Self-Loss And Self-Quest In The Grimes Family

Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) by James Baldwin (1924-1987), an influential African American writer, is a postcolonial story about African Americans' self-loss and self-quest. Greatly influenced by postcolonialism and the Afro-American literary tradition, he is striving for black people's totality in identity throughout his life. Most of his works are based on his own experiences-his religious career in Harlem, his exile in France, his traveling in the South, his bastard status in his step-father's family, etc.The novel has become very popular ever since its publication, arousing constant attention in the critical circle, critics have made enlightening researches on it from the perspective of theme, form, characterization, etc. This thesis tries to interpret the loss and regaining of identity in the novel from three aspects- its theoretic bases and the manifestation of the identity theme; characters' self-loss and their dilemma; characters' self-quest and some elements in their questing process. Accordingly, the thesis consists of three parts-the introduction, the body and the conclusion.The introduction makes a general survey of the criticism of this novel home and abroad. And it points out the theoretical base of this thesis.The body is composed of three chapters.Chapter One introduces briefly the theory of Postcolonialism, with its main supporters and achievements, Homi Bhabha's postcolonial theory in particular. He focuses on human's identity and points out the hybridity feature of identity in the postcolonial context. The thesis probes into the mingled relations among postcolonial theory, Afro-American tradition and the identity theme. Chapter Two offers a detailed discussion of the characters' self-loss and their dilemma in the Grimes family: John's self-loss and dilemma as a bastard; Gabriel's self-loss and dilemma as a black southerner in Harlem; Elizabeth's and Florence's self-loss and dilemma under the double oppression of the white-centered civilization and the patriarchy system. This chapter is concluded with an exploration into the importance of Baldwin's modernist writing skills in illustrating the hybridized identity, symbolism and multiple points of view in particular. The most obvious symbolism is the antique photos being a symbol of John's self-loss in his family; the different narrations of the Grimes family's going to the church symbolize the whole family's uncertainty.Chapter Three provides a further explanation of characters' self-quest and their identities' regaining. Firstly from the psychoanalytical perspective, the elements in characters' quest process are analyzed with focus on the double's stimulation. Secondly, it explains the influences of black religion in characters' self-quest and regaining. In a word, as for African Americans, the black religion provides a possible relief for their everlasting suffering from hybridized identities in reality; that is, it is only in the religion that they can get some kind of salvation and partially realize the totality of identities; hence they will no longer be strangers of themselves as well as of God. Nevertheless, they could only partially regain their identities. Their identification is an everlasting problematic process of access to an image of totality.The conclusion makes a summary of the thesis and restates its main points.