Fleeing,Return,Integration:The Dialogic Interpretation Of The Identity Transformation Of The Protagonist In Invisible Man

As a distinguished African-American writer,Ralph Ellison has an inventive mind in literature.And as the only full-length novel of Ellison,since the publication in 1952,Invisible Man has drawn the attention of scholars from all over the world because of its wide covering of themes.However,few of them started from the perspective of dialogism,which rightly leaves space for the research of this thesis.On the basis of the experimental attitude of writing and the unique cultural view of Ellison,this thesis captures the existence of dialogism in this novel.By focusing on the process of identity pursuit and transformation in the protagonist,the novel reveals an universal predicament of identity among African-Americans represented by the protagonist.In the light of the dialogic theory of Bakhtin,this thesis aims at examining the progress of identity pursuit and transformation in which the protagonist finishes this progress through such dialogues as with readers,with other characters,with himself and cultural dialogues.The main body of this thesis is made up of three stages which correspond to three periods of identity transformation in the protagonist.The first chapter mainly focuses on how the protagonist exerts his energies to flee from his nature of an African-American;the second chapter introduces the protagonist's efforts to return to his original identity after failed to change his living condition;the third chapter takes Ellison's cultural view into account and deals with cultural dialogues in the novel.Such cultural dialogues are what the integration of the protagonist's identity rests on.By the research,it can be concluded that in various dialogues with readers,with other characters,with himself and cultural dialogues,the protagonist experiences his fleeing from original identity,attempting to return and he finally achieves some kind of integration in cultural dialogues.In the end,this thesis makes use of dialogues between the protagonist and readers,which lifts the novel up to a higher level by enlarging such a predicament of identity in the protagonist to the whole world.It appeals that each country,due to the increasingly deepening of globalization,should strengthen cultural dialogues when they retain their distinct cultural characteristics so that cultural interaction and prosperity can be promoted and achieved in the world.And this kind of foresight is one of the most important reasons why the novel has been influential.