Discussion On The Relationship Between Power And Resistance And Its Connotation In The Cider House Rules

John Irving's representative work The Cider House Rules has been regarded as an Initiation Story by researchers both at home and abroad. They either focus on the mental growth of the male and the female characters, or try to probe into the pattern and uniqueness of the growth. Otherwise, they rarely notice the"rule", which is the theme word of this novel."Rule"is the power discourse that belongs to super social or ethnic groups, therefore the rebellion against the power is also realized in violating and dissipating these discourses. To be specific, where there are various kinds of discourses there are varied ways to resist. The male character struggles against the instruction and identity imposed by others through all his life to go great length to pursue his identity and life. However, it turns out that he couldn't escape his destiny, which is previously arranged by doctor Larch, and has no option but to yield Larch's rule and becomes an obstetrician who also perform the operation of abortion. Unfortunately, His struggle ends in vain. On the contrary, the black like the foreman Rose pretend to obey the rules but actually confront"the Cider House Rules", the power discourse in the cider house with their own rules. This subverts all the rules representing the white. As a result,"the Cider House Rules", which appears powerful, becomes meaningless. Therefore, there exists a paradox in the novel, which, on one hand, the rule is too strong to be rebelled; on the other hand, the rule itself is meaningless and futile. It is the paradox that implies the possibility to explain the novel through multiple ways——the forms and the methods of resistance, even the results of the rebellion , that is, the intertextual culture , so as to discuss their intertextual relationship in the current social,historical and cultural background of America.Meanwhile, to begin with the Benjamin's modern allegory theory, it is this struggle that render this novel more allegoric. The characters'failure of resistance is due to the disintegration of themselves, which is manifested in the course of Homer's pursuit of his ideal life, career, love and the rule and in his conflict with others including Larch, Melony, Woly, Candy even the black employees, also in his struggle against these contradictory conditions. What's more, all the characters in The Cider House Rules try to keep balance between their own desires and the social rules hopelessly. So they seek protection either by rebelling or settling for the facts. In other words, in this novel, all the characters struggle against men's desires, various forms of rules even the law, which leads to the repression and distortion of characters'nature and melancholy. Of course, this kind of feeling also suggests that the author is worried about the fate of our human beings, that is, how to face our destiny. It not only provides a new insight into interpreting the text, but also embodies the writer's special and original comprehension about the relationship between power and rebellion, especially about its connotation.This article is divided into four sections: the current studying status about this novel, The Cider House Rules and its rules, what behind the power and resistance——various interpretation of the text and conclusion.The first section is to identify the blind spots in the previous research to establish the researching standpoint and the scope of this paper. The second section pays more attention to the relationship between power and rebellion in The Cider House Rules, for the sake of finding the human being's choosing dilemma in modern society——to submit or to rebel. The third section tries to figure out the reasons for the complicated relationship between power and rebellion, including the reflection about whether or not to rebel, how to do and the result of resistance , it also discusses the intermediacy and quality of allegory of rebellion. Beginning with the meaning and value of rebelling, the last section emphasizes the meaning and value of resistance again. Resistance means the man's existence and gives the meaning to life; it indicates the fundamental existence of human beings with greatness and loftiness. Although the process of rebellion can not be equal to its efficiency, the very resisting action taken consciously also gives meaning and value to the life; in other words, the value of our human beings lies in living the life courageously and rebelling the ridiculous world in order to pursue whatever you want untiringly and infructuously forever.