Racial And Gender Identity In Not Without Laughter In Terms Of Space Theory

Langston Hughes is one of the most important contemporary African American writers. His work Not Without Laughter builds a huge space image of the tough life of African Americans and their struggle for equal and free life. It reveals all kinds of difficulties that the African Americans encountered and their reactions. It is a growth novel about racial and gender identity of African American people. The implied theme of the novel involves how African Americans should face their cultural identity and how they should deal with the racial issues correctly. Actually, the novel suggests that African Americans should get integrated into the mainstream culture actively and meanwhile holds dear to their traditional culture.It is of great significance to analyze the literary works and reveal the theme of the novel in terms of space theory. Unlike the traditional literary research method, the literary space research provides a unique perspective to the exploration of the theme and the deep meanings in the novel. There are few researches on novels in terms of the space theory. Based on the space theory of Michel Foucault and Henri Lefebvre, this thesis explores the roots of the oppression that African Americans suffered and shows their endeavors to construct racial and gender identities. On the one hand, the African Americans are imposed on different discriminated cultural identities by the whites. On the other hand, African Americans manage to construct their own identities in terms of social space and cultural space. They insist on the integration with mainstream culture and meanwhile emphasize the development of traditional culture.Based on the analyses of the construction of different spaces, such as the social space, cultural space and mental space, this thesis interprets the characters’changes in thoughts, their inner aspirations and social practices in growth. It also reveals the spatial invasion of the African Americans by the whites. On the surface, African Americans can lead a happy life in black community. But in fact, the whites, the writer of the representations of space, together with some African Americans who have been internalized into the white culture, construct a social space that the majority of African Americans can hardly live with. This thesis argues that the African Americans should be properly integrated into the mainstream culture while cherishing their own traditions. What’s more, they should explore their space for further development and should identify with their cultures actively so that they can better establish themselves in the multicultural American society.