A Study Of The Nickel Boys From The Perspective Of New Historicism

The Nickel Boys is the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction by the famous contemporary African-American writer Colson Whitehead.The novel takes Arthur G Dozier School in Florida as the prototype to tell a story of two black boys who were unjustly sentenced to the hell like “the Nickel Academy” under the influence of Jim Crow Law.Through the perfect fusion of reality and illusion,it vividly reproduces the violent history of the United States in the 1960 s and 1970 s.The thesis uses “textuality of history” and “historicity of texts” of New Historicism to explore the mutual integration and promotion between the novel and history.In The Nickel Boys,“textuality of history” is mainly reflected in the reconstruction of real historical events and the textual strategies that constitute the novel.This part focuses on the exploration two real historical events that restored by Whitehead with the combination of fiction and reality and the multi-level textual strategies of the novel,which is not only conducive to deepening the interpretation of the humanistic connotation constructed on the basis of historical facts,but also beneficial to promote readers to experience the historical life and realistic reflections represented by them.“Historicity of texts” is based on its external factors of creation and historical significance.The creation of the novel cannot be separated from the historical background and the social background of the writer.Whitehead,as the representative of contemporary African-American writers,speaks out for racial issues through the novel,promoting the development of the African-American Civil Rights Movement,and further demonstrating the yearning and unremitting pursuit of racial equality of African-Americans.The creation of The Nickel Boys is based on Whitehead’s sensitivity to social issues,perfectly unifies authenticity and illusion by his superb writing techniques,and finally realizes the adaptation of real historical events.This thesis aims to inspire readers to restore and feel the history from a more complete perspective through New Historicism,and explore the profound practical significance.