A Pursuit Of The Third Space Under The Hegemonic Culture

N.Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn(1968),published in the late 1960s,is known as the very first Indian novel that achieved a wide popularity in the white American-dominant society.It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969.In this novel,Momaday tactfully interweaves his own experience in Pueblo reservation with the protagonist's mental process,aiming to reveal the identity plight caused by culture antagonism and culture estrangement and thereafter to criticize the assimilating power of white culture over Native culture.Most researchers study the novel from the perspective of cultural binary opposition to reveal the state of antagonism between white American culture and Native American.Much of their studies generally conclude with returning to original culture and identity,by partially emphasizing the importance of homecoming and holding onto traditional conventions.Meanwhile the former researchers encourage the minority groups to accomplish identity construction by means of resisting the hybrid culture.This thesis delineates the identity crisis of Native American and their frustrated pursuit for identity to reveal the negative influence from the hegemonic power of white American dominant culture over both Native American community culture and individual identity assurance.On this basis,this thesis interprets the three main native characters with the help of Bhabha's theory of hybridity and further studies their process of cultural identity recognition;in the light of Mimicry theory,it also makes an analysis of the two white characters' cultural identity recognition.On the theoretical foundation of Third Space theory,it tries to break through the traditional binary opposition of culture,so as to assure a new possibility of cultural identity construction of Native Americans-Third Space.Through analyzing the process of identity search and the development of main characters in the novel,this thesis tries to explore the possibility and the necessity of constructing a more dynamic and adoptable cultural identity in the Third Space.The thesis attempts to offer a constructive suggestion for the minority groups' identity construction.