Kelly’s Quest:A Study On The Identity Issue In True History Of The Kelly Gang

This thesis seeks to explore Ned Kelly’s identity issue in Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang in the light of Stuart Hall’s concept of cultural identity.Australia is a country of immigrants with a convict past.Ever since the day the settlers set foot on the new land,their identity has been an issue that waits to be solved.Irish Australians,the lowest class in Australia with a questionable historical and cultural background,are particularly discriminated against by the dominant culture and excluded from the British mainstream.The Kelly family,of Irish descent,are representatives of these people.They constantly face an identity crisis on top of a doleful existence.Ned Kelly is native born and a fair Australian,but,as the son of an Irish ex-convict,he,throughout all his life,endeavors to seek his own identity as a new Australian.A study of his pursuit of an Australian identity is of great significance as it enables us to discern how the early settles in Australia come to terms with the new land and how the Australian national identity comes into its own.Previous researches into the novel,so far as the author of the paper can see from her reading of relevant materials,mainly explore from the perspectives of power and discourse,carnival spirit and New Historicism,and few concentrate on the protagonist’s strife for his personal value and his desperate search for his new identity.Around Ned Kelly’s identity issue,this thesis makes its exploration from three aspects organized in three chapters.Chapter One focuses on Kelly’s identity predicament.It is seen that both Kelly’s parents fail in their identification with the new environment.Born with a rebellious Irish spirit and afflicted with racial discrimination and injustice,Ned Kelly refuses to step into their shoes and embarks on an arduous journey for his Australian identity in a new way.According to Stuart Hall,cultural identity is a matter of “becoming” as well as “being”.Regarding Kelly’s construction of his identity,this thesis shows two dimensions in the following two chapters.The first one in Chapter Two is the adaptation and settlement of Kelly’s Irishness in Australia.In this part,the Irish myth of Cuchulainn and the tradition ofcross-dressing are respectively elaborated.Their adaptations,closely associated with the Australian people and land,are properly integrated into Kelly’s new identity.The second dimension is unfolded in Chapter Three,which is Kelly’s quest for Australianness in Australia.As we’ve read in the novel,Kelly,as a native-born Australian,is more Australian than Irish.Ned Kelly builds his own “community” in the bush,in which his true Australian character takes shape.What Kelly has done represents true Australianness.What’s more,Ned Kelly,by a steady relentless effort,further consolidates his Australian identity by writing his own story,which is also a kind of the national history.Confined to its unique immigration history and a weak cultural basis,the pursuit of identity in Australia is unavoidably different from any other country on earth.This thesis delves into Kelly’s identity issue and argues that it is urgent and feasible for Ned Kelly to construct his Australian identity in Australia,a harmonious Australian identity,involving his Irishness,the Australian people and the new land.In a sense,Kelly’s quest for his Australian identity is the epitome of the search of thousands of the new settlers for their national identity in Australia.Ned Kelly’s power,ability and perseverance that the writer Peter Carey bestows on his hero help to encourage the present individual Australians to reflect on their own national identity in a multicultural society.