摘要
美国黑人作家理查德·赖特的代表作《土生子》是美国文学史上的一座里程碑。它不仅成为文学领域的经典之作,也成为文化领域的重要研究课题。本文将作品置于斯皮瓦克的属下理论框架内,围绕小说中不同人物的属下性这个主题对其进行解读。
斯皮瓦克的属下理论主要关注后殖民背景下属下的生存状况和差异性,指出属下男性在主流文化中失声,而属下女性则在主流文化和父权文化的交织中失声。此外,斯皮瓦克还指出了属下不能被代言的问题。
本文运用属下理论,分别结合《土生子》中属下男性,属下女性的具体处境,对他们的属下性进行了解读。通过分析发现,虽然小说主人公Bigger具有属下性,但其身上同时也具有抵制主流文化的特性,一直在寻求独立自我以便发出自己的声音,由于缺乏听者,他发声的努力以失败告终。此外,属下女性在主流文化和父权文化的意识建构中失去了其主体意识,也没有机会发声。小说中的知识分子试图为身为属下的Bigger代言,在代言过程中由于其自身意识的掺杂和交流上的障碍,最终没有达到他们代言的目的。属下主体意识的缺失和发声的失败,最终导致了小说中属下悲剧性的命运。
本文通过对小说的属下理论解读,试图说明:面对主流文化的侵袭,属下须保持其自我意识的独立性,维护其自己发声的权利;主流文化也须给予属下足够的发声空间并倾听他们的声音。
African-American writer Richard Wright’s masterpiece Native Son is a milestone in the history of American literature. Its far-reaching impact enables it not only to be a classical literary work, but also a primary research issue in cultural studies. This thesis aims at carrying a Subaltern study of Native Son by placing it into the framework of Gayatri C. Spivak’s Subaltern theory.
Spivak’s Subaltern theory mainly focuses on the existence and diversity of the Subaltern from the postcolonial perspective. It points out that male subalterns utter no voices under the mainstream culture, while female subalterns are voiceless as well when facing the mainstream culture and the patriarchal culture. Spivak also points out that the Subaltern cannot be spoken for.
Based on the Subaltern theory, this thesis analyzes the subalternity of the main characters in Native Son and finds that the hero Bigger is both a victim of his own subalternity and a rebel against the mainstream culture. He is persistent in seeking his self-independence to utter his own voices, but nobody is willing to be his listeners. Likewise, the female blacks have no opportunity to voice for their self-consciousness lost by the invasion of heterogeneous cultures. On the other hand, the intellectuals such as Jan and Max make an attempt to speak for Bigger. Nonetheless, they fail to achieve their goals due to the communication barriers mingled with their consciousness. The loss of self-consciousness and their voicelessness ultimately lead to the tragic fates of the subalterns.
This interpretation of the subalternity of the main characters of Native Son indicates that the subalterns should keep their independence of self-consciousness in the face of the mainstream culture to maintain the right of uttering their voices, while the mainstream culture should give subalterns sufficient space to utter their voices rather than ignore their voices.
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