The Spatial Representations Of Black Women's Plights In Venus

Under the framework of Henry Lefebvre's spatial theory,this thesis takes the plights of black women in Suzan-Lori Parks' Venus as the main subject of study.It delves into the spatiality of the black women's plight and intends to reveal their spatial practices of retrieving their living space in the play.Moreover,by analyzing the spatial representations of black women's predicament,this thesis strives to explore the social reality and the symbolic meanings incarnated in the theatrical space in the play,thereby finding out the causes which lead to the black women's tragic fates.This thesis consists of five chapters: Chapter One is an introduction to the playwright,Suzan-Lori Parks and the selected play Venus.It also provides a brief illustration of the theoretical framework,Lefebvre's spatial theory and other theories being cited in the thesis.Chapter Two examines Venus' s perplexity of lacking in security in the physical space by exploring her frequent spatial shifts.Chapter Three studies the persecution of injustice on Venus in the social space from the perspective of the manifestation of racialized spatial relationships.Chapter Four reveals Venus' s predicament of loss of self-identity via her trauma in the recurrence of humiliating events in African American history.Chapter Five is the conclusion.Through a spatial study of the black women's plights in the play,the thesis delves into the root of their tragic fates and reveals the exploitation of black women in the discriminated society.To sum up,in Suzan-Lori Parks' Venus,the black women's plights are revealed by the various spatial representations in the racialized physical space,prejudiced social space and rewritten historical space respectively.Therefore,through the spatial study of the black women's existence,this thesis provides serviceable information for the academic research of black women's dilemma and social problems Parks depicted in the play.