論《白牙》中女性文化身份的重建分析研究漢語言文學(xué)專業(yè)

1、AbstractZadie Smith, a British immigrant writer, has always been concerned about the survival of female immigrants in her works. White Teeth is a typical work of Smith on the third world women migrants. Today, with the integration of the world pattern, multicultural coexistence is the necessary resu

2、lt of globalization. However, the multiculturalism does not reduce the prejudice and discrimination to ethnic minority from the white people in Britain; their culture, which is in a weak position, has been squeezed out of British society, and the culture is facing the danger of losing its identity a

3、nd being assimilated by mainstream culture. The ethnic minority female immigrants, complexion, birthplace and religion increase the degree of difficulty to construct their ethnic identity and national identity in the white mainstream society. This article is divided into four parts. In this paper, t

4、hrough the analysis of major characters in the novel image, especially the female characters, and show the discrimination and oppression of minorities by immigrants in the Western society, especially female immigrants endured the social, racial and sexual oppression, and express the advocate of beyo

5、nd religion, race and gender differences, and the expectation of a harmonious multi-cultural society.Key Words: Zadie Smith; female immigrants; minority; identity; Multiculturalism摘要英國黑人移民女作家扎迪·史密斯在其作品中一直關(guān)注女性移民的生存境況。白牙是史密斯關(guān)注第三世界女性移民的典型作品。在世界格局一體化的今天，多元文化共存乃是全球化發(fā)展的必要結(jié)果。但這多元文化并沒有減輕英國白人對少數(shù)族裔人的根深蒂固

6、的偏見和歧視，處于弱勢地位的他們的文化在英國社會受到排擠，面臨著失去身份和被主流文化同化的危險。少數(shù)族裔女性移民的民族，膚色，出生地和宗教信仰增加了她們在白人主流社會構(gòu)建種族身份和民族身份的困難程度。本文共分為四部分，主要通過分析小說中主要人物形象，特別是女性人物形象，展現(xiàn)少數(shù)族裔移民在西方主流社會所受到的歧視和壓迫，尤其是女性移民所承受的社會，性別和種族的三重壓迫，表達對超越宗教，種族和性別的分歧的提倡，對建立和諧的多元文化社會的期望。關(guān)鍵詞：扎迪·史密斯；女性移民；少數(shù)族裔；身份；多元文化Contents TOC o "1-3" h z uHYPERLINK

7、l "_Toc478724122" 1. Introduction 1HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724123" 2. The Plight of Ethnic Female Immigrants 2HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724124" 2.1 Differences between Eastern and Western Cultures 2HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724125" 2.2 Racial Discrimination 3HYPERLINK l "

8、;_Toc478724126" 3. Assana and Ellie 4HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724127" 3.1 Assana the Thinker of National Culture 4HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724128" 3.1.1 The Attitudes towards the Traditional Culture of Bangladesh 5HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724129" 3.1.2 The Way of Educating Childr

9、en 6HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724130" 3.2 Ellie- Facilitator of Multicultural Fusion 7HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724131" 3.2.1 The Understanding of Her Cultural Identity 8HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724132" 3.2.2 Identity Identification and Reconstruction 10HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724133&q

10、uot; 4. Conclusion 11HYPERLINK l "_Toc478724134" Bibliography 13The Reconstruction of the Womens Cultural Identity in White Teeth1. IntroductionZadie Smith was one of the most important writers in contemporary British literature, and she was also one of the most popular young novelists in

11、the world. She enjoys a high reputation in the international literary circles. Her first novel White Teeth was published in 2000 and shocked the English literary world. She won too much acclaim and won almost all British literary awards. By virtue of the novel, Smith has won the three most prestigio

12、us awards in Britain: Martin Brad Award, The guardian Book Award and the Commonwealth writers prize, and has been included in the greatest of the 100 list of English novels in the times of the United States since 1923. White Teeth is strong cultural color works. Based on the background of London, th

13、is paper describes the living conditions of ethnic minority immigrants in the mainstream society of England; it describes the various kinds of discrimination and oppression that they have suffered in the mainstream of Britain after moving to England. They were influenced by the native culture and th

14、e mainstream culture of the United Kingdom; they not only cant really integrate into the mainstream culture but also cant be away from their native culture. For the British, they are immigrants and foreigners; but for the native people, they are British, so they become the ethnic groups that lose th

15、eir root. Smith herself is a descendant of immigrants; this paper describes the communication barriers, cultural conflicts, racial discrimination and class oppression of non-white ethnic immigrants and their descendants with their own unique cultural identity and female perspective.With the continuo

16、us development of political and economic globalization, cultural globalization is also a trend. There is a variety of cultural differences, peaceful coexistence, mutual complement and mutual development. This paper is probe into the great courage and unremitting struggle of female immigrants with ra

17、cial oppression and hegemonic culture in the novel, and how they become the active and rational cultural thinkers and multicultural promoters from the passive and ignorant women. This paper incarnates the reconstruction of the cultural identity of female immigrants in the Western mainstream society.

18、2. The Plight of Ethnic Female ImmigrantsBecause of their ethnic and cultural differences with the mainstream of the United Kingdom, ethnic minority women are subjected to various kinds of oppression and discrimination.2.1 Differences between Eastern and Western CulturesIn the white teeth, the

19、author mainly describes the survival of two immigrants, one is Bangladeshi immigrants, and another is Jamaica immigrants.Bangladeshs main religion is Islam, founded by Mohamed. He claims that Allah is the creator of the universe, the only God, who claims to be the messenger of Allah. Islam is the tr

20、ansliteration of Arabic, meaning that only obedience, obedience to Allah. Its followers are Muslims. A Muslim is also a transliteration of the Arabic language, which means a person who is obedient to the will of Allah. Islam is the classic “the Koran” and “hadith”. The Koran is the most basic of Isl

21、am. The Hadith also known as Hades and it is Mohameds words and deeds. Islam has three major festivals: Lesser Bairam, Mohammeds Birthday and Corban Festival. Lesser Bairams duration is a mouth. In this month, Muslims do not eat at every sunrise, sunset and meals. Corban Festival also is called Id a

22、l-Adjha. Every year on this day, the Muslim kill flocks and herds as offering. But in Britain, the main religion of the British is the Protestantism. Christianity is a religion that believes in Jesus Christ as savior. Christianity advocates the love of God, the belief that human beings have ori

23、ginal sin, and believes that Jesus is the son of God, and save the sin and soul of mankind. And the basic Christian canon is the Bible, divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. In Christianity, God is regarded as the Eternal Father who created the world, the son of God who saved th

24、e world, and the Holy Spirit that helped man. God is the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. Their main festivals are Christmas, Good Friday and Easter. Christmas Day is a holiday to commemorate the birth of Jesus, and Good Friday and Easter is a symbol of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

25、 Jamaica also believes in Christianity. But unlike the UK, Jamaica is greatly influenced by African culture, and in Jamaica, most of them are black Africans. Therefore, Ellie and Ellies mother are African women with African color: dark skin, large skeleton, with buck teeth, black hair. This is not t

26、he case in the United Kingdom, and is not accepted by the British society.Besides, they are different in marriage. Ellies parents are a combination of white and black people, and they are not recognized and accepted by the mainstream culture, nor are they accepted by the minority culture. For them,

27、the formation of white and black families is a violation of various taboos. The white British think how can look down on black, white and black nobility were together, not to mention marrying a colored woman as a wife. For black people, white people are like enemies, white people and black people wi

28、ll not have good results. While Assanas marriage, although there is no problem in this regard, but belong to arranged marriage. But the UK is advocating free love. And in Assanas consciousness, the wife is dependent on her husband, and must obey her husband. In the eyes of Assana, the man of the wor

29、ld and Womens World should be separate. The status of women is low. In Britain, however, the status of men and women is unbiased. Therefore, she moved to the United Kingdom, the initiative to stay at home and also kept aloof from her husband out of life. When she heard someone say that western men a

30、nd women often communicate with each other, and listen to each other, she immediately answered back sarcastically. This also contributed to the behavior of her husband who would have hide from her and sent her son back to Bangladesh.2.2 Racial DiscriminationAssana and Ellie as minority immigrant wom

31、en in the United Kingdom got a variety of discrimination. In the novel, the hostess of the Charles Fen let the white womens discrimination against the minority women and oppression performances were expressed most incisive.She proudly showed off the family history of the Charles Fen in the presence

32、of Ellie, proud of the superior white middle-class family. Western White families always think they are different from the color people of a unique individual. And she spoke with them is always condescending, arrogant. When Ellie was influenced by the Charles Fen and made progress, she also used to

33、belittle others to raise her, and at the same time suggested that Ellie had lost her studies because of her Jamaica gene. In addition, she was also biased against Assana, and took the initiative to intervene in the contradiction between the two sons of Assana so that she played a role of savior. The

34、 superiority of the white race made her Interfere in other peoples affairs at will at the height of the ruler, and let she thought that her help should be needed by other people. In the view of white women, minority women are synonymous with traditional conservatism, backwardness and ignorance,

35、 while Western women represent education, civilization and intelligence. This shows the intervention and control of the mainstream culture to the weak culture, and also shows the racial discrimination of the white women to the minority women.3. Assana and EllieAssana and Ellie is typical repres

36、entative of two generations of women immigrants.3.1 Assana the Thinker of National CultureWith the rapid development of global politics and economic integration, the distance between countries has been greatly shortened, and the number of immigrants is increasing. But for immigrants, they leave thei

37、r hometown and cultural environment; there are different degrees of belief and cultural conflict. On the one hand, when suddenly in a strange country and culture, they will face a completely different new culture and will show a sense of estrangement and alienation, but in order to survive and devel

38、op, they will try to integrate into the mainstream culture of the local. On the other hand, they are on the nations traditional culture and it makes them have the memory that has been well ingrained, and instinct of the mainstream culture of different exclusion. So these immigrants have been in the

39、anxiety and distress of self-identity. They cannot give up their traditional culture, and cannot be fully integrated into the mainstream culture. They have always been separated between the two cultures, and become the root of the ethnic groups. Ethnic minorities began to seek identity and rebu

40、ild their national identity in order not to lose the cultural identity of the nation in the mainstream of the UK. But the minority women are marginalized in gender, race, and society, and are deprived of the possibility of construction about self-identity.Assana, who is portrayed in the novel,

41、is one of the minority women who were seeking self-identity in the mainstream society. Although in the white culture dominated London, she was in the social multiple edge position, but Assana made her positive and active cultural identity to be rebuilt through unremitting efforts and struggle. The n

42、ovel is mainly through the contrast with her husband Samad to describe the image of Assana. In the maintenance of Indias traditional national culture and education of children in two areas, Assana and Samad have different attitudes and practices.3.1.1 The Attitudes towards the Traditional Culture of

43、 BangladeshSamad was the representative of the first generation of immigrants who came to Britain after World War II. He had a noble India background. He received a good English education and joined the British army, later fought for Britain in World War II. However, Samad could not find a good job

44、in post-war London, and finally he was just hard to be a waiter in a restaurant, because the British white people think that Oriental immigrants cant do any technical or decent work. As a result, Samad and his family were on the edge of society, and the constant shock made Samad feel confused and wo

45、rry about his identity and his future. He kept talking to other people about the national hero of his mind who was his great grandfather Pandey, because Pandey awakened some of his own identity.Samad kept looking for his identity, and his nationality was constantly changing. The first is the Indians

46、, then Pakistan, and later became the people of Bangladesh, and finally he used Islam as his cultural identity. Sadam turned to the seeking of national culture and became a nationalist who sticks to Indias history and culture with the sustained exclusion and discrimination in British mainstream soci

47、ety. On the one hand, he made great efforts to seek the root of culture; on the other hand, he enjoyed a befuddled life. He said bad language, ham, masturbation, drank beer and Guinness, and made friends with the infidels. Unconsciously affected by the white British Bobbi, Sadam was slowly approachi

48、ng the mainstream culture. He was a man of dilemma in foreign country. He spent all his life in the conflict; he couldnt be rational to face the reality, only to live in their past glory, only to complain about life, and regret to emigrate to the United kingdom, “I have been poisoned by the British,

49、 I now see this point-my child, my wife, they have also been poisoned. I shouldnt even be here-this is the root of the problem. My son is not supposed to be here at all and be away from god” (Smith 105-106).By contrast, his wife-Assana was able to keep pace with the times. When she first arrived in

50、England, she was afraid of the strange western culture, and she would scream and blindfold eyes when she saw the nude in a movie. But as time went on, she gradually released her and became more and more confident. She loved Bangladesh but could get well in British life. She is more down-to-earth tha

51、n her husband, and can look at and face the problem more dialectically than her husband. On the one hand, she would pay attention to every news about her hometown on television and radio, on the other hand, she also reasoned that the extremists in Bangladesh would be violent and bloody because of ig

52、norance and backwardness, “the streets of my hometown will be bleeding, there will be riots in India and Bangladesh, there will be riots and the dead, I ever see those, it will be the end of the world” (Smith 145).As a minority immigrant, she does not feel inferior; for her own situation in the Unit

53、ed Kingdom she has a more clear understanding and she has more practical attitude of the United Kingdom, on the issue of pure white British people has her own unique views. She read and learned that most people of Bangladesh are Aryan descent; India is the Western Aryan immigrants and local aborigin

54、es offspring. So she doesnt think there is a pure race, and the true British people dont exist, “Ultimately, on earth, to find a pure blood, only a pure man of faith, almost prohibitively difficult. Can you tell me who English is? This is Arabian Nights” (Smith 174).3.1.2 The Way of Educating Childr

55、en“The plight of the exiles is to stay in the new state, or return to their homeland, this love and hate relationship exists between the exiles and hometown and makes it difficult to solve. On the home countrys ideal memory always haunt them, so that they desire they once so familiar ideal scenery s

56、ight. It is common to the birthplace of nostalgia. The exiles never fully accept their exile.” (Kirpal 79) Samad is the “exile”. The plight of England and the longing for home made him afloat for life. His personality is divided into countless pieces, has been in the past and now and between exile a

57、nd hometown, and suffered the pain and suffering. Samad cherished his blood, in order to stick to his own India culture, regardless of his wifes opposition, secretly put the most promising eldest son to his hometown of Bangladesh and accept orthodox Muslim Education, to learn Islamic culture and pre

58、serve India identity. The yearning for home made Samad turn his national culture into a holy place, ignoring the mobility and historicity of culture. And he has been away from home for many years; the understanding of Islam is still only in the impression of youth, so he doesnt really understand his

59、 culture. He wanted his eldest son to return to his hometown to inherit the traditional culture of Islam, but the eldest son became an Englishman, like the British, and became an admirer of British culture. The youngest son in the UK has become a radical fundamentalist terrorist to protect minoritie

60、s, and become the radical fundamentalist terrorists, in particular the rights of Muslims. Samads hopes and dreams were shattered, “They got lost, far from the way I wanted them to goWhen I came to this country, it was like signing a deal with the devilIt dragged you into it, and suddenly you cant go back, the chil