The Hybrid Identities Of Jack Maggs

This thesis explores the hybrid identities of Jack Maggs and its reasons in the novel Jack Maggs by the Australian writer Peter Carey from the perspective of postcolonial criticism and identity.Identity issue is significant for people especially for those in colonized countries. They are considered "Other" by colonialists. They are marginalized in literature and they have no right of discourse. Hybridity is one of the features of colonized countries: their people consist of the Aborigines, the colonists and their descendants; their national history is hybrid because it contains the history of colonists and the history of the Aborigines. Therefore, the people of the colonized country are confused by their national identity and social identity. Identity has become one of the important subjects of literature in colonized countries such as Australia. In the past, Australia was the penal colony of Great Britain. The convicts who were transported there had suffered a lot in Australia. They did not want to admit their Australian identity but they were also refused by England. Thus, hybridity is reflected in their characters and becomes the feature of their identity.As the representative of Australian writers, Peter Carey gives voice to Australian people and tells the history of Australia in the novel Jack Maggs, a rewriting of the famous Victorian novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. After researching into the literature and searching on the reviews of this novel, the author of this paper has found that most of the reviews contend that the identity of Jack Maggs is sole which means he has only the identity of Australian and no one touches upon his social identity. Thus this paper aims to analyze the hybrid national identities and social identities of Jack Maggs and its reasons. As the protagonist of the novel, Jack Maggs is a convict born in England and then transported to Australia for the term of his natural life. He starts his business of bricks in Australia and makes a big fortune but he still wants to return to England to realize his dream of being a gentleman. However, he is betrayed by his adopted son and has to escape to Australia. Finally he spends the remainder of his years in Australia. Due to his complicated experience in England and Australia, Jack Maggs has the feature of hybridity in both his national identity and social identity. He possesses the characteristics of the English-gentlemanliness and conservativeness-and the traits of Australians-courage and the spirit of mateship. As for his social identity, he has the features of the proletariat-being oppressed and resisting oppression-and the features of the capitalist-vanity and brutality. Therefore, his identity is hybrid. Then the reasons of his hybrid identities are discussed in three aspects:historical reason, the influence of colonization and industrialization; Maggs’s illusions about England and gentleman; and Peter Carey’s views on identity.The purpose of this thesis is to reveal the hybrid identities of Jack Maggs and its reason. Through revealing the hybridity of his identity, we can meditate on the current social situation. With the development of globalization, there is more and more communication between countries in the world. Identity problem becomes more complex. One person may have two or more identities on the grounds of his or her experience and the characteristics reflected in his or her behaviors. Hybridity has become the feature of identity.