| Marilynne Robinson(1943-)is an important contemporary American female novelist.So far,Robinson has written four novels and several essay collections.Robinson’s novels always focus on homeless,marginalized figures who experience great traumas exile and no sense of belonging.These experiences make home and identity important themes in her works.In light of theories and discussions of home and identity in feminist theories,cultural geography and humanistic geography,this dissertation regards home as a complexus of placeness,spatiality and sociality.On one hand,individuals and groups participate in the definition and construction of the concept of home;on the other hand,different experiences of leaving home,searching for home,and returning home also affect and shape identities of individuals and groups.Based on these discussions,this dissertation centers on intertwined relationships between home and identity in Robinson’s three representative novels Housekeeping,Home and Lila.Apart from introduction and conclusion,this dissertation is composed of three main chapters.Chapter one focuses on Housekeeping and discusses the relationship between space of home and gender identity.In narrative of Housekeeping,the ideology of separate spheres dominates.The patriarchal ideology of Foster house and the social traditional norms of the Fingerbone town make the elderly female characters become“Angels in the House”,they gradually internalize gender roles ascribed to them.After Edmund Foster died,grandma Sylvia Foster becomes the matriarch in the house.Her abidance of male logic fosters a matriarchal hegemony.However,through deterritorialization of home-space,Sylvie breaks down the boundary between inside and outside,private and public,thus transforming the enclosed and stratified home-space into an open,liminal and fluid one.In addition,by means of her mobility,she intends to remove restrictions imposed upon women by the patriarchal ideology.Therefore,by demonstrating how Sylvie in the novel challenges a fixed and essentialized identity coded by gendered space of home by transgressing boundaries both literally and metaphorically,this chapter argues that deterritorialization of home-space is symbolic of deconstruction of gender identity ideologically naturalized in the concept of home.In the novel,Robinson attempts to redefine traditional notion of home and to problematize fixed,essentialized gender identity.Chapter two examines Robinson’s Home and aims to elaborate on inclusionary and exclusionary politics of home embodied both in micro-scale of Boughton’s home and macro-scale of community of Gilead as well as whole American nation.For Jack,home,community of Gilead and nation in his experiences are both homogenizing,manipulating and constraining.First of all,there are strong conflicts and oppositions between Boughton home which is featured with homogeneity and xenophobia,and heterogeneous individuals.The disciplinary gaze and regulated code of conduct that Jack receives in domestic space result in his long-term identity crisis;Secondly,against the historical background of intensified racial conflicts in the 1950 s,Jack,as a white male,also suffers from oppression and exclusion from community of all-white Gilead and whole American nation due to his marriage to a black female named Della.In this sense,the homogeneous Boughton home is a miniature of hegemonic community and nation;Jack’s homelessness reflects the rootless condition of African Americans in the 1950 s.Under racial segregation and suppression of white violence,they inevitably become racial “Other”.The novel not only shows Robinson’s critique of inherent violence and discipline in domestic,communal,national space,and white identity,it also reflects Robinson’s expectation for prospect of racial harmony.Only by dissolving the boundaries of racial lines can a heterogeneous and harmonious home be finally built.Chapter three focuses on Robinson’s Lila.The eponymous character Lila desires to form a connection with place and home,and she culturally constructs her identity and the way of existence within the core faith of Christian theology.Based on theories and studies put forward by Arnold Van Gennep and Victor Turner,this chapter aims to illustrate Lila’s transformation from homelessness to home-coming as well as her identity transformation.Firstly,being stuck in the liminal state of homelessness,Lila can only inhabit in liminal spaces with liminal identities,with nowhere to belong.On the other hand,although constant physical movements create liminal space and liminal identity for Lila,construction of spiritual community on the basis of companionship,marriage and religious commitment helps Lila gain material comfort and spiritual force and finally achieve identity reformation that situates herself in Gilead both physically and psychologically.The conclusion of this dissertation summarizes main arguments of each chapter,and points out that home and identity are important themes that Robinson explores in Housekeeping,Home and Lila.By exploring themes of resistance and conflict,interweave and interaction between home and identity,this dissertation reveals profound discourses of gender,race,and culture hidden behind the concept of home.In addition,by emphasizing sense of homelessness as well as ambivalence and disorientation in identity construction in her novels,Robinson expresses her worries about living conditions of marginal individuals and communities in a mobile and postmodern world,thus highlighting current significance of home quest.For Robinson,concept of home is never an unchangeable ideal or embodiment,it is always in construction and development,featured with fluidity and heterogeneity.Meanwhile,Robinson opposes essentialized view of identity based on the framework of binary opposition,suggesting the possibility of obtaining a stable identity under the premise of fluidity,openness,and inclusiveness. |
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