Survivance And Development

American native writer Gerald Vizenor(1934-),as one of the four pioneers of“The Native American Renaissance”,not only presents the readers the traditional Indian culture,but also explores the survival and development issue of Native Americans in the process of modernization.Reflecting on the long colonized history of American Indians,Vizenor realizes that the passive survival falls short of defending tribal independence and sovereignty,only the active survivance and development can make their voice heard and provide a firm economic foundation for the inheritance of traditional culture,thus getting out of the living predicament of marginalization.This thesis focuses on one of Vizenor’s “trickster” novels The Trickster of Liberty: Tribal Heirs to a Wild Baronage(1988)which depicts the reservation and urban experiences of the wild baronage Luster Browne and his descendants.In the novel,Vizenor creates a group of comic trickster characters who shuttle freely between the reservation and city,constantly resisting the image of Indian victims and suppression from white society.Besides,they reconcile the advantages of indigenous tradition with mainstream culture for the economic development of American Indians.Through the analysis of the tricksters’ survivance and development in mainstream society,this thesis aims to argue that the theme of the novel is to find a way out from the living predicament of American Indians.The thesis is composed of three parts.The introduction part is mainly about the author,the novel in question,the research method,and the argument.The first chapter analyzes the history of tribal genocide,physically and culturally and the living predicament of indigenous tribes in modern society to illustrate the cultural background of the novel and the value of its theme.In the second chapter,by employing Vizenor’s concept of survivance,it expounds how the trickster characters make an active presence of Indians through resistance to the image of victims and white dominance.Chapter three examines the way they participate actively in the process of modernization to strive for the development of tribal economy.In the conclusion,it restates that the “returning home” paradigm falls short of providing an effective solution to the living predicament of American Indians.Vizenor’s novel,however,enunciates that to achieve tribal authentic sovereignty and subvert the predicament of marginalization,indigenous population should insist on native survivance to make an active presence;meanwhile,they should develop tribal economy to build a financial foundation for the inheritance of traditional Indian cultures,and that might be the real value rooted in this novel.