for the inharmonious atmosphere in her family. He does all these with extreme anger and accumulated rancor. He does not know how to relate to his children. All of these happen to him because of his painful and unforgettable earlier life experiences.Cholly was abandoned by his mother when he was 4 days old. Later, he was humiliated by two white hunters watching his having sex for the fist time at his age of 14, which stimulates him heavily. So he decided to find his father for love. But misfortunes never come singly. Cholly was ruthlessly driven away by his father mistakenly after a long voyage of searching. Even if he gets married for his own expected happy life, Cholly feels trapped in his marriage eventually. Everything makes Cholly distorted. “ Having no idea of how to raise children, and having never watched any parent raise himself, he could not even comprehend what such a relationship should be (126)” (cited from Millard 2006: 12). Finally, he raps Pecola, his daughter, twice and runs away. Cholly contributes directly to Pecolas insanity. 2.2.2 Mothers NeglectPauline, Pecolas mother, suffered a lame foot since her two years old and always felt lonely and isolated. Even after she moved to a better city for more job opportunity with her husband, she is surprised by how unfriendly the other women are. They are amused by her country ways. Her life is still difficult. Pauline gets depressed. Receiving so poor love from her family and the society, Pauline is indulged into the romantic movies to chase love. Gradually, she begins to neglect her own house and family after getting a secured job for supporting life. She dislikes staying home because she and her husband always argue about money; she is always distant from her daughter because she believes Pecola is ugly. Pauline even allows the small white girl of the wealthy family she does things for calling her “Polly” while Pecola calls Pauline “Mrs. Breedlove”; she would show tender to the white girl but scold and beat her daughter regardless of the burning on Pecola when Pecola overturned a freshly baked berry cobbler off the counter accidentally.This kind of relationship is not one which “fosters Pecolas self-esteem” (Millard 2006: 10). Even after Pecola, her daughter, is raped by Cholly, her husband, Pauline doesnt believe or comfort Pecola but to beat her. In this way, Pauline is sympathy-worthily but largely responsible for Pecolas tragedy. 2.2.3 Brothers Helplessness Sammy, Pecolas elder brother, is written little but is partly responsible for Pecolas result. He has run away from home twenty-seven times by the time he is 14. “But Pecola is younger and a girl and must stay to endure the terrible inheritance of her parents violent marriage” (Millard 2006: 11). He does not offer powerful help to Pecola but to escape from the terrible reality. After Pecola is crazy, Sammy is gone for good. 2.3 Personal FactorsPecola is just a young girl and needs a suitable guide to her growing up. However, the community and her family give her negative reflection. She has to live her life blindly in the indifferent surroundings. Having experienced abuse from the community, Pecola guesses the reason for her diminishment should be her black skin, her ugliness. In fact, Pecola continually receives confirmation of her own sense of ugliness. Nothing can save her but to have a pair of the bluest eyes, she thinks, which can be satisfied to her communitys appetite. Pecola desperately desires love. No reflection. Pecola misunderstands love is something like a romantic love or sexual love, which can prompt her desired simple love. Unfortunately, after her father raping, Pecola still can not reach her beloved goal. She is deserted. Desperately, Pecola chooses being crazy rather than dying because she still keeps innocent hope for being loved and she just does not find a proper way to her love way. In her fantasy world, living hope does not die out. 2.3.1 Displacement and Loss of Self-valueWhen the community think the black skin is ugly, Pecola thinks herself ugly in the mirror; when she buys candy, the store owner “seems to look through her”, “speaks harshly to her” and “does not want to touch her hand when she passes over her money”, so Pecola firmly believes she is very ugly “whereas blonde, blue-eyed Mary Jane, pictured on the candy wrapper, is beautiful” (Shi 2009: 69); and when Pauline, Pecolas mother, knows Pecola is born ugly and neglects her, Pecola further decides herself can not get others recognition. Where her value lies? Pecola puzzles. What she knows is she can not get deserved love and affection. But how can she achieve these? Pecola only prays for the bluest eyes to change her life and situation. This wish is borrowing from the white values. “The bluest eye” becomes a symbol of being admitted and being accepted by society for Pecola rather than a physical body part. Pecola displaces herself and gets lost deadly.2.3.2 Passive Enduring the MiseryPecola is just an 11-year-old black girl, and thus her age and her experiences make herself limited. Then, faced so seriously ill treats, this weak girl is unclear how to deal with these properly, and nobody offers her powerful help despite of Claudia and Friedas trying, for they are also too young to live their life by themselves. They just he