Breaking The Shackles And Pursuing Freedom ——An Interpretation Of The Underground Railroad From The Perspective Of Spatial Criticism

Colson Whitehead,an African-American writer who has aroused much attention in the contemporary literary world,was honored as the “literary chameleon”.His sixth novel,The Underground Railroad,has received both critical and popular acclaim since its publication in2016 and won the 2016 National Book Award and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize.It mainly describes the story of a black slave girl Cora who escapes from the antebellum South and goes to the North to seek freedom with the aid of the mysterious railroad.Taking Cora’s escape as a clue,the work is rooted in the historical reality of America,which reveals the chronic illness of the American slavery society and compliments the black slaves’ fearless faith and the courage to pursue liberty.Within the framework of Lefebvre’s theory of spatial criticism,this thesis endeavors to discuss how the heroine Cora breaks the shackles and searches for freedom from three perspectives: physical space,social space and psychological space.Taking Lefebvre’s spatial criticism theory as the research angle,this thesis mainly inquires into the oppression which Cora suffers in different spaces and her efforts to resist and strive for freedom.In the physical space,Cora lives in morose and dark Hob at the Randall plantation and works in horrible cotton rows;In the social space,Cora is subjected to the omnipresent oppression and humiliation,and her conflicts with the family members,black fellows and white people gradually emerge;In the psychological space,living in the gloomy physical space and the disharmonious social space,Cora’s fragile mind is also rudely blighted.The long-term diffusion of negative emotion leads to her repeated evasion,pessimism and apathy.However,facing the heavy pressure of life,Cora embarks on the survival road of resistance and pursuit without hesitation.She starts the spatial transformation towards freedom and flees from the dark rendezvous of human nature,crosses South Carolina,North Carolina,Tennessee,Indiana and finally rushes to the North,a place full of hope;In the deformed society,Cora properly deals with the relationship with her family members,gamely revolts against the blacks and whites and ultimately endeavors to explore the harmonious family and social atmospheres;She realizes the spiritual awakening through positive thinking and expanding her knowledge,accomplishes the reconstruction of her inner world by accepting and returning others’ love,and achieves the spiritual freedom at last.Whitehead’s work The Underground Railroad is connected with complex spatial dynamics.He gives Cora an extremely three-dimensional image,and reveals the determination of the black females to overcome numerous obstacles on the way to pursue freedom.The Underground Railroad is expected to enlighten people that only through persistent rebellion can they break the shackles of space and gain true freedom when encountering repression and injustice.