The Black Under Power Gaze

Edward Paul Jones is one of the most brilliant African American writers,whose works represent the new trails of contemporary African American literature.His masterpiece The Known World(2003),exposes the rarely-known history that blacks were slave owners in the antebellum American South.By depicting the prosperity and collapse of Townsend plantation,Jones aims at revealing the complexity of American slavery and the harsh oppression on the black slaves.Informed with Foucault's concept of power and discourse,gaze,and the techniques of disciplines and the techniques of the self,this thesis studies the blacks' miserable life in Townsend plantation and Manchester County,drawing a conclusion that both Townsend Plantation and Manchester County are panoptic prisons.Every individual,especially the blacks are under constant power gaze.However,where there is power,there is resistance.Disciplinary power is not almighty and is destined to meet multiple resistances.By analyzing the slaves' struggle,some enlightenment can be got.Only sticking to the traditional black culture and fighting bravely can the blacks construct their subjectivity.By and large,this thesis can be divided into five parts.The first chapter briefly introduces Edward P.Jones,The Known World,the literature review of the novel both at home and abroad,as well as the significance,the method and the structure of this thesis.The second chapter focuses on the blacks under power gaze,which is mainly about the two main settings in the novel:the Manchester County and Townsend Plantation.According to the analysis,this thesis concludes that all the blacks are under constant power gaze,the slave owners applies various disciplinary techniques to normalize the slaves and any violation will be harshly punished.The third chapter mainly explores the resistance of the blacks.In The Known World,Jones describes many scenes of supernatural events,which reflects the blacks'traditional magic.Moreover,carving as a ethnic culture also mentions repeatedly in the novel.These two traditional black culture helps the blacks survive the miserable slavery.Except for sticking to the traditional culture,the slaves also fight against the slavery in various ways.The double-marginalized women slaves either choose to escape from the plantation to the free world,or identify themselves by renaming.Meanwhile,some of the blacks'power consciousness is awakening and tries multiple ways to take hold of it.By analyzing different ways of resistance,this chapter reveals the effort the blacks have put into on the way to freedom.The fourth chapter shows the ultimate goal of this thesis,to reconstruct the black identity.On the one hand,Elias gives up his escaping plan for love and he achieves inner free in the warmth of family.On the other hand,the "night walker",Alice pretends to be mad and escapes from the plantation successfully.She finishes the naming process and confirms her identity as a free woman and lives an aesthetic life hereafter.The disciplinary power is ubiquitous,we cannot escape from it,but we can construct the subjectivity by means of identifying the practices of the self.The last chapter is the conclusion part.According to the above analysis,we can see that both the Townsend Plantation and the Manchester County are panopticon,all the blacks are under permanent power gaze.But the blacks would not submit to the power,they fight back positively.Their self-knowledge is accumulated which would help them reconstruct the subjectivity.We can also get some insight from the black's experience.The disciplinary power is ubiquitous,everyone is involved in it.But we can identity the power,and reinvent ourselves to improve the relation to the self and to others,thus construct the subjectivity.