【導(dǎo)讀】埃利森《看不見的人》為例。埃利森花費(fèi)七年嘔心瀝血完成的唯一一部長篇小。一些主要的書評報刊，如《紐約時報》、《時代》、《星期六評論》。作者拉爾夫埃里森也是因?yàn)檫@本書贏得了不朽的名聲。整部小說就是主人公，作為現(xiàn)代人的美國黑人，講述他自己如何探索、尋找自我身份的生活歷程。小說采用了“看不見”的表現(xiàn)形式，著重表現(xiàn)主人公。社會及自身的原因。并論述如何探尋自我身份和探尋自我身份的深遠(yuǎn)意義。使讀者對這部作品有更深刻的了解，并對自我身份的探尋有更多的認(rèn)識與思考。

　　

【正文】 owever, towards the late of the nieenth century, with the rapid development of economy in the capitalist country, the conventional American Dream was degenerated into a Dream of Gold which led to moral corruption, spiritual collapses, and individual loss. The traditional American culture became either decaying or dubious. The Americans were confronting a critical culture and spiritual crisis. American Dream has caused great concern of the American writer and is reflected in the literature works. Such as Fitzgerald’s Great Getsby, Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie,and Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rise, which explore the negative influence of American Dream upon the American people. In Visible Man, under the great impact of American white culture, the ambitions narrator longs desperately to achieve a personal , in this racial discrimination country, the door of opportunity is close to the narrator. The influence of the narrator himself Anyone even the anonymous blond man on the street can force him to confront or assume an alien identity, simply by uttering a racial insult. Although the narrator has a strong sense of individuality, others still 美國“黑人文學(xué)”對自我身份的探尋 —— 以拉爾夫埃利森《看不見的人》為例 manage to define his identity according to their own prejudices. So now his problem is who he is. The episode with the blood man and its subsequent treatment in the newspaper show even living underground, the narrator cannot escape racial prejudice. The narrator continues to say being invisible makes him doubt whether he really exists in the real world. He describe his anguished, aching need to make others recognize him, and says he has found that such attempts rarely succeed. It is these unsuccessful attempts that make him very upset. The narrator realizes that even in hibernation, his mind will not let him rest. In the Epilogue the narrator begins to sort out all conflicting evidence. In his hibernation his mind revolves again and again back to his grandfather. He feels maybe his grandfather hides his meaning deeper than he thinks. Thenarrator then lists three possible interpretations of his grandfather’s words. Each interpretation is posed as a question, but the question is not answered。 each question probes deeper beneath the surface to explore the nuances and subtleties latent in the riddle。 but each new question does not cancel the validity of the question that precedes it. On his way to selfdiscovery, the narrator experiences too much frustration. Fortunately, with each setback he gains some maturity, and so the circular maze that entraps him bees less damaging to his soul. 4. Search for identity His Awakening Through his journey, the narrator is searching for his identity as an independent individual. As a humble and submissive slave, the narrator believes he would achieve his ideal by distinguishing himself from the rest ignorant and poor blacks. But by contrast with his dream, he neither extricates himself from the predicament nor achieves economic success. Spiritually shaken by the truth of racial discrimination, the narrator begins to awaken gradually. He realizes that he is entitled to get freedom. If he wants to get freedom, the first way is to change his meek and submissive view of life and break the dominance of white authorities. This is the foundation for him to search for his identity. The first experience that made him awaken is when he knows that Dr. Bledsoe, one of the authorities that he was so respected and admired before, cheats him. As the narrator mits his mistake by showing 美國“黑人文學(xué)”對自我身份的探尋 —— 以拉爾夫埃利森《看不見的人》為例 Norton Trueblood’s shack and carrying him to the Golden Day, Bledsoe immediately reproaches the narrator that he is a fool lacking in judgment. He tells the narrator that: ―don’t show the white what they want to see, but what the blacks want them to see‖, and expels the narrator from the college. However, the narrator at that time doesn’t awaken, and he still holds the hope that Dr. Bledsoe could help him to get a job in New York. Instead of hatred for Dr. Bledsoe, he convinces himself that he is at fault and deserves it. However, his hope is disillusioned after he learns the truth that Bledsoe intends no employers to offer him a job and he just deceives him. Immediately, the narrator is irritated, and it is the first time for him to think about the authority people whom he admires much before. It is very painful for him to know this, because it represents the disillusion of the dreams he has before. He wants to get his identity as Dr. Bledsoe does in his , Dr. Bledsoe represents the loss of blackness and black culture. He himself had no identity. In this way, breaking away from the influence of Dr. Bledsoe is the first step for the narrator in his search for identity. The narrator’s declaration of his love for blacks and the reconfirmation of black history are expressed in the episode of description of eating sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes draw him ―with such a surge of homesickness that I turned away to keep my control‖. Such feeling is summed up in such word: ―they’re my birthmark‖ and ―I yam what I am!‖ In this view, he acknowledges his identity of a southern black. When he eats them he recalls his free and happy past life in the south. This episode is the best evidence that proves he has chosen himself and is never chosen by other people. The narrator at this time gradually found the identity of himself. His last plete awakening doesn’t happen until one day he witness the murder of Tod Clifton. Clifton is the old member of the Brotherhood. He is aware that the true purpose of the Brotherhood is not to serve for the needs of the black people. So he leaves the anization. Later, the narrator witness Clifton’s racially motivated murder at the hands of white police officers。 unable to get in touch with the