Seeking Hybrid Identity

Frank McCourt(1930 – 2009)is a prominent Irish-American writer.He has published his series of three memoirs,Angela's Ashes(1996),Tis(1999),and Teacher Man(2005),among which Angela's Ashes has won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography(1997),the annual National Book Critics Circle Award(1996)and the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize(1997).Angela's Ashes is a tragicomic memoir of misery which details McCourt's impoverished childhood both in Brooklyn and Limerick.It has appeared on The New York Times hardcover bestseller list for 117 weeks and has been translated into twenty-five languages.However,there is not much academic attention to it accompanying its wide popularity.Previous studies on Angela's Ashes mainly fall into six categories: textual analysis,textual comparison and cultural analysis,the study of feminism,theme and writing techniques.Therefore,this thesis attempts to analyze how Frank subverts his Other identity and constructs his hybrid Irish American identity from the perspective of Homi K.Bhaha's post-colonial theory.Apart from Introduction and Conclusion,this thesis consists of three chapters.The Introduction gives a brief account of Frank McCourt and Angela's Ashes,a literature review of the novel at home and abroad as well as the significance of this thesis.Chapter One is the theoretical framework in which the main concepts of Homi K.Bhabha's post-colonial theory including cultural difference and stereotype,hybridity and mimicry are presented.Chapter Two focuses on the construction of Frank McCourt's Other identity in America and Ireland.He is discriminated in and excluded from American society due to his Irish immigrant's identity.Back to Ireland,he is regarded as a Yank.Furthermore,his four years' living experience in America unconsciously pushes him into evaluating Irish culture from the viewpoint of American culture and fixing Irish culture to stereotypes such as excessive drinking,extreme poverty,suffocating Catholicism that contribute to the internalization of himself as the Other.Therefore,searching for his position and identity in both cultures is of top priority.Chapter Three explores the deconstruction of Frank McCourt's Other identity and the construction of his hybrid Irish American identity.Through identifying the essence of Irish drinking culture like hospitality and masculinity,the Irish's spiritual satisfaction brought by folk culture as well as the dying Catholicism,Frank McCourt destabilizes the stereotypes that he has formed when he first goes back to Ireland.Afterwards he abandons his prejudice towards Irish culture and internalizes himself as one part of Ireland and deconstructs his Other identity there.Adopting mimicry,his parents hybridize the Irish naming tradition with the American one,which facilitates the deconstruction of his Other identity.In addition,he employs Mark Twain's local colorist way of writing,humor and satire to narrate Irish local culture,which hybridizes the marginalized Irish culture and the mainstream American culture,and successfully constructs his hybrid Irish American identity.The Conclusion points out that the destabilization of Irish stereotypes,the identification of the essence of Irish culture along with the hybridity of Irish and American culture contribute to the deconstruction of Frank McCourt's Other identity and the construction of his hybrid Irish American identity.The hybrid identity helps to preserve racial and cultural difference,transforms the form and meaning of mainstream discourse,and makes the marginalized voice heard,which is a meaningful illumination for people facing the identity confusion in the context of globalization and cultural colonialism.