Wondering While Wandering

The present dissertation makes a comprehensive study of the relationship between metaphor and culture on the basis of the textual analysis. In the light of cultural metaphor criticism, it is expected to analyze the cultural metaphor in Langston Hughes's autobiographical novel The Big Sea. Human civilization has always been struggling in the dilemma of progress while the communication and interaction of cultures would have been testing the human's wisdom and quality. Being aware of the increasingly severe cultural crisis, the alienation and estrangement of human culture should be responsible for those who have been concerned about the destiny of human being. Langston Hughes, one of the greatest Afro-American writers, devoted himself to advocating the multi-culture in the United States, and criticized the ideological origins—cultural ethnocentrism which brings about the disharmony of culture. He expressed his own view of multiculturalism by paying attention to the fate between the black culture and the white culture in the United States.Langston Hughes was an outstanding black poet, novelist and playwright in modern American society. His influence as an author was felt everywhere and his production was tremendous. Poems, novels, plays, short stories, an autobiography—all these simply poured out of him. His works described the plight of African-American life and tragic destiny with great sympathy, criticizing racial discrimination and arousing the awareness and pride of African-Americans. There are some different researches done in the past few years. This thesis, starting at the cultural level, will give a deep and thorough analysis of the cultural metaphors in The Big Sea, attempting to interpret Langston Hughes'unique cultural view.This thesis falls into five parts: the first chapter will give a general introduction to Langston Hughes's life and works with a general explanation of cultural elements from his life as well to Langston Hughes's autobiography The Big Sea; and then to the purpose and significance of the thesis will be presented in the end.The second chapter will be a brief introduction to the study on Langston Hughes'works and his multiculturalism. Then a short discussion is made about the current researches on The Big Sea which is greatly committed to the racial discrimination, the black identity and the lot of African-American culture. Lastly the development of multiculturalism is stated in this chapter.The third chapter dwells on the cultural metaphor criticism. Beginning with the study on metaphor, the paper makes a detailed description of the research on metaphor. Meanwhile it points out that most studies on metaphor are committed to language, while the paper is intended to conduct the research on metaphor from the perspective of cultural criticism. The relationship between metaphor and culture should be regarded as the one between signifier and signified. It is through the bridge of metaphors that the significance of culture will be interpreted, thus this paper demonstrates the deconstruction on American cultural ethnocentrism—which reveals hazards caused by the disharmony of culture.The fourth chapter interprets the significance of culture behind metaphor in The Big Sea on the basis of the cultural metaphor criticism. Part one analyzes the cultural meanings of the title of this autobiography. Part two states the plot from the perspective of cultural metaphor. Part three explores some special places where the cultural meaning is presented. The last part focuses on the characters of the story to account for the pursuit of culture. The paper is attempted to discover the cultural connotations by analyzing the metaphors in The Big Sea, indicating that The Big Sea is not merely a developmental story of Langston Hughes but a history in which the conflict of American society and culture is demonstrated. In this paper Hughes shows his wondering about and wandering among American culture. It turns out that the author would rather contrive to establish the multi-culture than deconstruct American culture, seeking for the equality and harmony of culture.In the end, the thesis will come to the conclusion that Langston Hughes reveals his doubt about American culture—white cultural ethnocentrism. At the same time, he shows his positive attitude towards American culture, even the whole human civilization. The paper ultimately indicates that the establishment of multi-culture is the trend of the development of human culture.