（英语语言文学专业论文）美国黑人男性的双重身份：《土生子》与《看不见的人》比较研究.pdf

iii 摘摘 要要 自从十七世纪初非洲黑人被贩卖到美洲大陆开始， 黑人在美国土地上生息繁 衍数百年。他们的历史是辛酸与血泪铸就的伤心史，也是一部美国黑人寻求自我 身份的发展史。这种自我寻求的主题成为美国黑人文学永恒的主题之一。 二十世纪二十年代出现在纽约的哈莱姆文艺复兴， 是美国黑人文学的重要转 折点， 并第一次在全国范围引起了广泛关注。二战以后，黑人作家更加关注黑 人的生存状况及在美国社会里的命运。 美国黑人在种族，社会，文化以及经济方面的重压之下，不断地调整自身 特点和生活方式。 长时间的压迫以及不尽如人意的现状形成了美国黑人的两种性 格特点：反叛与服从。这两种性格特点在理查德赖特的土生子拉尔夫埃 里森的看不见的人这两部作品中体现得淋漓尽致。 这两部小说的主人公别格托马斯和看不见的人均为黑人男性。他们不同的 性格和人生追求代表了当时美国社会黑人的两种性格反叛和服从。 别格以极端 的方式和手段追寻自己的身份； 看不见的人以相反的方式渴望得到主流社会的认 可。他们追求各自身份的方式态度不同，但是结果都是相同的-都没有寻求到他 们各自的身份。 第一章简单介绍了美国黑人文学的发展史和赖特， 埃里森两位代表作家以及 他们的代表作品土生子和看不见的人 。并且回顾了黑人文学史上黑人男 性主人公的身份历程。 第二章分析了两位主人公别格托马斯和看不见的人的不同之处及其原因。 不同的家庭环境， 不同的生活经历和所受教育的不同造就了他们不同的性格以及 iv 对本族文化的不同认识。 第三章分析了两位主人公的相同之处。他们都是主流社会的边缘人，在寻求 自身身份的过程中经历了从天真到历练，并且他们有着相同的命运。 第四章分析了以别格托马斯和看不见的人为代表的，黑人男性的两种不同 身份形成的原因。 在以白人文化为主流文化的环境中， 黑人往往成为了 “局外人” 白人很残酷的对待黑人。 黑人没有自我选择生活的权利， 造成了黑人的身份危机。 另外黑人文化与白人文化的碰撞同样也是原因之一。 关键词：关键词：非裔美国人；身份；黑人文化 i abstract since african blacks were sold as slaves to the north america in the early seventeenth century, they have lived in america for hundreds of years and their history was full of hardship, blood and tears. during the tragic and bitter period of time, african americans never stop their search for their own identities. since the early time, their self-search journey has been the eternal thesis of the african american literature. in new york, in the 1920s, harlem renaissance was the first intellectual and artistic movement that brought black america forcefully to the attention of the entire nation. after world war , the black writers were concerned much more about the living condition and destiny of the american society. african americans are under great racial, social, cultural and economical pressure to adjust their african traditions and the life styles. their long-time pressure and social situation shape afro-americans characters. the two main characters they have are rebelliousness and submissiveness which are showed in richard wrights native son and ralph ellisons invisible man. in their works, the two protagonists bigger and the invisible man as two black male, represent two faces of african americansrebellious and submissive. rebellious bigger, to some extent, is like a monster, who fights for his identity in an extreme way and full of hatred. submissive invisible man tries to be accepted by the white-dominated society in another way. however, no matter how they tired, they ii both failed to quest their identities. there is a long way for black people to obtain their identity in american society. chapter one introduces the history of african american literature briefly and the two great black writer richard wright and ralph and their masterpiece native son and invisible man. it also reviews the male characters identity in african american literary works. chapter two analyzes the differences between the two protagonists bigger thomas in native son and the invisible man in invisible man. bigger is rebellious and has an exclusion of his own culture, while the invisible man is submissive and has an awareness of his own culture. the reasons for their differences are their different families, different life experiences and different education they received. chapter three analyzes the similarities between the two protagonists. they are both marginalized persons, and they both grow from innocence to experience in their journey of self-quest. in addition, their destiny has been fated. chapter four analyzes the reasons for the double-faced black peoples identity in america. as the outsiders of the white-dominated society, the black people are ill-treated and ignored by the whites. at the same time, they have to undergo their identity crises as well. the culture conflicts between black culture and white culture is also a reason for that. key words: afro-americans, identity, black culture 学位论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的硕士学位论文，是本人在指导教师的指导下， 独立进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文 不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成果。对本文的研究 做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确的方式标明。本人完全意 识到本声明的法律结果由本人承担。 作者签名： 日期： 学位论文使用授权声明 本人授权沈阳师范大学研究生处，将本人硕士学位论文的全部或部分 内容编入有关数据库进行检索；有权保留学位论文并向国家主管部门或其 指定机构送交论文的电子版和纸质版，允许论文被查阅和借阅；有权可以 采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存、汇编学位论文。保密的学位论文 在解密后适用本规定。 作者签名： 日期： acknowledgements in the course of writing the thesis, i was given a lot of help and support. here, i would like to express my gratitude to all those who helped me. i owe my deepest debt of gratitude to my supervisor, professor fan gexin, who advised me when the thesis was in its original dissertation form and has continued to offer help up to its present incarnation. i really appreciate his seriousness, warmhearted and constant encouragement, without which i could hardly complete this thesis. next, my heartfelt gratitude should be equally delivered to all the teachers and professors of foreign language college, whose utmost teaching and instructions make my postgraduate life so fruitful. last but not least, i would like to thank my family and all my classmates for their sincerest help and support and encouragement. 1 chapter i introduction a. a brief introduction to afro-american literature there is a long and hard way in the development of african american literature. the earliest surviving works of african american literature dated from the mid-1700s and were written by africans brought to america as slaves. before the american civil war (1861-1865), many black writers were fugitive slaves. after slavery was abolished in 1865, african american authors wrote in many literary forms to protest race discrimination. the literary movements of the harlem renaissance in the 1920s saw the bloom of black writing, but the great depression dealt a serious blow to it. while richard wrights native son in the 1940s revived black literature, and the appearance of ralph ellisons invisible man pushed it to a new height. 1. modern afro-american literature since the early seventeenth century, the blacks were first forced to land on american continent; african american literature has begun to develop slowly. at first, it took the form of oral songs, later became more common and prominent. african american literature has its noticeable development since early twentieth century, particularly during and after “harlem renaissance”, which is the first major, self-conscious literary movement of american black writers. it was also called the new negro after the title of an anthology collected by educator and writer alain 2 locke. after the migration, african americans had more opportunities and better cultural surroundings for literary creation. a group of young, talented black writers congregated in harlem, in new york city, and made it the cultural and intellectual capital of black america. harlem renaissance was the first intellectual and artistic movement that brought black america forcefully to the attention of the entire nation. african american literature welcomed its first climax when richard wrights native son was published. wright was influenced by the harlem renaissance movement which encourages african american literature. then, african american literature focused itself on the afro-americans struggling to gain equality to the whites. it also reflects objectively and justly the different stages during the afro-american struggling history. the breakout of world war brought a series of tragedies, and the turbulent american society had fertile land for the spreading of the european flourishing philosophy of existentialism, which brought american literature another climax. black literary works reflected more about the black identities. ralph ellison, james baldwin together with richard wright became three representative writers at that time. they created some important black literary characters, appeal for the social concern and value. since 1970s, new black writers, especially female writers made a breakthrough in black literature such as toni morrison, alice walker and zola neal huston. 3 2. du boiss concept of double consciousness talking about black culture and black consciousness, one figure can never be neglected. w. e. b. du bois made great contribution to the rebuilding of african american consciousness. w. e. b dubois is an american negrosocologist, writer and propagandist. he was prominent by means of his sociological studies of the status of the negro in the united states. he rejected the ideas of the negro leader booker t. washington, who believed in slow development through vocational training and assimilation to white culture. w. e. du bois most important contribution is the proposal of the idea “double consciousness.” the greater part of the scholarly literature had been focused specific theme rather than the narrative they comprise, its principal concepts (such as the veil, two-ness, and double-consciousness) rather than their deployment within the text. (wolfenstein 2) in his definition of double consciousness, du bois describes “two-ness” of african americans. this idea was introduced by dubois almost a hundred years ago. in the souls of black folk, w. e. b. dubois stated that there exists a double-consciousness in one black body; for african americans, they dont want to lose either of them, so the conflict of two consciousnesses is inevitable. if the blacks have the desire to survive, they have to learn to think with “two minds”: their own 4 mind and the white peoples mind. they have to be aware of how their actions and value of existence would be determined by the white culture. when the blacks first came to america the first thing they faced is how to make a live or survive in this new world. they had to accept the whites values, culture, and way of living. the struggle to gain an identity them became a struggle to be accepted by the mainstream culture, and to be integrated into that culture. far away from their native culture, and was denied by the white society, the blacks found that they belong to nowhere. they are in an embarrassing condition which called “between worlds”, just like the meaning of “double consciousness” showing the features of african american: it is a peculiar sensation, the double-consciousness, the sense of always looking at ones self through the eyes of others, of measuring ones soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. one ever feels his twoness, -an american, a nergo; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder (du bois 3). the double-consciousness prevents the black from having a simple access to identity. the blacks can never see themselves directly with self-consciousness. african american has the blood of an african but a body of an american. the idea of double consciousness allows african americans to find a kind of balance point between the “african” and “american” self. only by putting them together could one 5 build a complete man. “du bois double consciousness influenced later writers a lot. many great afro-american writers, in whose works, their themes are related closely to the double consciousness which contributed a lot to afro-americans personal life and the struggle that fated afro-americans misery” (wang 16). du bois theory of double consciousness is reflected in richard wright and ralph ellisons works. 3. afro-american male identity identity issue is a complicated issue. african americans identity is even more complex due to their special history and reality. african americans in slavery are treated as subhuman and traded as commodities whose worth could be expressed by money. both male and female slaves are defined out of their identity. the african literary works in the early twentieth century, the protagonists are always male characters, and female character is not appeared as the most important one. later, in some woman writers works such as toni morrisons sula, beloved and the bluest eyes, the protagonists are female, and all these female characters are different and own their characteristics. this thesis is not a gender study, and it focuses on the works in the first half of the twentieth century in which protagonists are male characters. for a long time blacks were enslaved and oppressed, and their literary images were greatly distorted. they were described as docile, submissive and servile slaves and servants. the first most impressive male character appeared in literary works is uncle tom in the novel uncle toms cabin written by mrs. stowe. it is the first time that the slaves living conditions have been exposed in details to the world in the form 6 of literary work and to make the world understands the miserable situations in which the salves were tortured. in this novel, uncle tom suffers disgrace and insults, but he is faithful to their masters and endures sufferings and tortures without a single word of complaint. uncle tom even hopes his master would save him or he would have a better life in the next life after death. he died tragically. however, uncle tom became an image who the whites tried to model blacks after the civil war. then black writers tried to create a new literary image of the blacks in a realistic way. they started the new literary movement, which is called harlem renaissance. before bigger thomas, the hero of native son, the black figure appeared in literary works didnt have their own characteristics. they were always tolerant and timid. compared to the slave tom in stowes uncle toms cabin, bigger thomas and the invisible man are new changing black images in black american literature. unlike uncle tom, bigger thomas has his free will and finds his own way to control the environment he lived in. however, bigger thomas is noticed by the whites through violence. the invisible man explores how the blacks can get their position in the white society in his way. richard wrights native son and ralph ellisons invisible man put forward the development of black literature, and made people to know that black males double-faced identity. b. the representative authors and their novels in the early african american literature, the image of black is defined as the old 7 male slave “uncle tom” in harriet beecher stowes novel uncle toms cabin. until 1940, after the publication of richard wrights native son, a new image of african american man with the rebellious spirit appeared which shocked the whole western literary world. twelve years after the publication of native son, another great novel influenced african american literature again, that is invisible man, written by ralph ellison. the protagonist is a young black male, who has no name and pursuit his identity in the society. richard wright and ralph ellison are both famous african american writers in america. their most important works native son and invisible man have influenced african american literature a lot. both as the most successful novels in the twentieth century, these two books have something in common. the black male characters i these two novels, as a special kind of people in the american society, have an embarrassing situation of living without a way of life. 1. richard wright and native son richard wright (19081960) is one of the most famous african american writers in the twentieth century. as the first protest novel, richard wrights native son is regarded as a turning point in the history of black american literature. the author richard wright was born into the family of nathan and ella wright on september 4, 1908 on a plantation near natchez, mississippi, and was in his childhood living in poverty with his family, especially when his father discarded them for another woman in 1914.wright attended a formal school only when he was fifteen 8 years old, so was for the most time self-teaching himself. before he wrote native son, wright had become a member of the communist party in 1932 in chicago. in a few years, he moved to new york city and published his first book, a collection of short stories, uncle toms children, in 1938. he married dhima rose meadman in 1939, but their marriage lasted only a short time.in 1941, wright married a white woman ellen poplar despite her familys opposition to her marrying a black man. they had two daughters, julia and rachel. he died on november 28, 1960. the inspiration of writing such a novel native son came from wrights life experience. in “how bigger was born”, the introduction to the novel native son, wright said: the birth of bigger thomas goes back to my childhood, and there was not just one bigger, but many of them, more than i could count and more than you suspect (wright xv). he mentioned five bigger thomases in the introduction. the story of native son was based on a real case that wright read in the newspaper about robert nixon who was an 18-year-old african american, accused of brutally murdering five people, one of whom was a woman who he apparently killed with a brick. apart from native son (1940), wright published three other novels during his lifetime, including the outsider (1953), savage holiday (1954), and the long dream (1958). another novel lawd today was published posthumously in 1963 though it was actually his first novel. his main nonfictions include 12 million black voices (1942) centering on the blacks folk history, his autobiography black boy 9 (1945) covering the stories of his childhood and adolescence, the color curtain (1956) dealing with race problems, and white man, listen (1957) emphasizing black culture and politics. after native son was published, it shaked the whole literary world. it even had changed the ways in which african americans and american white people saw each