Research On The Issue Of Black Identity In Ralph Ellison's Novels

Ralph Ellison is an outstanding representative of the second generation of African-Americans writers.In the full-length novels Invisible Man and Juneteenth,he did not keep the tradition of the first generation of black writers who simply criticized and accused the oppression of blacks.Instead,by using peaceful brushstrokes to describe the difficult survival situation of black people in the harsh racial society.By carefully depicting the life picture of the study,work and love of African-Americans,the problem of black ethnic identity hidden behind life Surfaced.After the African-Americans faded out of the particularity of the identity of "others",as an ordinary American citizen,their humanity and thought,were also the important issues discussed in the novel.In addition,Ellison also explored several possibilities to solve the plight of African-Americans.He separately described and reflected on the three different solutions of the problem,namely the opposition between blacks and whites,the integration of blacks and whites,and resorting the strength of religious belief and love to mediate racial problems.Combing this part can help us to grasp Ellison's different views on the issue of black ethnic identity in different stages of his creative career at a macro level.The main body of this thesis is divided into four parts.The first part is an introduction,which mainly introduce Ellison's artistic achievements and novel creation background,summarizing and combing the research results of Invisible Man and Juneteenth at home and abroad.The first chapter starts with a historical and cultural perspective,and explores the root causes of African-Americans' identity problems by combining American historical background and writers' life experiences.Secondly,through scanning the texts to sort out the specific manifestations of black ethnic identity issues in Invisible Man and Juneteenth,and further exploring the three aspects of race,culture and class in the Juneteenth and Invisible,to figuring out how the identity of the "others" ofblack people was constructed by white people.The second chapter analyzes the survival dilemma of black people in Ralph Ellison's novels.They come from the three pictures of black people's life,including "invisible people","the third people",and chaotic disorder of family ethics.The writer want to research the practical survival dilemma caused by the issue of ethnic identity to black people.The third chapter summarizes Ellison's thinking about solving the survival dilemma of African-Americans,and longitudinally compares Ellison's thinking about how to solve the problem of black survival dilemma at different stages.In the two novels,Ellison narrates and reflects three different solutions,namely Black and white opposition,Black and white integration,and Religious beliefs and love.Combing this part can help us more clearly grasp Ellison 's different views on the issue of black ethnic identity at different stages of his creative career from a macro level.