Construction Of History,Reconstruction Of Order

The Good Lord Bird,a novel written by the famous contemporary American writer James Mc Bride,has attracted much attention since its publication in 2013 and won the 2013 National Book Award.It recounts the turbulent history before American Civil War,especially John Brown's Raids on Harpers Ferry.Since the publication of this novel,scholars at home and abroad mostly interpreted it from the perspectives of Psychoanalysis,Gender Performativity Theory,and Postcolonial Theory,and rarely studied it by applying New Historicism.Therefore,based on New Historicism,this thesis focuses on the interactive relationship between text and history.It explores the integration of truth and falsehood in the construction of history,which completes the construction of history and reconstruction of order.This thesis is made up of four parts.The first chapter consists of a brief introduction to James Mc Bride,The Good Lord Bird,and research status of this novel at home and abroad.It briefly expounds New Historicism,including “the historicity of text” and “the textuality of history” proposed by Louis Montrose as well as “subversion”,“containment” and “negotiation” by Stephen Greenblatt.The second chapter,with “the historicity of text”,explains historicity in this novel,analyzing how the text helps to construct history.Specifically,this novel represents a turbulent history on the eve of American Civil War,like conflicts between Capitalism and Slavery,Civil War of Kansas,John Brown's Raids on Harpers Ferry,and Second Great Awakening of America,which shows evils of slavery and efforts to abolish it.Besides,this fiction helps to construct the life experience of James Mc Bride.The third chapter,with “the textuality of history” such as “subversion”,“containment” and “negotiation”,illustrates the writer's strategy of reconstructing history.It can be seen that The Good Lord Bird subverts the mainstream consciousness of that time through the miniaturization of macro-history,deconstructions of strictness of official history,the prominence of literacy of blacks and a presentation of black female leaders.As a whole,this novel reflects the author's concerns about the fates and discourse power of the marginalized people like black slaves or black women,and doubts about social power structures dominated by white men.At the same time,the above subversive forces are restrained to some extent and finally reach a negotiation,which is shown in the friendship between blacks and whites as well as the awakening of black people.Chapter four summarizes this thesis.To sum up,The Good Lord Bird achieves the goal of re-examining history and participating in constructing history,indicating a strong sense of historical consciousness and humanistic care.It will promote people to re-examine the history of America,which has important implications for racial issues and women's movements in the United States.