Discourse And Power In Pudd'nhead Wilson

Mark Twain,one of the greatest American humorists and critical realist writers,occupies a sublime position in the field of literature.As an excellent writer,Mark Twin has produced a large number of literary works,which leave a precious literary heritage for the later generations.He strongly criticizes social reality in the late nineteenth century of the United States with his unique writing style.Published in 1894,Pudd'nhead Wilson is a representative work of Mark Twain in his later life.The novel is set in 1830 in the small fictional Missouri town of Dawson's Landing.By telling a story of David Wilson,the title of “Pudd'nhead” and of two babies---one black,one white---switched in their cradles,this novel shows the universality and complexity of discourse and power in Dawson's Landing.This thesis is intended to interpret the novel Pudd'nhead Wilson from the perspective of Michel Foucault's discourse and power theory to show how discourse and power work to affect people's life and fate in Dawson's Landing.The thesis consists of five parts: introduction,three chapters and conclusion.The introduction gives a brief review of the overseas and domestic research on Pudd'nhead Wilson followed by an introduction to Michel Foucault's theory about discourse and power and the significance and purpose of this thesis.Chapter One illustrates how individuals are manipulated by discourse and power in Dawson's Landing with David Wilson and Chambers as main examples.David Wilson's identity of “Pudd'nhead” is actually constructed by discourse and power because his discourse breaks the rules of common discourse.In the surveillance and judgment of the power,he is gradually disciplined into a docile body.Chambers' slave identity is also constructed by discourse and power due to his small fraction of black blood.His masters exercise corporal and psychological discipline on him and turn him into a docile slave.Chapter Two concerns how community discourse and power work both in the black community and the white community in Dawson's Landing.To the blacks,the way of distinguishing people on the basis of their linage is a kind of communal madness.However,the black discourse or voice is suppressed by power before it is heard.The white discourse in Dawson's Landing is like a panopticon which disciplines and controls the blacks.In addition,white discourse constructs the noble identity of the descendants of the First Families of Virginia in the white community who are holding power and using power,and people in the white community are also controlled by discourse and power.Chapter Three explores Mark Twain's discourse and power based on the social and historical background.As the writer of Pudd'nhead Wilson,Mark Twain expresses his ideas about racial and social problems through his characters' discourse.What's more,to avoid conflicts with society,Mark Twain is also disciplined by discourse and power in society at that time,which could be traced in his Pudd'nheead Wilson.The last chapter concludes that discourse and power exist universally in Dawson's Landing.The numerous discourse and power relations form a tremendous and complicated net which involves and affects every individual,every community,and even the author himself inside and exerts a great influence on their life.