Subversion,containment And Negotiation-the Reconstruction Of Jewish History In The Gravedigger’s Daughter

Joyce Carol Oates is an outstanding contemporary American female writer,and has been writing ceaselessly,with a great number of masterpieces,rich in content,involving various literature genres.With the works spanning different periods and combining the characteristics of different times,the author has composed a panoramic picture of contemporary American society.The Gravedigger’s Daughter,a new works by Oates,was published in 2007.The works mainly describes the plights and struggles of the minorities represented by the Jews in American society.From the perspective of New Historicism,this paper attempts to interpret The Gravedigger’s Daughter so as to dig out the deep meaning of the works and reveal the social problems for the ethnic groups in the text.This thesis mainly consists of five parts.The introduction part gives a brief introduction about the author and her works,The Gravedigger’s Daughter,then reviews the studies of Oates’ works at home and abroad and states the structure arrangement of this thesis.Chapter one introduces the development and theoretical connotation of New Historicism,and combs the theoretical viewpoints of the two main representatives,Louis A.Montrose and Stephen Greenblatt.Louis A.Montrose puts forward the theory of intertextuality,revealing the closer relationship between text and history from a new perspective,and thus gives a different interpretation about the relationship between the two,revealing that the text has the characteristics of historical records.In addition,Greenblatt’s “subversion”,“containment” and “negotiation” expound the unique social functions of literature under the category of New Historicism.All the above theories provide sufficient theoretical support for the Jewish ethnic minorities’ completing their historical reconstruction in the novel.Chapter two to chapter four is the main body of this thesis.Chapter two,combining “the historicity of texts” in New Historicism,analyzes the survival history of“the gravedigger’s family”,showing that the Jewish ethnic survival is closely related to the social and historical environment.It reveals the existential dilemma faced by the Jewish ethnic minorities throughout history,as well as the different era opportunitiesbrought by the new ideas after World War Ⅱ,which contributed to the new living situation of the Jewish minorities.Chapter three interprets the self historical construction of the characters in the novel,based on the thought of “subversion” and “containment” theory,discussing how the marginal cultural groups try to get rid of the control of the American mainstream culture,and under the huge psychological shadow,while trying to “subvert” the old history,however,it is often “contained” by the mainstream culture.In this process,different from the past,the representatives of the marginal culture do not simply and blindly deny the mainstream culture,but on the basis of constant self-reflection,through the efforts and struggles,continue to farewell the weak images of themselves and constantly get rid of the control of the mainstream cultural thought,to strive for the position in the mainstream culture.Chapter four,centering on the theory of “negotiation”,discusses the growth process of the outstanding Jewish individuals represented by Rebecca and Zach in the novel,and reveals their rational attitude towards the mainstream culture.Gallagher,the representative of the mainstream culture,as a defender of the advanced ideas and an advocate of national equality,supports the growth of the marginal ethnic groups without hesitation and holds the affirmative attitude towards the struggles of the marginal ethnic groups,which shows the inclusive characteristics of the mainstream culture.With the common efforts and mutual compromise between the marginal culture and the mainstream culture,the Jewish ethnic minorities have completed the historical reconstruction of the new survival image.Finally,in the conclusion part of the thesis,through the analysis of the self historical construction of the Jewish ethnic minorities,the writer expresses the expectation about the cooperation,coexistence,and mutual development between the marginal and mainstream culture.