（英语语言文学专业论文）洛伦·汉斯贝里《阳光下的葡萄干》的妇女主义解读.pdf

v 摘要 洛伦汉斯贝里（1 9 3 0 - 1 9 6 5 ）是一位活跃于五十年代末、六十年代初的美 国著名黑人女剧作家。她的代表作阳光下的葡萄干根植于普通黑人的生活， 尤其关注黑人女性在种族主义和性别主义双重压迫下的生存状态和为了摆脱苦 难所作的抗争，认为黑人妇女只有勇于反抗性别主义压迫、继承黑人文化传统并 实现与黑人男性的共同成长才能实现包括男人和女人在内的全人类的生存与完 整，这正契合了后来美国著名黑人女作家艾丽斯沃克提出的“妇女主义”理论。 阳光下的葡萄干剧名取自美国黑人桂冠诗人兰斯顿? 休斯的一首诗，诗 中写道： “一个未能实现的梦想会有什么下场？/ 它会不会干瘪枯萎， / 像阳光下 的一颗葡萄干？”此剧虽是汉斯贝里的处女作， 但 1959 年在纽约百老汇一经上 演，便受到高度评价， 纽约时报甚至认为这部话剧“改写了美国的戏剧史” 。 此剧在百老汇上演了 530 场，还改编为电影和歌舞剧，在美国剧坛产生过较大影 响。汉斯贝里凭借这部话剧获得了纽约戏剧评论协会奖，成为唯一一位获此殊荣 的黑人女性。1961 年阳光下的葡萄干被改编成电影，并获得该年度戛纳特 别奖。 该剧以二十世纪四十年代反种族歧视运动为背景， 讲述了一个芝加哥黑人家 庭的故事。杨戈尔一家从父亲的人寿保险中获得了一万美元，母亲希望用这笔钱 搬离贫民窟，在白人居住的地方买一所带花园的房子， 这也正是儿媳露丝所希 望的；女儿贝妮莎想利用这笔钱去上医学院从而实现治病救人的梦想；儿子杨戈 尔则想用这笔钱和朋友一起开创自己的事业，从而跻身于上流社会。最终杨戈尔 拿到了这笔钱，他的合伙人却携款逃之夭夭，全家人对于美好生活的向往就此破 灭了。然而在历经磨难后，大家却相互支撑，相互鼓励，勇敢面对现实，重拾生 活的信念。 此剧涉及美国当时许多重要的社会问题，如黑色美国梦、黑人文化、种族歧 视与种族隔离、黑人妇女的平等权利和非洲的独立运动等，其中体现了鲜明的妇 女主义观点。本文试图从妇女主义的角度分析这部剧作，阐述其中蕴含的妇女主 义思想。导论部分对汉斯贝里及其代表作阳光下的葡萄干进行简要回顾，就 剧作的主题、文献综述、本文的写作意图及文章结构进行了简要介绍，并简述妇 vi 女主义的基本思想和将其应用于对阳光下的葡萄干的文学研究的可行性。正 文共三部分：第一章论述反性别主义对于黑人女性争取平等权利的重要性；第二 章强调对黑人文化传统的继承；第三章则探讨了黑人妇女与黑人男性共同成长， 从而建立平等和谐的黑人社区这一主题。结论部分总结全文，并指出汉斯贝里的 妇女主义思想的深远意义及其对后人产生的启示。 关键词：妇女主义 反性别主义 黑人文化传统 男性的觉醒 iii abstract lorrain hansberry (1930- 1965), a black playwright active in the 1950s and early 1960s, is doubtlessly one of the pioneers who not only holds a womanist opinion strongly but also illustrated it in her ever- lasting work- - a raisin in the sun. hansberry is one of the most prominent female black playwrights in the 1950s american theater. yet her creation career was cut short at the age of 34 because of cancer. nevertheless, she made great contributions to both the afro- american and the world literature by producing five plays and lots of articles, poems and speeches. as one of the oppressed african americans and as a black woman, she herself suffered the same hardships with all the other blacks, especially black women, in the white- dominant society and witnessed their persistent pursuit of freedom and equality. she shows deep sympathy to the black women and puts forward her womanist viewpoint to emancipate them from the state of double oppression. a raisin in the sun is the first drama written by lorraine hansberry but is regarded as her most important work. hansberry derives the title from one of langston hughes poems: “ what happens to a dream deferred? /does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? /.” the drama focuses on the aspirations, dreams, frustrations and hopes of the younger family in which each member has his/her own dream. their dreams are hindered by the racial discrimination and economic deprivation. the postponed dreams of the family are throbbed due to the coming of father s $10,000 insurance check with which each family member has a plan in mind on how to use the money. finally, it ends with the whole family s moving into the new house despite the loss of walter s money and the hostility and threat from the white neighborhoods. the play touches upon many contemporary issues such as the black american dream, the racial discrimination and racial segregation, the inheritance of black culture, black women s social and familial position and the independent movement in africa, among which the womanist perspective is evident but does not receive much attention it deserves in afro- american literature. the thesis is to study the play from a womanist viewpoint. iv this thesis is composed of the following five parts: the first part (introduction) presents a brief introduction to lorraine hansberry as a black female playwright and the synopsis of her a raisin in the sun. also the study of scholars home and abroad on hansberry and her work，the theme，the motive and the structure of the thesis is briefly reviewed. furthermore, the thesis makes a brief study of womanism and states how important it is to put a raisin in the sun in a setting of womanist perspective to understand it better. the body of the thesis consists of three chapters. chapter one discusses the significance of anti- sexism for black women to strive for equality. chapter two focuses on the inheritance of the africa culture for the afro- americans, black women in particular, to strive for their survival and development. chapter three stresses black women s function in the growing up of the black men to ultimately construct an equal and peaceful community in harmony. the conclusion of the thesis is that lorraine hansberry is a womanist playwright and in her masterpiece a raisin in the sun she analyzes black women s suffering from the double oppression, emphasizes the importance of inheriting the black culture and provides a new understanding of the relationship between men and women as a means to the emancipation of women as well as the human race. this is still instructive for today s women in dealing with their relationship with men, no matter what races they belong to. key words: womanism anti- sexism black culture men s growth ii 学位论文原创性声明 本人所提交的学位论文洛伦? 汉斯贝里 的妇女主义解 读 ，是在导师的指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的原创性成果。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研究 成果。本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中标明。 本声明的法律后果由本人承担。 论文作者（签名） ： 指导教师确认（签名） ： 年 月 日 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解河北师范大学有权保留并向国家有关部门或机构 送交学位论文的复印件和磁盘，允许论文被查阅和借阅。本人授权河北师范大学 可以将学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩 印或其它复制手段保存、汇编学位论文。 （保密的学位论文在_年解密后适用本授权书） 论文作者（签名） ： 指导教师（签名） ： 年 月 日 年 月 日 1 introduction lorraine vivian hansberry was born in chicago on may 19, 1930. her mother, nannie perry, was a former schoolteacher as well as a republican ward committeewoman and her father, carl hansberry, was an inventor and former u.s. deputy marshal who later ran for congress. hospitals were required at that time to list the racial identities of newborns; however, upon receiving their daughters birth certificate, hansberrys parents crossed out the word negro and wrote black, an act of minor significance but certainly a testament to the afro- centric ideology that the elder hansberrys bequeathed to their children. the hansberrys were independent, politically active, republican, and well- to- do so that their children grew up in a comfortable atmosphere to get access to many literary works and some famous african american cultural, social and political celebrities who came from all walks of black life: businessmen, bankers, community activists, aldermen, educators from africa, as well as such extraordinary national figures as langston hughes, walter white, paul robeson, duke ellington, jesse owens and w.e.b. dubois. all these supplied a fertile soil nurturing lorraine hansberry s love for literature and for the black people who suffered from racial discrimination and suppression. as a center of black political, cultural and economic life, hansberry s home cultivated her awareness that would subsequently feature in her drama. in possession of the hansberry real estate syndicate valued at 250,000,00, the hansberry family belonged to upper middle- class, although at that time belonging to that class was the exception for black families. in 1941, its business was one of the largest black- owned real estate enterprises in the midwest. hansberry was born into relative affluence; however, she was never comfortable with her rich girl status, identifying instead with the children of the poor. although she never lived in a younger household in which the characters do not know the middle- class comforts of the hansberry family, she closely observed such households throughout her childhood and in her plays she focuses on the class of black people whom she cared 2 most about. hansberrys father not only established one of the first black savings banks in chicago, but also was a successful real estate businessman. always politically active, he challenged a supreme court decision against integration and won his right to purchase a house in an exclusive chicago white neighborhood where no other blacks lived. in spite of the triumph, the family was threatened by their hostile neighbors. shortly afterward, hansberry herself was nearly killed by a brick hurled through a window by angry whites. in order to protect her family from the violence of racism, her mother stood guard many times with a loaded gun. such traumatic memories were probably a part of the reason why hansberry included into her a raisin in the sun the theme of a black familys courage of moving into a hostile neighborhood where the blacks are discriminated against and repelled by the whites. after graduating from the university of wisconsin, she attended the art institute of chicago, roosevelt college, the new school of social research in new york, and studied art in guadalajara, mexico. in new y ork, she worked on the staff of freedom (a progressive black magazine) as a reporter, hung around the theater, read plays, and honed her craft. several critics have noted that hansberrys artwork, her drawings and sketches, is almost as noteworthy as her writing. in 1953 she married robert nemiroff and participated in the leftist political events of the time. later hansberry settled down to write her first play a raisin in the sun, whose title was taken from one of langston hughes poem, harlem, which declared that a dream deferred might dry up / like a raisin in the sun. 1 hansberry was touched deeply by her fathers death at the age of fifty- one. she often said that it was perhaps her fathers constant baffle with the forces of racism that hastened his early death. interestingly, the cause and effect of much of the action in a raisin in the sun evolves as a consequence of the death of big walter, a character whom the audience never sees, but much of the dialogues contains references to him. hansberry also wrote another play the sign in sidney brusteins window. she left behind three unfinished plays the drinking gourd, what use are flowers? and les blancs, and an unfinished semi- autobiographical novel. she never produced a large 3 body of work because cancer cut short her career at the age of 35. after she died, her letters and writings were collected, published, and produced as to be young, gifted, and black, and later les blancs. she wrote many articles and essays as well on racism，homophobia，world peace and other social and political issues, all of which quickly made her a central female figure in african american literature. hansberrys untimely death on january 12, 1965 shocked the new york scene of artists and the future black arts movement supporters. she left behind a void in american theater and in the circle of black writers. the black theater in america has existed for a long time. however, like other aspects of the black history, its development was deferred endlessly because of restrictions and prohibitions. the blacks, both artists and audience, were excluded from the theater. since the harlem renaissance, however, with the emergence of more black theaters and professional black playwrights, more and more novels and plays written by and about the blacks have appeared, creating all types of new negro images rather than stereotypes. a raisin in the sun was the product under such circumstances. a raisin in the sun was finished in 1957 and opened on march 11, 1959, at the ethel barrymore theater. being praised enthusiastically by broadway critics and audiences, the play is unique in several respects. it was the first, and also the longest running play written and directed by an african- american woman to be produced and to have an all- black cast as well as the first play with a black director on broadway. when it won the new york drama circle award for the best new drama of 1959, hansberry became the first black woman and the youngest recipient ever to receive that honor. the play was made into a movie, which was released in 1960, with a script by hansberry and won an award at cannes. later a raisin in the sun was revised as the musical raisin and ran on broadway from october 1973 until december 1975 for 847 performances. it won the tony and grammy awards as best musical and toured 50 cities. it was so well received that the mayors of the cities and the governors of the states in which it toured often proclaimed the shows arrival as lorraine hansberry day. in 1989, the public broadcasting service s television production of a raisin in 4 the sun was first aired to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the play s broadway opening. according to new york times drama critic frank rich, a raisin in the sun changed american theater foreverand by posing all her concernsthat portrayed a black family with greater realism and complexityon an american stage 3 since its broadway debut, a raisin in the sun has been translated into over thirty languages and has been produced in such culturally diverse places as china, the former czechoslovakia, the former soviet union and so on. its universal appeal defies, in retrospect, some of the early critics views of the play as being simply a play about negroes. although the play addresses specific problems of a black family in southside chicago, it also mirrors the very real problems of all people. in an interview with social historian studs terkel, hansberry explains, in order to create the universal, you must pay very close attention to the specific. 4 a raisin in the sun tells the story of a lower- class black familys struggle in a society of racial discrimination to gain acceptance, independence and racial dignity. when the play opens, lena, the sixty- year- old mother of the family, is waiting for a $10,000 insurance check from the death of her husband, and the drama focuses primarily on how the $10,000 should be spent. the son, walter lee younger, is so desperate for success that he wants to invest the entire sum in a liquor store. the mother is vehemently opposed to the idea of selling liquor mainly for ethical reasons. minor conflicts erupt over their disagreements. mama tells the family that she put a down payment on a house in clybourne park with the insurance money, so that walter s son will one day be able to grow up to become a man with property. the entire family is concerned about the location because it is an all white neighborhood. walter is upset and wonders why he can never be the one in charge of all actions. her conflict with walter escalates and causes her deep anguish. while mama is out, karl lindner, a white businessman and representative of the clybourne park welcoming committee comes to the younger household under the false auspices of brotherhood, and offers to pay them off for not moving into the house, but is uncompromisingly refused. 5 in an attempt to make things right between herself and her son, mama entrusts walter with the rest of the money. he immediately invests it secretly in his liquor store scheme, believing that he will perhaps quadruple his initial investment. one of his prospective business partners, however, runs off with the money. the loss tests the spiritual and psychological mettle of each family member. walter decides to accept the money offered by lindner, which means undoubtedly to sell his soul and his pride. nevertheless, in the end, with the encouragement of the whole family and due to his pride from his african roots and ancestors, walter lee transforms into a mature man of pride and regains his almost- lost manhood and dignity. he miraculously tells lindner that his family cannot be bought. after much wavering and vacillating, the youngers are united again because of the mutual understanding between the family members. they decide to continue with their plan to move despite their financial reversals and their having been warned that blacks are not welcomed there. as lorraine hansberry s first but the most famous play, a raisin in the sun exploded onto american theater scene with such force that it garnered for the then- unknown black female playwright the new york drama circle critics award for best play of the year (1958- 1959)- - defeating such luminous competition as tennessee williams sweet bird of youth, eugene oneills a touch of the poet, and archibald mcleish s j.b. also she won the outer critics award for 1950 for best off- broadway play. compared to arthur millers death of a salesman, a raisin in the sun elicits the similar emotions of fury and true americanism, and is hailed as a visionary work of art. some critics viewed the drama as a classic, which changed the landscape of the american theater forever by spotlighting such issues as racial injustice, the changing status of women, sexism, african independence, and colonialism- - all in a passionate and realistic portrayal of black family life. but how did hansberry s play accomplish this revolution, and what did the audience take away from it? a survey of scholarly work on the play reveals the scope of reactions. carter cites critics who feel a raisin in the sun intended to “ convince whites that blacks were exactly like them,” 5 and to demonstrate that integration was the key to the elimination of racial injustice. in part, this reading was based on a 6 remark hansberry made in an interview in which she asserted that her play was not merely a “ negro play, it was about honest- to- god, believable, many- sided people who happened to be negroes” .6this led some people to praise the drama for its “ universal” vision, which moves beyond sheer concerns with white and black to a hope for unity and survival just like that in miller s death of a salesman, where the family provides a medium for the playwright to probe the modern existential condition and to argue for human sympathy and understanding. however, literary critics like mckelly note that the reason why a raisin in the sun was accepte