A Traumatic Interpretation Of Invisible Man From The Perspective Of Post-colonialism

Invisible Man is a novel published in 1952 by Ralph Ellison,a famous African American writer,and the only novel published by Ellison during his lifetime.Since its publication,hailed as an epoch-making novel,it has attracted great attention in America and even in the world literature,and has been known as an epic that reflects the modern African American life in the United States.The novel revolves around a young African American who tells the reader about the protagonist's growing experience from the south to the north,from childish to mature,from a college student at a southern African American school to worker at a paint factory in New York,and to his experience in Harlem.Through a series of adventures he ultimately explores the self-identity.Throughout the novel,the protagonist “I” has no name nor surname,“I” am a representative and epitome of African Americans under the naked colonial exploitation of white people in American society.It is very representative and symbolic.The rich colonial factors contained in the novel come from “invisible” post-colonial exploitation.The thesis is divided into three parts.The first part consists of the introduction to Ralph Ellison and his Invisible Man,and literature review at home and abroad.The second part first introduces the theoretical framework,research methodology and significance of this thesis.This thesis conducts its discussion from the perspective of post-colonial cultural criticism,with Freud's trauma theory and Fannon's racial trauma as the breakthrough point,supported by Homi Bhabha's hybridity and Third Space theory.By exploring the marginalized young African American's experience of seeking self-identity,this thesis analyzes the causes that lead to the dual identity of African Americans in the post-colonial context,and finally puts forward the methods of constructing of seeking African American self-identity: identity and integration.Centering around the experience of seeking self-identity,this thesis also analyzes and interprets the process of the protagonist's loss of self,and analyzes the root cause of the protagonist's trauma with the help of trauma theory after a detailed analysis of the protagonist's colonial traumatic symptoms.Through analyzing Ralph Ellison's brand-new and enlightening exploration of the human nature of African Americans in his novel,the thesis concludes that the human nature of African Americans is not immutable fixed nature,but is constructed in the constant efforts of generations of African Americans.Meanwhile,this thesis discusses the theme of growth,explores the growth theme in Invisible Man,and further discusses the healing of colonial trauma.From the perspective of post-colonialism,the root of the trauma suffered by the protagonist lies in the denial of the right to speak,the cultural hegemonism imposed by the colonists and the loss of the individual identity of the colonized people.The healing methods of colonial trauma include weakening racism,denying African American assimilation and advocating cultural pluralism and building a world without borders.The conclusion part points out that all the three topics discussed throughout this thesis revolve around the core concept of “human nature”.The human nature discussed in this thesis is the infinite possibilities of the individual in the search for the meaning of the existence of life,the awareness of personal consciousness and the recognition of the value of personal existence and social responsibility embodied in the search for the meaning of the existence of life.