The Crisis Of Identity And Its Construction

Ernest Gaines is one of the most important novelists since Richards Wright, James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison in America. And he is also the most important novelist in South USA. However, the research on his novels has just begun. No systematic and deep-going research has been carried out both on the thoughts and narrative arts in his novels.This dissertation mainly studies the practicable multiple strategies about the construction of black manhood and black male identity in Ernest Gaines's novels from the perspective of the theory of masculinity studies.Firstly, while making the "courage under pressure" as the overall keynote, Gaines endows black manhood a specialty quite different from the hegemonic manhood defined by the white patriarchal culture with a female narrative. The black manhood in Gaines's novels inherits some reasonable notion of patriarchal manhood and at the same time abandons such negative and destructive elements as the hegemony, longing to conquer, and violence embodied in patriarchal manhood, thus constructing a new model of black manhood.Secondly, the construction of black manhood in Gaines's novels is closely connected with the construction of morality of black individuals in their private space. The restoration of black men's fatherhood is such a strategy. And the construction of morality of black men in their private space guarantees their success in public space.Thirdly, the construction of black manhood in Gaines's novels is connected with the transcendence of the "double conscious" which endows black manhood with the affirmation of political identity and cultural identity.Fourthly, during the process of black manhood construction, Gaines's novels neither ignore the significance of religion as an indispensable salvaging power to black manhood, nor give a blind eye to the importance of rational education to black people. Instead, they integrate the two powers into the the growth of black men, thus keeping a balance between the two.Fifthly, Gaines's novels also combine the construction of black manhood with the collective liberation and salvage of the black people, emphasizing the sense of responsibility of the black individuals to the black community.Finally, Gaines's novels exhibits insightful historic vision while constructing black manhood, exploring the significance of the right cognition of historic trauma left by dehumanizing slavery upon black men, demonstrating a dialectic notion about the past. At the same time, his novels uphold an open and active attitude towards the change of black people's status quo and thus make the black manhood constructed and practiced during the very process of changing the black people's circumstances and creating a new future.Undoubtedly, Gaines's novels exhibit a practicable multiple strategy in terms of the construction of black manhood. This strategy has a strong sense of problem and it is carried out according to various deficiencies and crisisses obsessing black men both for the historical and realistic reasons. It efficiently balances and bridges the contradictions and conflicts between individual and collective, belief and rationality, male and female, private space and public space, and the two identities during the growth of black males, thus becoming more practicable and operational. At the same time, this strategy is full of tension and power in the male narrative which will provoke more profound thinking about the issue among the readers.In short, the black manhood in Gaines's novels is constructed in an ample, multiple, and expansive narrative space, making the black male individuals reflect themselves in contradictions and paradoxes and obtain their maturity in frustrations, making them cut down useless metaphysical quest and unreasonable speculation and devote themselves to hardheaded work and struggle. Therefore, what Gaines's novels construct is no longer the abtract and uncertain manhood represented in such African American novels as Native Son and Invisible Man, but a more truthful and humanistic manhood with great sense of times.There are several benefits as follows to study Gaines's novels, the African American literature, or even the world literature from the perspective of manhood:Firstly, the study of male writing and the construction of black manhood will help enrich and diversify the paradigms of literary research both for African American literature and the world literature, so it has theoretical significance. The gender studies in literature nowadays almost equate the female studies, and masculinity studies have seriously been ignored. As the core concept in masculinity studies, the study of manhood will promote the masculinity studies and resume the balance of gender studies in literature.Secondly, the study of black manhood will enrich and deepen the image of black males.The representation of the black males has always occupied a crucial position in African American literature. Such male writers as Wright and Baldwin and such female writers as Morrison and Walker have done a lot of work in the representation of black males. The black male portrayed in the novels by Gainies has greatly enriched this tradition of black male writing.Thirdly, the studies of black manhood in Gaines's novels or black literature are of much illuminating importance for black men to actualize their subjectivity and then to go out of their identity crisisses----this is also the internal relationship between principal title and subtitle.Fourthly, the study of black manhood in Gaines's novels will be of great significance for the construction of harmonious relationship between the male and female. Today, the obsolete patriarchal culture is still exerting negative influence upon people's notion about manhood and creating a big obstacle to the constructing of a harmonious gender relationship. In this sense, the study of black manhood in Gaines's novels will promote people's critical awareness of hegemonic manhood shaped by the patriarchal culture, and will prove to be of great importance for the construction of a harmonious ethics.