An Analysis of the Characters in Their Eyes Were Watching Gods 《他们眼望上苍》中的人物形象分析文献综述

 2021-12-29 20:58:51

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文献综述

I.IntroductionTheir Eyes Were Watching God is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston, one of the important figures in American literature in the 20th century. She is a novelist, black folklore collection researcher, and anthropologist. Born in the south of the United States, she is an active member of the Harlem Renaissance. She also devoted her life to maintaining the black cultural tradition. It was not until the 1970s that Hurston and his works attracted the attention and research of western scholars. Hurston expressed her unique views on the reconstruction of black culture and the establishment of black womens self-identity in this novel, and had a great influence on many famous black women writers in the 20th century, such as Alice Walker and Tony Morrieson et al. Their eyes were watching God is her most popular work. The first work in the literature fully demonstrated the awakening of black women to female consciousness. This is a milestone in the creation of black women, and the image of black women is recognized as one of the classic works of black literature.In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston makes full use of the overall symbolic strategy in the plot arrangement, and reflects the process of her personal growth and female consciousness awakening through the protagonists life and marriage experience. At the beginning of the novel, the author adopts the narrative strategy of flashback. The heroine Jenny tells her friends about her childhood experience. At the end of the novel, the story returns to the time when the protagonist narrates. The whole story frame forms a ring structure. In the plot arrangement, Hurston also adopts the ring structure, which makes the fate of the characters return. From Jennys girlhood to her three marriages, she finally lived alone, which symbolizes that Jenny has gone through the process from freedom to the bondage of patriarchy, and then to break through the bondage and return to freedom. At the same time, it also reflects the process of Jennys personal growth and female consciousness awakening.Based on the three marriages of the heroine Jenny, this paper will analyze the images of different characters in the three marriages in three parts, and explores the awakening of black womens sense of independence and the image of black men under racial discrimination with the different attitudes of the heroine Jane towards her three husbands.The first part is Jennys first marriage. Her first husband, Logan Crix, is an elderly and successful man with 60 acres of land. Jenny thought that marriage might make her love, but she found that she was just a road at Logans disposal. It is his personal wealth that he must submit to a mule. With the accumulation of contradictions, the fantasy girl under the pear tree disappeared. The final solution to this contradiction is her elopement with Joe.The second part is her second marriage. Her second husband, Joe, is a typical male chauvinist. However, Joe regards Jenny as a private property under his control, conceals her beauty and does not allow her to speak. Her resistance finally broke out in the gradual accumulation of contradictions. She made her voice through the resistance of words, and this process is Jennys growth again. In the end, Joes death solves the conflict between the rights of men and women between him and Jenny.The third part is her last marriage, her third husband, Dessert, who truly loves Jenny, let Jane truly express all his ideas. Jennys life became colorful because of the appearance of Dessert. No matter spiritually or physiologically, Jenny has been greatly satisfied in this marriage and has experienced the happiness of equality between men and women that she has been longing for for a long time. But their good life was interrupted after their death.From bare to full of thoughts, Jennys inner world becomes rich and substantial. On the contrary, Jennys heart is really independent because of the departure of Dessert, and she gets complete freedom and liberation. Its not just sweets. Her three husbands are indispensable in her growth. They lead Jenny from ignorance to maturity step by step, and become a guide for her to recognize gender differences and the differences between women and the world.II.The significance of the studyThis article has certain practical significance and cultural value. First of all, the in-depth analysis of the female characters in the article not only guides black women, but also guides a path of self-solving for women. They search for themselves and discover themselves, and also let the readers see the joy of life and realize the existence of independent self. It conveys the authors longing for the survival and perfection of all people, including men and women. Secondly, analyzing the character image can make readers think deeply. In the novel, as a black woman, Jenny has the courage to pursue her freedom, her own sense of existence in marriage, society and individuals.Human beings not only live in families, but also exist in society. As a member of society, should we find our place in society? In Jennys first and second marriage, she was completely confined to her own small family, and she could not find herself in the society at all. However, the Sweet Dessert gave her full freedom and gave her the opportunity to participate in society. In the shared life with Sweet Dessert, they worked together as season workers. At this time, Jenny was completely integrated into the big family of society. She was no longer a bird in a cage, but as a real person. Jenny is a black woman with an extremely low social status. The society discriminates against blacks very seriously, but she has found her own identity in the society.The third point is that They See God is a novel worth thinking about, and analyzing the characters in it can better understand the black culture at that time. In They Look at God, Heston focused her gaze on a woman, and through her continuous struggle, she finally completed her self-definition. In this process, the writer demonstrated the popular culture of the black people, and used colloquial narratives, black sermons, and porch spoken language to express the cultural value of this work and record the living conditions of black people to express their interest in Realistic dissatisfaction.At the same time, the fate of the heroine warns the readers: People should not regard marriage as a transaction, and marriage does not mean money, although it requires a certain material basis. Whether you are a young man or a woman, it is unwise to focus solely on the material wealth of the other party. A money-based marriage cannot last or be truly happy. Marriage should be based on equality.Therefore, this article has profound research significance. It helps researchers to better study the differences in black culture before and after the emancipation of black slavery, and to help readers better understand marriage values. The most important thing is that it can transmit a lot of thinking to readers in the pursuit of freedom: spiritual freedom is the most important, but physical and verbal freedom cannot be ignored.III.Literature reviewFrom the beginning of its publication in 1937, Western critics have received mixed praises and criticisms about Their Eyes Were Watching God. Although some scholars expressed their praise and affirmation for it, they called it a lovely book, a wonderful book and an almost perfect story. However, the work was criticized for its advanced narrative methods, feminist ideas, and incompatibility with the trend of black protest fiction at that time. Richard Wright (19081960) believes that this novel has no subject, no information, and no thoughts. Ralph Ellison (19141994) thinks that it is The arranged burlesque defiled most of Hestons work. In short, at this stage, the vast majority of critics failed to truly understand this work, and their evaluations of it were outweighed by praise.Since the beginning of the 1970s, when this work was discovered by Alice Walker (1944) and re-entered the perspective of Western English critics, its previous lonely and condemned shame was wiped out. The dazzling light once again shines in the palace of classic literature. The criticized novel was renamed and became the recognized first black feminist work. From the 70s to the 80s, critics mostly viewed the growth of the heroine Jenny from the perspective of feminism. Many scholars regard this novel as an intertextual American feminist work, and believe that it uses free indirect speech to rebel against patriarchy and redefine black identity. Critics also focused on the formal characteristics of the novel, such as language style, writing skills, imagery, theme, etc. For example, Barbara Johnsons essay The Metaphors, Metonymy, and Voice of They See God, Elizabeth Meeses The Oral and Textuality in They See God, Barbara Johnson and Henry Louis Gates Jr.s One A Kind of Free Indirect Discourse Unique to Black People and Mary Helen Washingtons The Way I Like Jenny Leaving Her Husband are both representative articles of this period.Since the 1990s, the angle and scope of the study of this novel have been further expanded. In the new stage, scholars mostly analyze this novel from the perspective of cultural criticism and cross-culturalism. For example, Sandra Pacquet praised this novel for showing the restoration and storage value of custom culture in American literature. Joseph Urgo and Michael Awkward believe that this book represents womens fight for the right to speak, and African Americans seek the effectiveness of cultural traditions and cultural criticism. Now this novel has become a common text in the courses of African American Studies, American Studies, English Department and Womens Studies.Domestic research can be roughly divided into three stages. The first stage was from the 1980s to the end of the 20th century. At this stage, the focus of attention is on the translation and introduction of writers, brief introductions of works and some works and academic papers. The first domestic article to briefly introduce this writer and work appeared in the A Brief History of American Literature compiled by Dong Hengxun and others published by Peoples Literature Publishing House in 1986; the second stage is the first few years of the early 21st century. More in-depth research articles began to appear; the third stage is also in recent years. Compared with the second stage, the research of this work presents a situation of rapid heating up and noise. According to CNKI data, from 2003 to 2017, there were a total of 229 relevant research documents in China, including 136 journals, 71 post-doctoral and master papers, five conference papers and several other studies. The research situation at this stage indicates that the domestic research prospects are diversified.At present, the domestic research on this novel mainly revolves around the feminist perspective, and there is still more room for research. This article analyzes the image of the heroine, at the same time, it will have a profound interpretation of the male role. It is hoped that the research on her works will move towards a deeper and broader direction.Works CitedAndrew, D.(1997). Required Reading: Why Our American Classics Matter Now. New York:Farrar, Straus and Girous.Ayana, K.(1999). Zora Neale Hurston, The Breath of Her Voice. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.Babara, C.(1985). Black Feminist Criticism: Prespective on Women Writers.New York:Pergamon Press.Crabtree, C.(1985). South Literary Journal:The Confuence of Folklore Feminism and Black Self-Determination in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God.(17):54-66.Gombar, C.(1996). Great Women Writers1900-1950. New York: Facts on File. Lennox, B.E.(1994).Black American Women's Writing-A Quilt of Many Colours. London and New York:HarvesterWheatsheaf.Lois, P.Z.(1998). Contemporary American Women Writers---Gender, Class, Ethnicity. New Jersey:Addison Wesley Longman Limited.Lillian, R.S.(1996). Modern Women Writers Volume 2.New York: The Continuum Publishing Company. Neale, H.Z.(1998). Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper Perennial.陈光明（1997），《佐拉尼尔赫斯顿的生平与创作述评》外国文学（6）：41-43。

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