Subversion And Containment: A Study Of The March From The Perspective Of New Historicism

E.L. Doctorow is regarded as a representative of postmodernist novelist and a prolific writer in America, ceaselessly expanding his literary achievements. Until now, he has published thirteen novels, one play, two collections of short stories and other writings. Long celebrated for his incomparable and vivid evocations of American life, Doctorow’s fiction spans across American history during the twentieth century. He is widely acclaimed for his talent of evoking the past in a way that makes history mysterious and familiar.In 2005, Doctorow published The March that became one of the bestsellers at once and was later awarded the PEN/Faulkner award. This novel, based on the historical event of the Civil War as story clues, narrates General William Tecumseh Sherman’s march to the sea through Georgia and Carolinas. The novel presents the ruthlessness of the war, the destruction of the city and the degeneracy of human nature. His troops left brutality and cruelty to the folks they killed and cities they occupied. Through Doctorow’s writing, people could ponder over the war and history again in the view of rationality and objective. This thesis, applying the concepts "subversion" and "containment" of Greenblatt who is the vital representative of New Historicism, interprets the images and fates of the figures in the novel to present Doctorow’s attitude to history through his reconstruction and subversion of history and figures. There are five chapters in this thesis:Chapter One firstly introduces Doctorow’s life experience and writing career; then the thesis presents an overview of the novel and the literature review; the last part of this chapter offers objective, significance and structure of the thesis.Chapter Two gives brief introduction of New Historicism and presents the major concepts especially "subversion" and "containment".Chapter Three analyzes the "subversion" in The March. "Subversion" refers to the rebellion against the social ideology of ruling order. Doctorow reconstructs the history of the Civil War and the brave image of General Sherman, at the same time creates vivid fictional figures such as black slave Pearl who pursues her freedom against the racial discrimination, Emily who is a daughter of judge of south seeks for her identity of women existence, Arly and Will who are eager to survive so that rebelling their armies, demonstrating the dissatisfaction of their self-existence and rebellion against the social ideology through the life experience of the figures.Chapter Four analyzes the "containment", which refers to incorporation and suppression of subversive elements and eventually being contained by the main ideology, which makes the subversion ineffective.Chapter Five summarizes the major points of the thesis which provides fresh ideas of understanding the novel and deepens practice of New Historicism through analyzing the relationship between subversion and containment.