美國“黑人文學”對自我身份的探尋——以拉爾夫埃利森《看不見的人》為例畢業(yè)論文1

1、theseeking ofafrican-american literaturesidentityby theexample ofinvisiblemanliu conghuiacknowledgementsupon the fulfillment of my paper, i would like to express myheartfeltgratitude to those who have given me tremendous support andencouragement.first of all,iam greatly indebted to my supervisor, hu

2、ang xiaoli, who not only proofread my proofead my dissertation in great detail, but also provided me withinvaluableguidancein my study over the pass four years ,ithank her for her enlightening instructions, for her generosity inspendingherprecioustime discussing with me the questions involvedin this

3、 thesis as well as for her constant encouragement which is a kind of invisible strengthin my writing thethesis.my gratefulness also goes to professor and many other respectable teachers in the english department of university of science and technology,liaoning, for their insightful lectures and acad

4、emic intelligence.finallyand most importantly,iwould give my deep gratitude to myparentsfor their love as well as devoted support and encouragement all these years.contents美國“黑人文學”對自我身份的探尋以拉爾夫埃利森看不見的人為例摘要看不見的人是拉爾夫埃利森花費七年嘔心瀝血完成的唯一一部長篇小說，自1952年第一次出版時，被譽為劃時代的小說，可以說是現(xiàn)代美國黑人生活的史詩。一些主要的書評報刊，如紐約時報、時代、星期六評論都

5、高度贊揚了這部小說，一致認為它具有重要的文學價值，是美國黑人文學史上具有里程碑意義的小說，被譽為“劃時代的小說，可以說是現(xiàn)代美國黑人生活的詩史”。作者拉爾夫埃里森也是因為這本書贏得了不朽的名聲。看不見的人是一部黑人小說，同時也是一部典型的以身份危機作為主題的小說。整部小說就是主人公，作為現(xiàn)代人的美國黑人，講述他自己如何探索、尋找自我身份的生活歷程。小說采用了“看不見”的表現(xiàn)形式，著重表現(xiàn)主人公所感受的精神壓抑，描繪心理異化的過程，以主人公從天真幼稚走向認識成熟并最終覺醒所蒙受的苦難為故事主線，著重分析了主人公“我”探索自我身份所做出的努力，以及作為現(xiàn)代人的美國黑人在探尋自我身份過程中的異化感和

6、自我身份的失落。本文主要通過闡述看不見的人這部作品中主人公迷失及尋找自我的生活歷程，探究其在當時的社會背景下如何迷失自我和迷失自我的原因，包括種族、社會及自身的原因。并論述如何探尋自我身份和探尋自我身份的深遠意義。不僅使讀者對這部作品有更深刻的了解，并對自我身份的探尋有更多的認識與思考。因此，對自我身份的探尋具有深刻意義，啟迪我們要正確認識自我，實現(xiàn)自我價值。關(guān)鍵詞：迷失；自我身份；探尋theseeking ofafrican-american literaturesidentityby theexample ofinvisiblemanabstractinvisible man is the

7、 only saga novel of ralph ellison who has spent as long as seven years dedicating to finish. it has been hailed as one of the epoch-making novels and epic of the modern american blacks lives. some of the major newspapers such as times, newyork times, comments on saturday etc, highly praise this nove

8、l for having important literary value and regasrd it as the remark of black american literary history. the author ralph ellison also won immortal fame for this book.invisible man is a black novel and ,at the same time, a typical one with identity as the theme of it. the novel is about the journey of

9、 the protagonist explores and searches for his own identity as a modern black american. the novel takes the “invisible” from as an expression, pays more attention to the spiritual depression that the protagonist has always sensed perceived and describes the process of psychological dissimilation. th

10、is novel takes the protagonists persuit for his ego identity, as well as the enlightenment of modern human beings seeking for self identity and sense of alienation which make ellisons novel deeper in theme and more profound influence than geneal black novels. through the analysis of the narrators li

11、fe experience of losing andlooking for his identity, this paperpointsout that how the narrator lost his identity and the reasons of losing identity including racism, the society and the narrator himself.then discuss how the narrator looks for his identity and the meaning of seeking ones identity.rea

12、derscannot onlyhavea moreprofoundunderstanding of the novel, but alsohave more thinking about seeking ones identity.therefore, there is adeepermeaning of seeking ones identity, all abovethese,ittellsusthatwe should have right self-recognitionand achieve self-realization.key words:lost;identity;seeki

13、ngcontents摘要abstractcontentsintroduction1. aboutralph waldo ellison andinvisible man1.1 ralph waldo ellison1.2invisible man2.thelost ofthenarrators identity2.1 the confusion of the society2.2 the confusion of the narrator himself3. the reasons of the lost of the narrators identity3.1 racism3.2 the i

14、mpact ofamerican culture3.3 theinfluence of the narrator himself4. search for identity4.1his awakening4.2 his freedom4.3 his responsibilityconclusionbibliographyacknowledgements1. introduction1.1ralph waldo ellisonralph waldo ellison(march 1, 1914 april 16, 1994) was an american novelist, literary c

15、ritic, scholar and writer. he was born in oklahoma city,after his third year, ellison moved to new york city to study the visual arts. he made acquaintance with the author richard wright, with whom he would have a long and complicated relationship. after ellison wrote a book review for wright, wrigh

16、t encouraged ellison to pursue a career in writing, specifically fiction. the first published story written by ellison was a short story entitled hymies bull. from 1937 to 1944 ellison had over twenty book reviews as well as short stories and articles published in magazines such asnew challengeandne

17、w masses.whenworldwar ii was nearing its end,ellisonwasreluctant to serve in the segregated army, chose merchant marine service over the draft.ellison is best known for his novelinvisible man, which was published in 1952 and won the national book award in 1953.in 1964, ellison publishedshadow and ac

18、t,a collection of essays, and began to teach at rutgers university and yale university,while continuing to work on his novel.in 1967, ellison experienced a major house fire at his home inplainfieldmassachusetts, in which he claimed more than 300 pages of his second novel manuscript were lost. writin

19、g essays about both the black experience and his love for jazz music, ellison continued to receive major awards for his work. in 1969 he received the presidential medal of freedom; the following year, he was made a chevalier of the ordre des arts et des lettres by france and became a permanent membe

20、r of the faculty at new york universityas the albert schweitzer professor of humanities, serving from 1970 to 1980.in 1975, ellison was elected to the american academy of arts and letters and his hometown of oklahoma city honored him with the dedication of the ralph waldo ellison library. continuing

21、 to teach, ellison published mostly essays, and in 1984, he received the new york city colleges langston hughes medal. in 1985, he was awarded the national medal of arts. in 1986, hisgoing to the territorywas published. this is a collection of seventeen essays that included insight into southern nov

22、elist william faulkner and ellisons friend rich wright, as well as the music of duke ellington and the contributions of african americans to americas national identity.1.2invisible maninvisible manis anovel written by ralph ellisonin 1952. it addresses many of the social and intellectual issues faci

23、ng african-americans early in the twentieth century, includingblack nationalism,the relationship between black identity and marxism, and the reformist racial policies of booker t. washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity.invisible manwon the u.s. national book award for f

24、iction in 1953. in 1998, the modern library rankedinvisible mannineteenth on its list of the 100 best english-language novels of the 20th century.timemagazine included the novel in its time 100 best english-language novels from 1923 to 2005.invisible manwas a book that changed the way white american

25、s thought about black americans.it also changed the way black americans thought about themselves.and it caused major disputes among both black andwhitecritics.critic harold bloom considersinvisible manone of the finest american novels of the 20th century.like many other novels, ellisons story is a s

26、eries of experiences as the storyteller learns to deal with life.yet, unlike other novels,invisible mantakes place in a dream-like atmosphere in the united states.it is a world where dreams come close to reality, and the real world looks like a frightening dream.the man telling his story ininvisible

27、 manlives in a hidden underground space.but to prove that he exists, at least to himself, he has lit his underground room with one thousand three hundred sixty-nine lights.they remain lit with power he has stolenfrom the electric company.in much of ellisons novel the person telling the story is a vi

28、ctim, usually of white people, but also of some blacks.he both loves and hates the world.he plans some day to leave his underground shelter.he says that as a man he is willing to believe that“even the invisible victim is responsible for the fate of all.”the man telling the story says that as a boy,

29、white men covered his eyes with a cloth.the white men tell the boy to blindly fight other black boys.the blacksare forced to fight each other to please whites.at the end of novel the story has moved from the american south to north.there are riots in harlem, the black area of new york city.instead o

30、f ten black children fighting each other blindly, grown black men are batting each other tothedeath.black still are having their strength turned upon themselves.2. the lost of the narrators identity2.1theconfusionof societyin the late 1920s or early 1930s, the narratorlived in the south.sincehe is a

31、favored public speaker, he is invited tomakea speech to a group of important white men in his town. thesemen reward him with a briefcase containing a scholarship to a prestigious blackcollege, but only after humiliating him by forcing him to fight in a “battle royal” in which he is pitted against ot

32、her young black men, allblindfolded, in a boxing ring. after the battle royal, the white men force the youths to scramble over an electrified rug in order to snatch at fake gold coins. the narrator has a dream that night in which he imagines that his scholarship is actually a piece of paper reading

33、“to whom it may concern . . . keep this nigger-boy running.”three years later, the narratorbecomea student at the college. he is asked to drive a wealthy white trustee of the college, mr. norton, around the campus. norton talks incessantly about his daughter, and then shows an undue interest in the

34、narrative of jim true blood, a poor, uneducated black man who impregnated his own daughter. after hearing this story, norton needs a drink, and the narrator takes him to the golden day, a saloon and brothel that normally serves black men. a fight breaks out among a group of mentally imbalanced black

35、 veterans at the bar, and norton passes out during the chaos. he is tended by one of the veterans, who claim to be a doctor and who taunts both norton and the narrator for their blindness regarding race relations.back at the college, the narrator listens to a long, impassioned sermon by the reverend

36、 homer a. barbee on the subject of the colleges founder, whom the blind barbee glorifies with poetic language. after the sermon, the narrator is chastised by the college president, dr. bledsoe, who has learned of the narrators misadventures with norton at the old slave quarters and the golden day. b

37、ledsoe rebukes the narrator, saying that he should have shown the white man an idealized version of black life. he expels the narrator, giving him seven letters of recommendation addressed to the colleges white trustees in new york city, and sends him there in search of a job.the narrator travels to

38、 the bright lights and bustle of 1930s harlem, where he looks unsuccessfully for work. the letters of recommendation are of no help. at last, the narrator goes to the office of one of his letters addressees, a trustee named mr. emerson. there he meets emersons son, who opens the letter and tells the

39、 narrator that he has been betrayed: the letters from bledsoe actually portray the narrator as dishonorable and unreliable. the young emerson helps the narrator to get a low-paying job at the liberty paints plant, whose trademark color is “optic white.” the narrator briefly serves as an assistant to

40、 lucius brockway, the black man who makes this white paint, but brockway suspects him of joining in union activities and turns on him. the two men fight, neglecting the paint-making; consequently, one of the unattended tanks explodes, and the narrator is knocked unconscious.2.2 the confusion ofthe n

41、arratorhimselfthe narrator wakes in the paint factorys hospital, having temporarily lost his memory and ability to speak. the white doctors seize the arrival of their unidentified black patient as an opportunity to conduct electric shock experiments. after the narrator recovers his memory and leaves

42、 the hospital, he collapses on the street. some black community members take him to the home of mary, a kind woman who lets him live with her for free in harlem and nurtures his sense of black heritage. one day, the narrator witnesses the eviction of an elderly black couple from their harlem apartme

43、nt. standing before the crowd of people gathered before the apartment, he gives an impassioned speech against the eviction. brother jack overhears his speech and offers him a position as a spokesman for the brotherhood, a political organization that allegedly works to help the socially oppressed. af

44、ter initially rejecting the offer, the narrator takes the job in order to pay mary back for her hospitality. but the brotherhood demands that the narrator take a new name, break with his past, and move to a new apartment. the narrator is inducted into the brotherhood at a party at the chthonian hote

45、l and is placed in charge of advancing the groups goals in harlem.after being trained in rhetoric by a white member of the group named brotherhambro, the narrator goes to his assigned branch in harlem, where he meets the handsome, intelligent black youth leader tod clifton. he also becomes familiar

46、with the black nationalist leader ras the exhorter, who opposes the interracial brotherhood and believes that blackamericansshould fight for their rights over and against all whites. the narrator delivers speeches and becomes a high-profile figure in the brotherhood, and he enjoys his work. one day,

47、 however, he receives an anonymous note warning him to remember his place as a black man in the brotherhood. not long after, the black brotherhood member brother wrestrum accuses the narrator of trying to use the brotherhood to advance a selfish desire for personal distinction. while a committee of

48、the brotherhood investigates the charges, the organization moves the narrator to another post, as an advocate of womens rights. after giving a speech one evening, he is seduced by one of the white women at the gathering, who attempts to use him to play out her sexual fantasies about black men.after

49、a short time, the brotherhood sends the narrator back to harlem, where he discovers that clifton has disappeared. many other black members have left the group, as much of the harlem community feels that the brotherhood has betrayed their interests. the narrator finds clifton on the street selling da

50、ncing “sambo” dollsdolls that invoke the stereotype of the lazy and obsequious slave. clifton apparently does not have a permit to sell his wares on the street. white policemen accost him and, after a scuffle, shoot him dead as the narrator and others look on. on his own initiative, the narrator hol

51、ds a funeral for clifton and gives a speech in which he portrays his dead friend as a hero, galvanizing public sentiment in cliftons favor. the brotherhood is furious with him for staging the funeral without permission, and jack harshly castigates him. as jack rants about the brotherhoods ideologica

52、l stance, a glass eye falls from one of his eye sockets. the brotherhood sends the narrator back to brother hambro to learn about the organizations new strategies in harlem.the narrator leaves feeling furious and anxious to gain revenge on jack and the brotherhood. he arrives in harlem to find the n

53、eighborhood in ever-increased agitation over race relations. ras confronts him, deploring the brotherhoods failure to draw on the momentum generated by cliftons funeral. ras sends his men to beat up the narrator, and the narrator is forced to disguise himself in dark glasses and a hat. in his dark g

54、lasses, many people on the streets mistake him for someone named rinehart, who seems to be a pimp, bookie, lover, and reverend all at once. at last, the narrator goes to brother hambros apartment, where hambro tells him that the brotherhood has chosen not to emphasize harlem and the black movement.

55、he cynically declares that people are merely tools and that the larger interests of the brotherhood are more important than any individual. recalling advice given to him by his grandfather, the narrator determines to undermine the brotherhood by seeming to go along with them completely. he decides t

56、o flatter and seduce a woman close to one of the party leaders in order to obtain secret information about the group.but the woman he chooses, sybil, knows nothing about the brotherhood and attempts to use the narrator to fulfill her fantasy of being raped by a black man. while still with sybil in h

57、is apartment, the narrator receives a call asking him to come to harlem quickly. the narrator hears the sound of breaking glass, and the line goes dead. he arrives in harlem to find the neighborhood in the midst of a full-fledged riot, which he learns was incited by ras. the narrator becomes involve

58、d in setting fire to a tenement building. running from the scene of the crime, he encounters ras, dressed as an african chieftain. ras calls for the narrator to be lynched. the narrator flees, only to encounter two policemen, who suspect that his briefcase contains loot from the riots. in his attempt to evade them, the narrator falls down a manhole. the police mock him and draw the cover ov