Reshaping Australian National Identity

This thesis explores the postcolonial theme of Jack Maggs by Australian famous writer—Peter Carey from the perspective of postcolonial criticism.Postcolonial theorists hold the view that identity, whether the individual or the national, is constructed afterwards, with no distinction between superior identity and inferior one. However, when facing colonists, people in colonized countries are "Other" and they have no right of discourse. Both their identity and their history are defined and narrated by colonists. In this context, postcolonial nations imperatively need to subvert the discourse hegemony of colonists and redefine their national identity. Therefore, "identity construction" becomes one of the important subjects of postcolonial literature. And this "identity" is not only the individual identity of the colonized, but also the national identity.As a postcolonial writer, Peter Carey subverts the imperial discourse of imperial texts by rewriting the distorted convict figure—Magwitch in Great Expectations so as to express his aspiration to reshape Australian national identity. By adopting the methods of contrast and comparison, this thesis first analyzes the subversion of Great Expectations by Jack Maggs. Through rewriting the distorted convict figure in Great Expectations and parodying Charles Dickens, Jack Maggs dismantles the authority of imperial texts represented by Great Expectations. From the postcolonial discourse and merits the convict figure—Jack Maggs endowed with, this thesis goes on discussing the redeeming of Australian convict ancestry by Peter Carey whose intention is to encourage Australians to shake off the "cultural cringe" and build national confidence. This thesis then reveals the bitter journey from Jack Maggs' identity loss to identity recognition, which makes Peter Carey's purpose of creating this novel evident: reshaping Australian national identity.The purpose of this thesis is to show one of the features of postcolonial literature: reshaping national identity by subverting imperial texts and re-memorizing the past. Meanwhile, this thesis aims at urging writers in postcolonial countries to take the arduous task of reconstructing independent national identity in the context of Globalization.