A Study On The Themes Of John Steinbeck's Workers Trilogy From The Perspective Of New Historicism

Based on the theory of the New Historicism and combined with the social background,this thesis aims at exploring the interactive communication and exchange between text and history in John Steinbeck's Workers Trilogy-In Dubious Battle,Of Mice and Men,and The Grapes of Wrath.The concepts of "textuality of history""historicity of text" and "subversion and containment" highlight the essence of New Historicism,through which the purpose of this paper is to interpret the new historicism embodied in John Steinbeck's Workers Trilogy and explore the themes in the discussion between text and history,reinforcing the New Historicism thoughts reflected in the works by touching history through text to restore the historical truth.This thesis can be divided into five parts:The introduction gives an introduction to John Steinbeck,the "Workers Trilogy",literature review,and briefly summarizes the theoretical background and ideological connotation of New Historicism and the aims and significance of the study.The first chapter is centered on "the textuality of history" and from the textual perspectives of the three works,the combination of historical event and personal experience is revealed,which is the reoccurrence of American history and society in the Great Depression,thus giving in-depth analysis of the social reality in historical narration and pointing out the nature of textuality of history.The second chapter focuses on the external creation factors of the Worker's Trilogy(including the social context and the transformation of the author's sense of identity)under the guidance of "historicity of texts",all of which contribute to the text production.Meanwhile,the production of texts is a product of history and participates in the construction of history which has led to the reflection and influence on the reconstruction of American society,thus reconstructing the American lower-class workers'own history as well.Chapter three concentrates on "subversion" and "containment" to interpret John Steinbeck's historical writing strategies,of which to reveal the reinforcement from exploitation of Capitalist Class to concession to Capitalist Class.The Workers Trilogy subverted the privileged discourse of mainstream history;meanwhile,the works are inevitably contained by the dominant social system at that time,thus realizing the trilogy's mission in historical interpretation.The part of conclusion further elucidates the new historicism in the trilogy and this study attempts to indicate that the Workers Trilogy is a combination of "text" and"history",which participates in the development and construction of historical significance through the interaction process between the reoccurrence of history and the historical context and attacks the unreasonable social and institutional factors of America in the trilogy,making us reinspect and explore the history of America in the 1930s.Meanwhile,it arouses readers' consideration about the survival plight of the Americans during the Economic Crisis.