"Symbolic Ties That Bind":on Place Attachment In Hiding Place

John Edgar Wideman is a noteworthy contemporary Afro-American writer.Most of his works are grounded in Homewood which was started by his ancestors.Wideman's bonds with this particular community are palpable throughout most of his writing career.Hiding Place is part of the Homewood Trilogy,which marks the maturity of Wideman's literary voice and his returning to Homewood.The background of this novel is set in two particular locations—Homewood Community and Bruston Hill,with which the protagonists reveal complicated relationship,behind which are their entanglements with the past and present,alienation from or identification with family and black community.However,there has been no special criticism on the protagonists' affective bonding with Bruston Hill and Homewood in this novel so far.This thesis focuses on place attachment in Hiding Place,aiming to explore the composing ideas of Wideman contained within the people-place relationship in this novel.Place attachment has been an academic focus since the 1970s.As symbolic ties that bind people and place,place attachment centers on the affective bonding between place and people and the symbolic meanings attached to place through personal,group,or cultural processes,like linkage to family,religion or culture.With place attachment as the theoretical framework and its temporal dimension as the thread,this thesis tak:es the protagonists' affective bonding with places as the focus,aiming at analyzing what place means for them and what lies behind their place attachment and revealing Wideman's exploration of Afro-American history,identity,love for the family,identification with the community,etc.This thesis is going to analyze the protagonists' place attachment from the dimensions of the past,present and future in three chapters.After introducing the background and significance of Hiding Place,this thesis firstly probes into the relationship between place and memory:Place is the reservoir of past experiences.The place and the people who lived with and around individuals become intertwined in memories.Bruston Hill and Homewood are the places that carry Bess's and Tommy's lived experiences and the history of the family.The strong affective bonding with these two locations partially arises out of their nostalgia for the past and fascination with family history.Secondly,this thesis focuses on what place attachment means for the protagonists for the present:To be rooted in place is a natural need for human beings,for place offers a sense of security and protection.In the novel,Bruston Hill becomes Bess and Tommy's hiding place from the outside world and is the spiritual shelter where they could regain the courage to face what awaits them down the hill.The third part will center on what attachment to certain place means for individuals and groups from the dimension of future:Place attachment may link people with friends,partners,children,and kin in an overt and visible fashion.Attachment to the community one belongs to symbolizes one's social relationships with individuals and groups,which plays an essential role in reflecting and shaping people's sense of whom they are as individuals and as members of groups.The final returns to Homewood of the two protagonists signify their regained identification with family and the community,which ignites hope for themselves,the family and the black community.It also explores what Wideman suggests for the Afro-Americans in face of racial discrimination and troubles that arise from both external and internal factors:holding fast to places that symbolize family and community is Wideman's answer.