文化认同的悲剧 [3]
论文作者:佚名论文属性:短文 essay登出时间:2009-04-09编辑:刘宝玲点击率:11654
论文字数:26000论文编号:org200904091635416350语种:中文 Chinese地区:中国价格:免费论文
关键词:Pecolaidentificationtragedymainstream cultureclash佩科拉认同悲剧主流文化冲突
world with it,” and Pecola “hid behind hers. Concealed, veiled, eclipsed—peeping out from behind the shroud very seldom, and then only to yearn for the return of her mask.”(Morrison 34-35) Therefore, they accept the white concept of beauty and value, forget their tradition and value,then shrink, and finally get lost and disintegrated.
Pecola’s desire for a pair of blue eyes results from her awareness of her ugliness. “Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness.” She “each night, without fail, prayed for blue eyes,” (Morrison 40) since she believes if her eyes are different, beautiful and blue, she herself will be different. Symbolically, the mirror is the embodiment of social judgment. The mirror has represented a kind of confused social judgment and criterion, but what she sees in the mirror is the denial of the mainstream society and the distortion as well as her split personality and psychology. In fact, Pecola needs self-recognition to build healthy psyche and complete identity, but unfortunately, she cannot find her self in the mirror, and instead she finds only the loss of self and a sense of rootlessness. Therefore, Pecola’s self-denial in the mirror is the result of her repudiation by the white mainstream culture. Her choice of blue eyes symbolically suggests that she accepts the white mainstream culture, and watches the world from the perspective of the blue eyes (the whites). It is the racism of the mainstream culture that twists Pecola’s soul and leads her to self-denial and self-distaste. The influence of the mainstream culture is so deeply rooted in her consciousness that she cannot escape, and cannot wipe away those pretty faces and those pretty blue eyes. In this sense, the price she pays for her identification is doomed. She is ignored and despised at school by teachers and classmates alike. She is the only member of her class who sits alone at a double desk. The storekeeper who sells Mary Jane candies to Pecola avoids touching her hand when she pays, and barely disguises his contempt for her:
“She looks up at him and sees the vacuum where curiosity ought to lodge…. The total absence of human recognition—the glazed separateness…. It has an edge; somewhere in the bottom lid is the distaste…. The distaste must be for her, for her ugliness…and it is the blackness that accounts for, that creates, the vacuum edged with distance in white eyes”. (Morrison 42)
Obviously, she is completely rejected by the mainstream society. However, the rejection is not the only root of her tragedy, or not even the leading factor which contributes to his tragic self-denial and disintegration.
II. The Tragedy of Pecola as the Result of
the Identification of the Blacks
Indeed, the whites are not the only ones responsible for Pecola’s sufferings and disintegration. Infected by the white mainstream culture, her families and the blacks in her community all believe she is ugly, which strengthens Pecola’ sense of ugliness and self-denial, and contributes to her marginalized existence. Therefore, responsibility must be shared by the blacks who assuage their own insults from the society by oppressing those like Pecola who are vulnerable.
A. The Rejection of the Black Community
Little black boys jeer and taunt her with “Black e mo. Black e mo. Yadaddsleepsnekked”, defensively ignoring the color of their own skins. But, according to Toni Morrison, “it was their contempt for their own blackness th
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