An Analysis Of The Heartsong Of Charging Elk From The Perspective Of Foucault's Power Discourse Theory

Ever since the advent of Indian literary works in the 19 th century,Indian literature has gained an increasing popularity among the academia,the related researches have been increasing accordingly,thus the breakout of Indian literary renaissance.As one of the leading figures of the renaissance,the author concerns a lot about his tribal history,trying to show the tribal culture and explore the meaning of tribal identity in his literary creation.His works have won many literary awards,Welch himself has also won the “lifetime achievement award” among the circle of Native American writers in 1997.However,researches of his works have mainly focused on his former works while little attention has been paid to his latest work The Heartsong of Charging Elk.This thesis chooses James Welch's The Heartsong of Charging Elk as the research object and strives to analyze the novel based on Michel Foucault's power discourse theory and to reveal the operating mechanism of the mainstream white class,which is produced to realize the control and discipline on the Indian nation;how the protagonist struggles to get rid of such kind of situation by means of some tentative “counter-discourse” practice;the results of those practice under the power discourse of the white.Then it further points out the root of their tragic fate so as to explore the outlet for the predicament Indians are facing.This thesis is arranged into five chapters: Chapter one is the Introduction part which firstly gives a brief introduction to James Welch,his works and literary achievements;secondly the literary reviews related to the novel;then a brief introduction to Michel Foucault,his power discourse theory and the significance of the thesis.Chapter two mainly focuses on the analysis of the operating mechanism of the power discourse from the angle of power,discourse and knowledge,in which cultural genocide policy,spiritual castration,specific strategies for the operation of the disciplinary power on those Indians are included.Chapter three mainly discusses the tentative “counter-discourse” practice of the protagonist from the angle of body and space.Those practice are evolved from the negative avoid strategy in silence to positive “counter-discourse” practice in action,during which the self-awareness and spatial awareness of the protagonist awaken,he seeks to reconstruct his identity with an aim to solve his identity crisis through the pursuit for the space and his struggle for the power discourse.Chapter four puts its emphasis on the analysis of the results of those “counter-discourse” practice: the protagonist's establishment of a basic connection with the white class and the rise of his economic and social status seem to be superficial success,but they turn out to be failures essentially: the protagonist who internalizes the discourse of the white fails to return to his “home”,being struck in the liminal space.Chapter five explores the outlet for the marginal “others” under the power discourse of the white and puts forward a brand-new cultural rudiment,that is,the pluralism and coexistence between the Indian and the white culture under the context of globalization,which makes it possible for the “others” to be decentralized and then realize their transformation from static to dynamic identities.Under the guidance of Foucault's power discourse theory,it is obvious that the white are in dominance of the power discourse while Indians are barely in possession of it through the analysis of the novel.It uncovers Welch's deep concern on the future development of the Indian nation as an aphasiac group and his worries about the continuation of static identity.He creatively puts forward a new possible way to help Indians get rid of the present plight and deal with the identity crisis.They could reconstruct their cultural identities in dynamic identity stance,that is,they could construct hybrid identities to cross cultural boundaries,and then dispel binary opposition between “the central/the marginal”.Only in this way can make Indian nation get rid of the floating and marginal status possible.