A Study Of Migrants In Sinclair Lewis' Main Street

Main Street is a famous realistic work written by Sinclair Lewis,which won the Nobel Prize in 1930.It describes a passionate girl named Carol Milford,who marries a doctor and follows him to his hometown,Gopher Prairie.She intends to achieve her ambitions by reforming the town but eventually being assimilated by the arrogant and self-satisfied village.In Main Street,Sinclair Lewis presents various migrants,some of them come from other nations and some of them migrate from other villages in America.This thesis studies on the different migrants,to explore the contradiction,integration and marginalization of different migrants.The migrants' life and Lewis' attitude toward them are fully depicted.This thesis consists of five parts.The introduction includes the life of Sinclair Lewis,the summary and the literature review of Main Street from home and abroad.Chapter One analyzes the contradictions between the local and migrants in three aspects: economic complexities,cultural clashes and diversity of values.Because of the strange environment,restricted migration policy,and the lack of ability,the migrant encounters some economic problems;the different living environment and background result in the conflicts in religious belief and living habits;the village virus existed in the small-town causes the different values of migrants and the residents,which becomes a barrier for the integration of the migrants.Chapter Two discusses the integration of migrants in Main Street.Through the daily acquaintance with the indigenous people and the promulgation of re-education policy,the international immigrants integrate into the society in work,religious belief and linguistic aspects;the similarity of domestic migrants with the local makes them easier to be assimilated by the local life.Chapter Three studies the marginalization of migrants which reflects in the loss of power of discourse,the rootlessness of the spirit,and the identity of becoming “the other”.The arrogance and superiority of the native speakers result in the inequality of migrants' identity,they lost their power of discourse and become the subordinators of the society;the migrants are being neglected and discriminated by the conservative local people,they keep seeking for their proper positions which result in the rootlessness of identity;the migrants are considered as “the other” because of the restricted immigration policy.The discrimination and xenophobia make them become the scapegoat of social problems.It can be concluded from the above analysis that Lewis' description in Main Street reflects the dilemma of migrants in 1920 s and praises their good qualities of hardworking and braveness.He criticizes the intolerant America society and shows his sympathy toward the migrants.