Community Writing In Athol Fugard’s Plays

Athol Fugard(1932-),a South African national treasure dramatist and winner of the lifetime achievement award of the American Anthony Perry Award,is known as "the conscience of South Africa".For more than 60 years of creative career,fugard has been committed to depicting the plight of black people under racial oppression,trying to break the barriers of racism by shaping a culture respected by all color groups.However,due to the lack of attention to African literature and the small number of Chinese translations,there are only a few research results on Fugard’s plays in China.Therefore,this paper attempts to look at the representative plays of the three phases of Fugard’s creation,Blood Knot(1961),My Children!My Africa!(1989),Sorrows and Rejoicings(2001),and explore the types of communal ideals and their vertical derivation under different social stages in South Africa.Specifically,by combing the changes in the historical vision of Fugard’s plays creation:focusing on the internal relations of black families in the early stage-focusing on the problems of black ethnic differentiation and black-and-white integration in the middle stage-focusing on the development of multi-ethnic countries in the later stage,this paper analyzes the spiritual transformation process of characters from"family identity" to "ethnic identity" to "national identity",And the dynamic needs of constructing different ethical relationship systems,such as blood community,ethnic community and nation-state community.This thesis consists of five parts:introduction,main body,conclusion,references and appendices.The introduction part firstly makes a brief statement on the life and works of Athol Fugard.The second part is a detailed analysis of the reason for choosing the topic of this thesis and the research status of Fugard at home and abroad.The last part is an overview of the significance,research methods and innovations of this thesis.The first chapter takes Blood Knot as the research object.Starting from the three spaces of memory,reality and fantasy constructed in the text,it is pointed out that the realistic factors such as the loss of aesthetic self-confidence of blacks under the Bantustan Plan,the difficulty of population mobility and the solidification of class jointly catalyze the rupture of the blood community.Then the thesis interprets the protagonist’s efforts to repair and continue the blood community through his different ethical choices.The first section points out that the inferiority complex of black people stems not only from white people’s "gazing" of black people,but also from black people’s self-examination.The black mothers in the play show great differences in their children due to racial inferiority.This concept also affects the two brothers from generation to generation.The second section starts from the biblical plot of "Cain killing his brother",and shows the ethical reason behind protagonist’s behavior of "giving up disguise and returning home":the desire for family ethical relationships.In order to reconstruct the family ethical order,the protagonist made many attempts,such as imagining a "future Utopia",but it was obviously impossible to achieve in the dark South Africa at that time.Dramatists skillfully use a letter crisis to cover up this hopelessness,so as to achieve the continuation of the family community.Finally,the two brothers build a fantasy space through carnival games to dispel the darkness and boredom of reality.To sum up,it points out the difficulty of non-whites to continue the blood community under the loss of racial and skin color self-confidence,and their urgency to rebuild family ethical relations,so as to show Fugard’s concern that non-whites are in racial dilemma.The second chapter takes My Children!My Africa!as the research object.This part starts with the relationship between the three groups of characters in the play,and analyzes the problem of identity transformation caused by the thoughts of the Black Awakening Movement.The first section points out that libertarian thought and the South African Ubuntu ethic together construct the South African communitarian view of freedom,which is the ideological foundation of the intercommunal spiritual community.The protagonists thus form a good teacher-student relationship.We then explore the real-world necessity for the protagonist to abandon the act of interracial friendship.The second section starts from the conflict of revolutionary ideas between teachers and students,shows the disappearance of educational consensus,and points out that teachers’authority disintegrates due to the dislocation of his identities.The third section first explores the internal contradictions of black people implied under the surface of the conflict between teachers and students,and points out that the differentiation of the black ethnic community in South Africa is mainly manifested in the external division of power and internal division of the ANC.Furthermore,starting from the social reality of South Africa,it is clear that the differentiation of the black ethnic community in the 1980s does not mean the disappearance of ethnic unity,but the differentiation is to explore more Many ethnic groups are liberated.Finally,take the people’s education movement as an example to analyze the future trend of the great union of black ethnic community.The third chapter takes Sorrows and Rejoicings as the research object.Starting from the three emotions of rejoicing,sorrow and regret shown in the text,this thesis analyzes the expectations of the South African people to establish a culturally meaningful nation-state community when the new South Africa is about to be established.The first section analyzes the necessity of weakening local national identity and strengthening national citizenship in South Africa.Taking the interracial love between the protagonists of the play,as an example,it shows the identity of people of different colors to the South African.Then,starting from the realistic path of cultivating cultural identity to realize national identity,it analyzes David’s efforts to reshape national culture as an intellectual,and reveals David’s rejoicing for the coming new South Africa.The second section points out that environmental discomfort,cultural suspension,conjugal conflict,and illness are the main reasons for David’s depleted talent and rapid decline after his exile to London.The nostalgic mechanism triggered by the above-mentioned factors is both a revalidation of his ethical identity and contains his anxiety and yearning for the South African national community.Then,starting from David’s delayed behavior of "returning" or "not returning," and points out the protagonist’s grief and pessimism about the turmoil of the nation-state community after the founding of the new South Africa.The third section starts from David’s regrets after returning home.First,explore his remorse for his half-race daughter Rebecca.Then show his expectations for the reconciliation of father and daughter and even the reconciliation of the South African nation.Finally,it analyzes the people’s expectation of nurturing vitality in the crisis and building a community of"multiple nations,one country" after South Africa has entered the millennium.The conclusion part points out that Fugard’s plays are political and educational because of Brecht’s influence.First,review and sort out the blood community,ethnic community,nation-state community in the three stages of his creation.Combined with the social reality of South Africa,the idea of community in Fugard’s works is extracted and outlined.Furthermore,combining the ethical teaching function of literature with the educational nature of Fugard’s plays,it explains the ethical concern consciousness in dramatist’s creation,in order to provide some new ideas for the development of today’s multi-ethnic countries and the union of the common destiny of mankind.