A Study Of Alienation In Oates' Novel The Gravedigger's Daughter From The Perspective Of Spatial Criticism

This paper analyzes Oates?s novel The Gravedigger's Daughter from the angle of spatial criticism.This novel successfully shaped the image of Rebecca,who successfully finds a balance in her psychological state and becomes independent after the trauma both in the physical and in the psychological side.The background of the novel is World War Two and the main characters are the three generations of Schwart family.The creative point of this paper is that it chooses a rather new angle,and there are few papers analyzing this novel from the perspective of spatial criticism both at home and abroad.Alienation is an atmosphere that is shown in the whole novel,and this paper analyzes the alienation from three sides,which are alienation in social space,alienation in family space and alienation in psychological space.To be more specific,the alienation in social space mainly analyzes the alienation state of the social environment,and this chapter revolves with the three places that represent the critical point of Rebecca.The family level is based on the three families owned by the protagonist Rebecca,and the alienated state is shown in every family.The psychological level is revolved with the three generations of the Schwart family,who have different psychological states.Actually,through analyzing the psychological state of the three generations of Schwart family,we can conclude that all generations are in a dilemma: on the one hand,they try to get rid of the past experience and emerge into the mainstream culture,on the other hand,they cannot forget what happened in the past and intend to get in touch with their original relatives.However,with time goes on,they gradually accept their difference,accept their identity and find a balance in their psychological state.This paper can be divided into three parts,which are introduction,main body and conclusion.The first part is introduction.It is mainly a literature review and it also introduces Oates?s works and background and the meaning of this paper.The second part is the main body of the paper.The first chapter is the theoretical foundation,which is spatial criticism.At first,it explains the definition of the theory and its realistic meanings,and then explains why it is applied to analyze the novel.The next chapter is alienation in social space.This first place is Chautauqua Falls,where Schwart family lives.At this place,Schwart family has no social status and living rights,and they are far away from the mainstream culture.The second place is Milburn,where is the place that Rebecca and Tignor lived.Under the control of Tignor,Rebecca does not have the chance to know the world outside and still live in a limited and ignorant place.The third place is a relatively normal place where Rebecca formed a complete family and gradually adapt to the mainstream culture.The third chapter is mainly the analysis of alienation in family space.The first family is the split original family of Rebecca,which has a long and negative impact on Rebecca?s mindset.The second family is the family with Tignor,which is full of lies and violence.The third family is the happiest family in Rebecca?s life,which also indicates that Rebecca finally formed a strong ability to adapt to the society.The forth chapter mainly analyzes the alienation in psychological space,revolving with the three generations of Schwart family.Anna and Jacob,as the first generation immigrated to America,their life is the most tragic and they also face the biggest difficulties to adapt to the mainstream culture.Rebecca,as the second generation of Jews,she chooses to become independent and positively explores her way to know the new culture.While the new generation is more positive,they actively look for their origins and positively form a balanced psychological state.The final part of the paper is conclusion,including the realistic meaning and theoretical meaning of the paper.