The Living Predicament And Identification Of The Schwarts

The Gravedigger's Daughter depicts the sufferings of a Jewish family represented by the Schwarts,who emigrated from Germany to American during WWII.In the U.S.,they suffer from severe injustices and humiliations from the native people,besides a life of poverty and hardship.To solve the predicament,they determine to hide their Jewish identity,because of which they are always viewed as“the other” by the western mainstream society.With the application of Homi Bhabha's postcolonial theories,this thesis purports to make a tentative study of the identification of two Jewish American generations in Joyce Carol Oates' The Gravedigger's Daughter.In doing so,this thesis will conclude that the living predicament of ethnic minority can be solved through construction of a hybrid identity.This thesis consists of three parts.The introduction part provides a brief account of Joyce Carol Oates and The Gravedigger's Daughter,the literature review and theoretical basis.The main body of the thesis contains three chapters.Chapter one analyzes living predicament of the Schwarts,including disillusioned father,silent mother,the fugitive brothers and the runaway daughter.Chapter two explores Jewish identity deconstruction of the Schwarts through mimicry,from the first-generation immigrants and the second-generation immigrants.Chapter three discusses the heroine Rebecca's identity crisis and reconstruction through the Third Space.The conclusion summarizes this thesis with an emphasis of the construction of hybrid identity to deal with the dilemma of ethnic minority in the multi-cultural society.