摘要
路易斯·厄德里克的小说中出现了大量贫困形象,这背离了美国全民中产的主流话语,凸显了美国本土裔在整个经济结构中的不利地位。某种程度上,厄德里克试图对贫困的传统刻板形象进行修改,将个体的品质与经济状况隔离,但是在脱离种族因素外,她又强化了家庭教育与道德品质同贫困的关联,这无疑就顺应了美国主流文化对穷人的想象和焦虑。
A lot of poor people appear in Louise Erdrich's novels,which constitutes a challenge to the notion of classlessness in American mainstream discourse and highlights the disadvantage of native Americans in the overall economic structure. To some degree,Erdrich also attempts to modify the stereotype of poor people through disconnecting one's economic status and his individual character. However,when race doesn't come in,association of one's poverty with his family education and moral quality is emphasized,which undoubtedly reflects the mainstream's imagination and anxiety towards the poor in this country.
引文
[1]Patricia Kasari. The Impact of Occupational Dislocation:The American Indian Labor Force at the Close of the Twentieth Century[M]. Boston:South End Press,1999.
[2]Louise Erdrich. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse[M]. New York:Harper Perennial,2009.
[3]Louise Erdrich. The Painted Drum[M]. New York:Harper Perennial,2005.
[4]Louise Erdrich. Love Medicine[M]. New York:Bantam Books Inc.,1993.
[5]Louise Erdrich. The Bingo Palace[M]. New York:Harper Perennial,1995.
[6]Fiona Devine,Mike Savage. Rethinking Class:Culture,Identities and Lifestyles[M]. New York:Palgrave Macmillan,2004.
[7]Stephanie Lawler. Disgusted Subjects:The Making of Middle-class Identities[J]. The Sociological Review 53:3,(2005).
[8]Louise Erdrich. The Master Butchers Singing Club[M]. New York:Harper Perennial,2003.
[9]Lisa Orr. Transforming American Realism:Working-Class Women Writers of the Twentieth Century[M]. New York:University Press of America,2007.
(1)是美国政府在1880年至20世纪30年代针对美国本土裔裔人实行的教育制度。该政策的初衷是按照欧美的教育机制对自留地上的孩子进行教育,教育过程中要求本土裔裔孩子改变原来的装束打扮,不容许他们讲本土裔裔语言,改掉原来的本土裔裔特征姓名。对于很多本土裔裔年轻人来说,这种教育极其粗暴,特别是他们被要求离开父母,而且他们被鼓励忘掉自己的本土裔裔文化与身份,接受欧美文化身份。现在大多数本土裔裔批评中,这种教育机制都受到了严厉批判,被认为是对本土裔裔人群的强制性文化殖民政策。也有部分学者认为这对于改善本土裔人的生活和意识都有一定的积极作用,早期很多知名本土裔批评家和作家就是当时寄宿学校的产物。
(1)根据小说内容,此女性人物走路时迈的步伐比一般人大,而且她总喜欢夜晚时在小镇上四处搜寻垃圾,所以人们称她为Step-and-a-Half(“一步半”)。