A Study Of Rosa’s Growth In Burger’s Daughter From The Perspective Of Space Theory

Nadine Gordimer,an outstanding white female writer in South Africa,won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991.Burger’s Daughter is a novel published by Gordimer in 1979.With the growth of the protagonist Rosa as the clue,this novel shows readers the social reality of South Africa.At present,the academic researches on this novel mainly focus on the racial issues,narrative structure and the growth of the protagonist.The researches about Rosa’s growth are mostly carried out along the timeline,and the researches about it from the perspective of space are rarely seen.Therefore,with Henri Lefebvre’s triad of space as the theoretical foundation,this paper comprehensively interprets Rosa’s growth from three spaces: representation of space,spatial practice and representational space.Rosa’s development in ideological cognition is mainly analyzed by applying representation of space.Rosa’s ideological development includes her gradually deepening understanding of the social reality of South Africa under apartheid,her progressive identification with the revolutionary cause of white people fighting for the rights of black people and her cognition about the importance of being an independent woman after her love experiences with three men.The changes of Rosa’s practical activities in different spaces are mainly manifested by using spatial practice: form passively accepting her parents’ arrangements to independently exploring the social reality of South Africa;form doubting to actively inheriting her parents’ revolutionary cause.The influences of different spaces on Rosa’s emotion change and gradual maturity in psychology are mainly interpreted by applying representational space.“That house” brings Rosa painful memories;Katya’s home,Arnys’ bar and Kluny Museum bring Rosa the security that she has never had before;Baragwanath Hospital and Pretoria Prison help Rosa embark on her new ideal and aspiration as a revolutionary.In a word,this paper analyzes Rosa’s growth based on Lefebvre’s space theory,which not only provides a new perspective for studying Burger’s Daughter,but also stimulates readers to think about the development of South Africa and ponder the direction of their own life from the perspective of the community with a shared future for mankind.