An Archetypal Interpretation Of Lalita Tademy’s Cane River

Lalita Tademy is a contemporary African-American writer who conducted massive genealogical researches before the creation of her first novel Cane River.Tademy weaves the historical materials into a novel that blends fact and fiction,a mixture of history and imagination that vividly dramatizes black female slaves’ life,their emotional state and the day-to-day fear that confronted them: sexual assault from white males,family members’ being sold and the harsh,uncertain future of being a slave.In Cane River,Tadmy uses a wealth of archetypes from the Bible and ancient Greek mythology to make the novel rich in ideological connotation and powerful in emotional effects.Through the theoretical lens of Frye’s archetypal criticism and a combination of theory with close readings of the novel,this thesis examines Cane River from a macro and micro perspective,analyzing the archetypal imageries,and characters as much as it explores the archetypal motifs.Firstly,this thesis analyzes the archetypal characters from the ancient Greek mythology and the Bible.It argues that the mythological relationship between Apollo and Daphne,who transforms herself into a laurel tree because of refusal to submit to Apollo’s advances,strongly suggests a paralleled relationship of mastery and domination between white masters and their female slaves like Elisabeth,Suzette and Palmire,whereas Biblical figure like Moses,is indicative of the resourceful and brave black character like Philomene,who is determined to find a way to lead her people out of enslavement;Biblical figure like Ishmael,is representative of the oppressed and discriminated mulatto character like T.O.dismissed by his father because of his humble birth.Secondly,in terms of archetypal imageries,this thesis posits that imageries such as garden-rose,spider-web,river and quilt,dramatize in a subtle way the complex relationship between domination and resistance,between enslavement and community building,and between deprivation and preservation of cultural traditions.Lastly,in examining how the use of archetypal imageries and characters contribute to dominant motifs,this thesis focuses on the motifs of maternal love and quest,exploring the complexities,dilemmas and difficulties that female characters as enslaved subjects,especially the mulattoes,encounter in their search for identity and expression of maternal love.Unlike black novels that feature graphic cruelty and bloody inhumanity,Cane River represents the sexual and racial oppression faced by enslaved blacks from a fresh angle,and Tademy’s fusing of archetypical allusions with fictional characters shows in more telling way the evil of slavery.The archetypes in the novel transcend the bondage of time and space,and by connecting ancient myths with modern gender and racial issues,Tademy is unwittingly offering inspirations for the survival of minorities and for strategies to move to the future in a society where racism dies hard.