Power And Resistance

Hocus Pocus is a masterpiece of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., one of the most famouspostmodernist novelists in America. The main plotline of Hocus Pocus is unfolded inthe form of the stream of consciousness and interior monologue by the protagonistHartke, who is a Vietnam veteran. He looks back on his life and informs the readerabout the absurdity of the war and the miserable life of the veterans. The darkness of thesociety such as the abuse of power of the upper class and the inequality betweendifferent races is also revealed and severely criticized.Michael Foucault is known as one of the most famous postmodernist philosophersand thinkers in France. He founded his unique theory of power, micro-power theory,which is the essence of his theories. The aim of this thesis is an attempted analysis ofHocus Pocus through Foucault’s power theory. From the perspective of Foucault’spower theory, the readers will have a better understanding of the novel. There are fivechapters in total: Chapter One provides the background information of the novel, aboutthe author, theme etc. Chapter Two is a brief introduction of Foucault’s power theory,and the next three chapters are the main body of the thesis, in which Hocus Pocus isanalyzed in details via Foucault’s power theory. The detailed interpretation of the textwill throw light on the novel’s anti-war theme and the ways in which the individualsfight against various power mechanisms.