On The Deconstruction Of Southern Family Romance In Carson McCullers’ Works

Carson McCullers is praised and studied mostly for her works on grotesque characters and their lonely and alienated situation.However,there is few systematic research on the family theme in her works.In view of this,this paper plans to take"Southern family romance" as a reference,starting from the marriage of "gentleman"and "lady" which is the core factors of the traditional southern family model,to intuitively perceive McCullers’ deconstruction of Southern family romance;then it explores the characteristics and anxiety of children being born and growing up in the above families;next,it reveals how ethnic minorities who originally did not belong to the Southern family took on different roles and identities in McCullers’ works.Finally,it analyzes the reasons behind the writing and its significance to the times by combining the social and historical context and McCullers’ own life experience.The paper includes the following parts:The introduction part first briefly introduces Carson McCullers’ life and creation,and then introduces the background knowledge of "Southern Myth" and "Southern family romance",mainly including its formation reasons and important characteristics.Then it summarizes the research status of McCullers and her works at home and abroad,and explains the innovation and research significance of this paper.The first chapter is "marriage between ’ladies’ and ’gentlemen’".The harmonious marriage between gentlemen and ladies is the core factor for the existence of Southern family romance.Therefore,the deconstruction of the Southern gentlemen,ladies and their marriage relationship is the most direct subversion of the traditional Southern family model.McCullers once claimed that "I was born a man"(Carr 159),so in her works,the gender characteristics and sexual orientation of the members in southern families are mostly uncertain,and most of their marriages were betrayed or existed in name.This chapter compares the stereotype of gender temperament in Southern family romance and the importance of marriage to family,explores the subversive nature of the characters in McCullers’ Reflections in A Golden Eye and The Ballad of Sad Cafe and reveals McCullers’ reflection on the historical changes and modern civilization of southern society.The second chapter is "self exploration and anxiety of growth".The perplexity in her growth is an important reason for McCullers’ writing and one of the main themes in her novels.Through the analysis of the first chapter,the paper concludes that the younger generation in McCullers’ works not only lived in a new family with weakened parents’ image,but also seemed to be difficult to get rid of the influence of traditional family.This chapter analyzes the growing-up confusion of Mick in The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and Frankie in The Member of the Wedding,the two young girls with autobiographical color,and reveals the influence of family on them and the efforts they made in the process of their growing up.It mainly includes the weakening of parents’ image brought more possibilities of exploration and the anxiety of self-identity in the threshold of growth.The third chapter is "loyal and ignorant ethnic minorities?".Ethnic minorities especially black slaves was a marginalized factor in Southern family romance,but meanwhile it was an important historical characteristic of Southern America.Although they had lived in their master’s manor for generations,they were rarely regarded as a member of the family or even treated as human beings.But in McCullers’ works,they had different images and began to protest.They dared to express their thoughts and pain.Some black maids,such as Frankie’s maids in The Member of the Wedding,even played the role of life tutor of the young protagonist,being the source of mother’s warmth in the family.This chapter mainly analyzes the protesting voice of ethnic minorities in McCullers’ works and their different identities from which in tradition,to reveal McCullers’ dissatisfaction with racial discrimination in the old South.In the conclusion part,based on the above analysis,the writer’s attitude towards family is revealed in the deconstruction of "Southern family romance" in her works.Besides,McCullers’s deep reflection on the traditional southern society and the contemporary southern society,and the significance of her works in the era is also concluded in this part.