（英语语言文学专业论文）种族政治的隐喻：佩特里《大街》与《狭处》中的黑皮肤与金头发意象评析.pdf

iv 提提 要要 安 佩特里（1908-1997）是当代美国文坛著名的非裔女作家。她的作品得 到读者与评论家的一致认可。佩特里的主要成就在小说。迄今为止，佩特里研 究主要集中在美国，国内系统的研究仍不多见。她的代表作大街是国外佩 特里研究的焦点。 小说发表之初， 评论界将它定位为抗议小说。 1970 年代以来， 评论家抛开该定论，重新审视这部小说。目前该小说的研究已经从单一化走向 多元化（欧文 24）。评论界对小说中诸如美国梦、女性的反抗以及城市对现代 人的感官冲击等主题关注较多。佩特里最出色的小说狭处一直未能得到应 有的关注。目前该小说研究仅限于零星的主题研究，如其中的新英格兰传统、 反私刑等主题的探讨。 本论文将要探讨的大街和狭处就情节而言有很大不同。大街 讲述的是一位黑人单身母亲（卢蒂）希望通过自己的力量在城市中寻找更好的 生活空间，但在种族、阶级、性别的多重压迫下，她的梦想一步一步地破灭。 在故事结尾，卢蒂因自卫而杀人，因此不可避免地导致了她的悲剧。狭处 讲述的则是黑人历史学毕业生林克与一个美丽的白人女子卡米洛之间的爱情故 事。在故事的结尾，卡米洛的丈夫和母亲因受不了侮辱而用私刑处死林克。同 时，两部小说之间存在相似之处。相关评论中探讨最多的是：两部小说都是阐 释美国黑人如何受到种族、阶级、和性别三重压迫的最好例证。一些评论者还 注意到，两部小说中次要女性角色和主要角色有很大不同，她们是颠覆的力量。 笔者通过文本细读发现，大街中的卢蒂与狭处中的林克之间的相 似之处只是问题的表象。一方面，两人从小都受到黑人文化传统的熏陶。卢蒂 逐渐抛弃黑人文化并因此付出代价；而林克对黑人文化有日益坚定的信念，因 此受益匪浅。另一方面，虽然卢蒂与林克都受到白人的种族压迫，但他们对金 色头发情有独钟。卢蒂盲目地接受白人价值观，因此，她的梦想是注定要破灭 的。当梦想破灭时，卢蒂用暴力回击压迫她的白人，从而葬送了她自己的前途。 相反地，林克既认同黑色皮肤美，也欣赏白色皮肤美。对种族问题林克有他自 己的见解，从而能不偏不倚地审视种族歧视并对此做出明智的回应。林克先是 被卡米洛称为“黑鬼的私生子”，之后又面临私刑。然而他克制内心的愤怒， 宽恕了卡米洛，并用非暴力的方式回击她的丈夫和母亲。虽然在小说的末尾， v 林克以死亡告终，但他的死给养母艾比上了一堂种族问题的课，因此意义非凡。 笔者认为，佩特里通过两个视觉意象（黑皮肤和金头发）或两个种族政治 隐喻来体现她对种族问题的思考。小说人物卢蒂和林克对黑皮肤和金头发意象 的不同回应隐含了作家的种族立场。首先，佩特里认为美国黑人应该认同他们 的传统文化，以便在白人世界树立自信、确认身份。其次，妥协策略或暴力手 段都不是解决种族问题的出路；必要时非暴力回击方式最为可取。最后，种族 冲突的解决需要黑人、白人双方相互理解、相互宽容并共同努力。 另外，笔者还注意到：美国黑人文学具有书写肤色和理想头发意象的传统。 换言之，美国黑人文学中存在肤色范式与理想头发范式。佩特里继续父辈这一 传统，并在小说中重新诠释这两个视觉意象的范式。大街和狭处中的 黑皮肤范式与金头发范式迥然不一，这是佩特里为解决种族问题而做出不懈努 力的最好证明。 本论文共分成五部分。第一部分为引言。本部分包括安 佩特里简介、文献 综述以及本论文的研究目标。第一章简述两个视觉意象（肤色和头发）的文化、 文学内涵，并以此作为本论文的理论基础。第二章分析大街和狭处中 的黑皮肤意象。通过这一隐喻，小说凸显了美国黑人文化对非裔美国人的重要 意义。第三章分析两部小说中的金头发意象。通过这一隐喻，佩特里似乎说明， 要求得种族间的和睦共处就应坚持非暴力还击策略，并强调种族之间的相互理 解与宽容。最后一部分是结论部分。结论强调，作为种族政治的隐喻，黑皮肤 与金头发意象揭示了作家在美国种族冲突问题上所做的深刻思考。佩特里在两 部小说中呈现的不同视觉意象范式表明：美国在作家所处的时代已初具种族融 合的趋势。 关键词：关键词：大街，狭处，黑皮肤，金头发，隐喻，种族政治 i synopsis ann petry (1908-1997) is a prominent contemporary writer of afro-american origin. her works have been warmly received by readers and critics. petrys fame primarily lies in her novels. researches on petry have been done mostly by american scholars so far. yet no systematic researches have been found in china. her best-known novel, the street, is the focus of petry study. it fell into the category of protest novels at its publication. since the 1970s, critics have moved “beyond any set patterns of criticism to arrive at various conclusions about her and the novel” (ervin xxiv). thematic elements such as american dream, female subversion and sensual assault in the city have been discussed so far. petrys finest novel, the narrows, yet fails to receive the criticism it deserves. the street and the narrows, which will be analyzed in the thesis, differ a lot from each other in terms of the plot. the street centers on lutie, a black single mother whose struggle for a better life in the 116th street of harlem is frustrated by the discrimination against her. boiled with rage, lutie commits murder in self-defense, which inevitably leads to her destruction. the narrows revolves around the illicit love between link, a black history major, and camilo, a white beauty. failing to swallow such an insult, camilos husband and her mother lynch link at the end of the novel. however, the two novels do share some similarities, which have invited some critical attention. one dominating interpretation is that both texts are good demonstrations of how race, class and gender affect african americans life. the other is that the minor female characters in these two novels, standing in stark contrast against the heroines, are subversive forces. this thesis discloses some similarities between the two protagonists and examines the essential differences beneath those surface similarities. for one thing, both protagonists are exposed to afro-american heritage at a young age. lutie abandons her black culture gradually and suffers from it, while link has a firm belief in his black culture and profits from it. for another, both lutie and link are admirers ii of golden hair though both are discriminated by their golden-haired counterparts. lutie accepts the whites values blindly, so her dream is doomed to failure. lutie responds to the discrimination against her violently, which results in her tragic fate. on the contrary, link appreciates white beauty as well as black beauty. he has a sound understanding of racial issues, which enables him to examine racial discrimination impartially. when branded as a black bastard and then confronted with lynching, link overcomes his anger, chooses to be lenient to camilo and fights back non-violently. he dies at the end of the novel, yet his death gives his adoptive mother abbie a lesson on racial issues. the author of this thesis holds that petry presents her reflections on racial issues with two metaphors of racial politics, i.e. the dark skin image and the golden hair image. with a juxtaposition of lutie and link as to their different responses to these two metaphorical images, petry succeeds in outlining her racial politics. firstly, the african americans should identify themselves with their culture for building their confidence and identity in the white-dominant world. secondly, neither compromise nor violence settles racial conflicts. fighting back nonviolently should be the wisest way to respond to racial discrimination. lastly, the improvement of racial relationship needs joint efforts from the blacks and the whites. the author of this thesis agrees that african american literature has established its tradition of depicting dark skin and golden hair images, or paradigms of dark skin and good hair. picking up her fathers tradition, petry renews her paradigms of these two images in her novels. the changing paradigms in the street and the narrows suggest petrys untiring efforts to solve racial problems. there are five parts in this thesis: the first part, “introduction”, includes a brief introduction to ann petry, literature review, and the research target of the thesis. the author of this thesis holds that a close study on petrys most important novels will significantly attribute to ann petry study. chapter one presents an overview of cultural and literary tradition of the two visual images, skin color and hair, which serves as the theoretical basis of the thesis. iii examining petry in the african american cultural and literary traditions will affect a more comprehensive understanding of her works. chapter two concentrates on the dark skin image, one metaphor of petrys racial politics, in the street and the narrows after brief introductions to the two novels. with the metaphorical implication of dark skin, petry highlights the significance of black culture for afro-americans. chapter three is an analysis of the golden-hair image, another metaphor of petrys racial politics, in the two novels. with the golden hair image, petry implies that the blacks should fight back nonviolently and a peaceful coexistence between the colored and the whites depends on mutual understanding. the thesis ends with a concise conclusion. the author of this thesis holds that the two metaphors of racial politics reveal petrys efforts to settle racial conflicts. in addition, petrys varied paradigms of the two images in the two novels demonstrate the changing values of her time, which witnessed a blending tendency between the blacks and the whites. key words: the street, the narrows, dark skin, golden hair, metaphor, racial politics 原创性声明 原创性声明 本人声明兹呈交的学位论文是本人在导师指导下完成的研究成 果。论文写作中不包含其他人已经发表或撰写过的研究内容，如参考 他人或集体的科研成果，均在论文中以明确的方式说明。本人依法享 有和承担由此论文所产生的权利和责任。 学位论文作者签名： 日期： 学位论文版权使用授权声明 学位论文版权使用授权声明 本人同意授权华侨大学有权保留并向国家机关或机构送交学 位论文和磁盘，允许学位论文被查阅和借阅。 论文作者签名： 指导教师签名： 签 名 日 期： 签 名 日 期： 1 introduction 0. 1 the author 0.1.1 petrys life ann lane petry was born in 1908 into a prominent african american pharmacist family in a white community of old saybrook, connecticut. her parents status in the community shielded her from blatant cases of racial abuse and hatred. petry received her phd degree from the university of connecticut in 1931 and worked in the family business from 1931 to 1938. the would-be writer married george petry in 1938, and then the couple settled in harlem, where she worked for such harlem newspapers as the amsterdam news and the peoples voice. from 1944 to 1946, petry studied creative writing at columbia university. her inspiration came from both stories about her family history and her juggling life in harlem. in 1947, petry returned to old saybrook, where she lived until her death in 1997, with some temporary absence to work as a visiting professor. 0.1.2 petrys oeuvre her publications include many articles and book reviews, four childrens books, sixteen short stories, thirteen of which make up the collection miss muriel and other stories (1971), and three novels, the street (1946), country place (1947), and the narrows (1953). 0.1.3 petrys literary status petry enjoys high popularity with readers at home and abroad. both the street and the narrow soared in sales of over a million copies when they were published, thus making petry the first african american female writer to achieve such a literary success. petrys short stories such as “like a winding sheet” have appeared repeatedly in award-winning anthologies. besides, her works like harriet tubman have been translated into at least eleven languages. petry has received much critical acclaim. michelle l. taylor celebrates petrys works as “visionary for its time” (champion hazel arnett ervin and some other feminist critics probe into petrys female characters, highlighting their subversion within the novel; larry r. andrews elucidates the sensual assault in the city, claiming the urban environment distorts african americans; lorna fitzsimmons points out the similarities between the structure of the street and that of the inferno; dr. annie s. perkins examines the symbols of evils in the novel by deploying the seven deadly sins in the bible. 0.2.3 researches on the narrows the narrows is seen as petrys finest work, yet it fails to receive the criticism it deserves. only four reviews appeared in the 1950s. the latest three decades witness the publication of five papers. margaret b. mcdowell illuminated its themes in 1980 and dr. michael barry made another attempt in 1999. dr. sybil weir recounted the new england traditions in the novel in 1987. the latest study is made by deirdre raynor who read the novel as an anti-lynching text in 2004. 0.2.4 researches on the street and the narrows the street and the narrows differ a lot from each other in terms of the plot, yet they do share some resemblances to each other, which have invited some critical attention. there have been six papers involving the two novels by now. one dominating interpretation is that both texts are good demonstrations of how race, class and gender affect african americans life. a significant essay of this category is the often-quoted “from ann petrys the street and the narrows: a study of the influence of class, race, and gender on afro-american womens lives” by nellie y. mckay. the other is put forward by such critics as j. x. k. garvey, who state that the 4 minor female characters in these two novels, standing in stark contrast against the heroines, are subversive forces. 0.3 research target of the thesis the author of this thesis intends to find some similarities between the two protagonists, lutie in the street and link in the narrows. she will analyze some essential differences beneath these similarities in the thesis. for one thing, both are exposed to afro-american heritage at a young age. lutie abandons her black culture gradually and suffers from it, while link has a firm belief in his black culture and profits from it. for another, both lutie and link are admirers of golden hair beauty though they are discriminated by their golden-haired counterparts. lutie accepts the whites values as well as golden hair beauty blindly, so her dream is doomed to failure. the angry lutie commits murder at the end of the novel, thus sending her to a tragic fate. on the contrary, link appreciates golden hair beauty as well as black hair beauty. he manages to examine racial issues impartially and be lenient to the golden-haired who discriminate against him. when branded as a black bastard and then confronted with lynching, link overcomes his anger and fights back non-violently. he dies at the end of the novel, yet his death gives his adoptive mother abbie a lesson on racial issues. with a juxtaposition of lutie and link, petry succeeds in outlining her racial politics with two metaphors, the dark skin and the golden hair. firstly, petry illuminates the unique role that black culture plays in the afro-americans life. the colored will gain their identity only when they stick to it. secondly, when confronted with discriminations, fighting back is necessary, yet violence only starts a vicious circle of racism. lastly, the solution to racial problems depends on understanding, lenience and efforts from both the colored and the whites. the thesis will elaborate on petrys racial attitudes by analyzing the two metaphors of racial politics, the dark skin and the golden hair, which thread through the two novels with thematic significance. 5 chapter 1 myths of skin color and hair：a cultural and literary overview vision is the ability to interpret information from visible light reaching the eyes. the resulting perception is known as visual perception. as mr. zhou xian notes, “it is one of the basic aspects of human existence in psychology, philosophy and culture” (zhou xian 64-68). the visual images, even the commonest ones like skin color and hair, embody a complex relationship between the subject and the object, reflecting cultural homogeneity and heterogeneity and leaving their traces in literary works. 1.1 skin color complex and hair complex as universal phenomena 1.1.1 skin color in culture and literature cultural significance of skin color the popular saying that beauty is but skin-deep is only a skin-deep saying. skin color not only reflects ones physical and emotional states, but also is of great relevance to aesthetics. for example, whiteness has been a critical element in constructing personal beauty, especially female beauty. despite “cultural variations, the desire for light skin is universal” （li 448). though caucasian females have been endowed with light complexion, they still show great appreciation of whiteness. for them, fairness of skin has been a yardstick of purity and innocence. likewise, asians who have relatively light skin still fuss over paler skin. in japan, geishas painted white skin represents beauty, grace, and high social status. in india, white skin is considered as a sign of nobility. in some other cultures, pale skin is even a symbol of intelligence. on the contrary, dark skin usually has negative connections. however, some cultures endue dark skin with values. for example, the chinese relate darkness of skin to justice and chivalry despite their obsession with whiteness. skin-color complex in literature skin culture has exerted a far-reaching influence on both eastern and western 6 literature, which has been illustrated in many successful examples. in snow white, a fairy tale collected by the brothers grimm, the title character is endowed with nobility and skin “white as snow” (grimm 213). the enduring popularity snow white enjoys suggests a shared aspiration for a perfect harmony of virtue and beauty in the white community, which is boiled down to fairness of skin in the fairy story. snow white finds her british counterpart in desdemona, the heroine in shakespeares othello, whose fairness and virtue “excel the quirks of blazoning pens” (shakespeare 40). meanwhile, the titular hero othello, nicknamed “an old black ram” (shakespeare 7) for his dark skin, earns respect for his talent as an officer, yet he draws harsh criticism for his smothering his wife. his murder results partly from his inferiority about his identity as “a cultural and racial outsider in venice”1. othello again explains a universal expectation of the combination of nobility and beauty, an equivalent of whiteness. meanwhile, it encourages reflections on human frailties with a skin color image. chinese literature shares the fairness complex with its european counterparts. the dukes bride2 in the book of songs, whose fairness goes with her prominent social standing, may be one of the earliest examples to demonstrate this point. meanwhile, chinese literature values dark skin too, which is illustrated in such dark-faced figures as song jiang in the outlaws of the marsh and bao zheng in chinese folklore. the tradition can be traced back to yu, one of the virtuous monarchs in ancient china, who got a dark complexion because of exposure to weather when combating the flood. 1.1.2 hair in culture and literature cultural significance of hair human hair3 prevents the body from hurting and reflects ones health state. in 1 2 in “the dukes bride”, a lyric poem of the book of songs, the line “like larva white her neck is slender(“肤如 凝脂, 领如蝤蛴”) is intended to praise the heroines beauty. 3 hair here refers to head hair. 7 addition, hair, hairstyles, hair textures and its colors are of great social significance for human beings. hair is universally taken as “a symbol of vitality, power, and obedience” (tresidder 18). for example, the sikhs take the growth of hair as vitality and long hair as strength. having ones hair shaved indicates a loss of life or obedience, which well illustrates the reason why the nazis shaved the prisoners in concentration camps. hair is also synonymous wit