Toward Freedom:Reconstruction Of American Slavery History In The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad is written by African-American writer Colson Whitehead.The novel mainly talks about a black slave girl Cora who becomes a fugitive for pursuing freedom and reveals the American slavery history.The Underground Railroad attracts widespread attention both at home and abroad.Scholars study it from different perspectives such as narratology,trauma theory,and space theory,etc.which produces many academic achievements and literary comments.In the background of postmodern context,the literary world generally questions the authenticity and authority of the grand narrative of history.Researchers focus on recognizing historical events which extends from the field of historical philosophy to the field of literature and further consider historical issues and historical narrative.Colson Whitehead adapts historical facts and uses the stories of the three generations as clues to create a profound and thoughtful novel on the history of American slavery.He interweaves historical facts with fictional stories and builds a common world between historical and fictional characters.The interpretation of The Underground Railroad relies on the grand historical background whether from the creation of materials,construction of time and space or interpretation of texts.This thesis will study the contemporary American novelist Colson Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroad,using Hayden White’s historical narrative theory and Linda Hutcheon’s historiographic metafiction as the main theoretical framework to explore the rewriting of major historical events,reconstruct the history of American slavery and rethink the author’s mission and national consciousness,historical philosophy,and humanistic care.Through a detailed analysis of the text,this thesis will further explore the living conditions of the black race in the American society.