On Carnivalistic Duality In Invisible Man

The publication of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man quickly arouses numerous critical attention home and abroad. Critics have interpreted the novel from different perspectives. Few, however, have ever discussed this novel in the framework of Bakhtin's carnivalesque and given critical analyses from the perspective of carnivalistic duality. This thesis attempts to interpret Ellison's monumental novel Invisible Man in light of Bakhtin's poetics of carnivalesque in order to demonstrate the carnivalistic duality and to explore the spirit and significance.Duality is the key category of Bakhtinian carnivalesque. According to him, folk carnival in Middle Ages has a profound inherent duality, which first represented as the duality of the world, official or unofficial. Secondly duality is reflected through the double meaning of events. The nature of the alternation of the new and the old and the co-existence of the death and the rebirth is the very core of the carnivalistic duality. Then it is embodied through double sides of people's personalities. To some extent, it is the dual life people live that determines their duality in nature. Hence, duality in carnival culture is demonstrated by the unification of subversion and invigoration, the alternation of the death and the renewal and the occurrence of past and future, the negative and the positive. This thesis is composed of three chapters analyzing the representation of carnivalistic duality from three aspects. Chapter 1 concentrates on the analyses of black people's carnival life on the carnival squares. The core of carnival sense of the world, mainly the spirit of subversion and invigoration, the mighty life-creating as well as transforming power and the indestructible vitality, has been found full expression in these black people. Chapter 2 examines the representation of the carnival rituals of crowning/decrowning embodied by the nameless protagonist. The regenerating and renovating spirit of saying goodbye to the old and the death and welcoming the new and the rebirth is where the double meaning of this event lies in. Chapter 3 discusses the carnival characters pregnant with carnivalistic duality. Carnivalistic duality is either in the form of the contrary coexistence of polar attributes in one character or taking the form of the adverse juxtaposition in characters of positive/negative attributes.The conclusion is arrived that Invisible Man is a carnivalized novel with profound meaning of duality. The key soul of duality, i.e., the universality reflected in that alternation and the unification has been found much resonance in this novel. This study also provides a relatively new perspective for the understanding of other literary works.