A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ALIENATION, IDENTITY, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SELF IN AFRO-AMERICAN AND EAST GERMAN FICTION

The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate that contemporary East German and Afro-American literature point to significant parallels in the pattern of social development in both groups. Because the United States and the German Democratic Republic are governed according to diametrically opposing ideologies and political systems, one does not expect both nations to be confronted by similar problems. Further, since the population of East Germany is largely homogeneous, it is even more surprising to find that many East Germans are plagued by social problems we in America are wont to attribute to racial strife and bigotry. Our fixation with the diversities of race, culture, and polemical political systems that differentiate Afro-Americans and East Germans tends to obscure the fact that the racial structure of American society is actually a variation of the European system of social stratification.; The intention of this dissertation is to compare the social development of the contemporary Afro-American with that of his East German counterpart through literary analysis. By making a critical comparison of the fictional works of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker, two leading black American novelists, with those of East Germans Hermann Kant and Guenter De Bruyn, this research project discloses that Afro-Americans and East Germans alike fall victim to the alienation forewarned in Marx's Freuhe Schriften. Working within his/her respective social system, Kant, Morrison, Walker and De Bruyn champion the cause of social justice by advocating the rights of the individual. Their works demonstrate that despite the obvious differences that set them apart, the authors concur in the belief that the desire for social justice and respect for human dignity are universals sought by individuals in every society.