Obstacles Of Racial Integration In James Baldwin's Another Country

James Baldwin(1924-1987)is a significant American modern novelist.His most influential novel Another Country(1962)is a novel that reflects the struggle of both the black and the white after the Civil War.This thesis discusses the obstacles in racial integration reflected in Another Country with the assistant of Frantz Fanon's post-colonial theory,aiming at providing new angles for related studies.With the depiction of two black-and-white couples in Another Country,Baldwin attempts to explore and reflect on racial integration.The two interracial couples encounter invisible impediment for their relationships.One couple ends up with insanity and suicide,while the other couple achieves certain advancement,but their future is still obscure.The experiences of the interracial couples point out the living condition of the two races,and indirectly unveil the difficulties of racial integration.Combining detailed analysis of the novel and related historical background and theory,this thesis reaches the conclusion that the difficulty of racial integration is the result of multiple obstacles.In contemporary American society dominated by the white,the black get themselves stuck in self-marginalization because of the past traumatic memories of slavery,identity confusion and complex emotion to the white.As for the white,they generally hold passive attitude when they contact the black.Ignorance to the anguish of the black,along with their internal instinctive fear to the sexuality and strength of the black further deepen the racial distance.Besides,the American society provides no positive space for racial integration.Even though in contemporary America,black people still suffer from physical and spiritual segregation,unequal social status,and refusal to interracial relationships from both the black and the white community.Through the novel,Baldwin expects to provide bright future and access for the development of racial integration.