A Study On The Duality Of Random's Identities In The Adventures Of Roderick Random

The debut novel of Tobias Smollett,The Adventures of Roderick Random,is commonly acknowledged as a picaresque work with semi-biography characteristics.Smollett showed the two main and representative scenes related with Britain?London and the overseas battlefield?realistically from the perspective of a Scottish person.This thesis intends to reveal the duality of Random's identities based on the Social Identity Theory,in consideration of the special social changes which took place between Scotland and England.The thesis analyzes the ethnic identity as a Scottish and the political identity as a British of Random.On one hand,Stets and Burke,according to the Social Identity Theory of Tajfel and Turner,deems that three stages will be undergone when identifying with a certain identity,and they are respectively social categorization,social comparison and positive distinctiveness.The three stages embodied on Random in this novel.Random is first categorized as one of the Scottish people by English people for the different culture and stereotyped ideas placed on Scottish men,and later he develops his subject consciousness as a Scottish man.The social comparison between English people and Scottish people,Irish people and Scottish people is made by Random.Finally in this way,positive distinctiveness and favoritism on Scottish people is formed,and ultimately Random develops his ethnic identity as a Scottish man.On the other hand,Random reveals his desire of getting an official post in British government almost throughout the whole story.Afterwards,he devotes himself into the overseas wars and colonization successively.What's more,Random even stands up against the absurd ideas of French people toward their king and strongly advocates the British liberty on politics.The political identity of Random is demonstrated through all the political practices mentioned above.I attribute two reasons to the duality of Random's identities.The first is that Scotland is peripheral in culture while England is central in Britain and in this way internal colonization to some extent takes its shape.Scottish people cannot fit into English people and their ethnic identity as a Scottish is manifested;the other is that the ambition of the whole Britain ties two peoples tightly together,embodying the British identity of Random.Roderick Random exposes the identity anxiety of Scottish people in the 18^th century in a light and humorous tone,showing their dilemma of cooperation and competition,love mixed with hatred.At the end of the story,Smollett uses a metaphor of Random's marriage with the English lady to negotiate and internalize the two identities,as well as his attempt of establishing an equalitarian relationship between England and Scotland in Britain.