Discipline And Resistance

Carson McCullers (1917- 1967) is a famous female writer on the stage of American literature in the 20th century. Though her short life is full of hardship and illness,McCullers makes great achievement in literature with perseverance and virtuosity.Critics speak highly of the salient regional features of the American South, the freakish characterization and the delicate depiction of the human beings’ spiritual isolation in her works,which makes her a prominent figure in the history of American literature.Clock without Hands is McCullers’ last work. This novel is set in a traditional Southern town Milan in the middle 20th century,when African American Civil Right Movements was rising and the South was in the process of industrialization and presents a picture of the vicissitude in South and depicts the existence predicament of the townspeople. This novel, which takes McCullers fifteen years to complete, is not given the high praise assigned to her earlier works. The theme of spiritual isolation in this novel has been elaborated in most researches, but its significance of reality is waiting for deeper exploration. In the 1950s, the South was in the period of great change and transition. On the one hand, the nostalgic Southerners were still overwhelmed by the failure in the Civil War,and racism as well as conservatism continued prevailing in the society; on the other hand, the nation was in the progress of industrialization and civil right movement of the blacks. Therefore, the conservative southerners were enclosed in a net woven by different forces and cultures, falling into the abyss of depression and despair.In this thesis, the author is going to adopt Foucault’s study of power to give a new interpretation of Clock without Hands.Through analyzing the characters under the power discipline and their resistance, the author tries to prove that all the people, regardless of gender, race, class or age, are in the ubiquitous net of power. Meanwhile, the author finds out that McCullers holds a relatively optimistic attitude to the resistance of the power.Although some attempts of rebellion in this novel end with failure, there is hope for people and readers in these tragedies.By interpreting Clock without Hands from the perspective of power, the author attempts to enrich and deepen the study of McCullers’ works. This thesis discusses the discipline and resistance in the novel, and reveals McCullers’ deep concern for the people under the power net of mixed forces. During the creation of her last novel,McCullers is no longer restricted by the private vision, but shifts her focus to the culture and reality of American South and expresses her historical retrospection about the social hierarchy and racial issues in the South.