中文摘要

本論文探討湯馬斯˙金恩小說<<草長青，水長流>>所呈現的返鄉政治。返鄉對於北美原住民來說是一項很重要的議題，多數北美原住民小說著重於描寫主角們因返鄉回到保留區（reservation）而感到滿足，進而從祖先的土地中得到重生和救贖。然而，家是一個概念性（notional）的定位（positioning），而非地理性（geographical）的實體（essence）。本論文企圖探討在原住民「回家」之後，受到殖民和部落兩者間文化的限制、利益衝突和影響，還有返鄉者主觀的認同，家會有什麼樣的改變？因此，「回家」可以視為身分認同型塑和家園再造的策略。金恩在小說<<草長青，水長流>>中描寫三個加拿大黑腳族（the Blackfoot）的年輕返鄉遊子（萊諾紅狗、查理張望的熊、艾波妲法蘭克）所遭遇的認同問題，呈現北美原住民社會在不同文化衝擊下發生認同危機，使返鄉遊子重新尋求家的意義、所在、和「在家感」（feeling at home）。

本論文共有五個章節。第一章呈現出論文的觀點、寫作動機、以及論述返鄉遊子和部落的連結，同時說明身分政治、社會文化及家園是互為指涉的過程，並說明後續章節的理論架構。第二章嘗試分析萊諾紅狗從土地和保留區為起點尋找家園，並提出部落土地象徵和儀式舉行（如小說中的太陽舞）為維繫族人之連結和喚起返鄉遊子對部落土地的嚮往渴望。第三章將閱讀查理張望的熊的跨國移民經驗，查理的跨國返鄉旅途瓦解美加國界對北美原住民行動的限制，並顛覆白人對原住民刻板印象。不啻是白人對原住民，亦或原住民對白人必須吸收各方影響，互相交融，表現文化流動性。也因此，查理最後視Blossom和Hollywood兩者為家。第四章則以部落女性代表艾波妲法蘭克創造不穩定的未來、流動、去領域化（deterritorialized）的家園，掙脫以往原住民女性在殖民統治和父權體制下所受到的傷害與束縛；另外，艾波塔的無性懷孕顛覆了傳統的家庭價值和觀念，原住民女性身體不再是西方殖民統治和父權慾望下的投射，本論文探討女性身體是反動、部落文化新生命的力量，女性身體並非簡單或單面向意識形態的產物，而是可從不同角度觀察，是原住民部落的新希望。第五章總結以上四章的討論，思考金恩在重新檢視「返鄉」的意義，為原住民文學中家園的尋找新的開展方向。

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the politics of homecoming in Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water. Homecoming is a significant issue to the Natives, for most Native novels emphasize that homecoming protagonists feel comfortable and satisfied as they return to the ancestral lands and reservations. Nevertheless, home is a notional positioning instead of a geographical essence. Since the homecoming Natives have been affected by the cultures and the financial conflicts between the white society and the tribes, what do the tribes and home represent to them? Do they feel at home by way of returning home? Thus, homecoming can be seen the strategy of identification and homemaking. In King’s Green Grass, Running Water, the three Blackfoot homecoming characters (Lionel Red Dog, Charlie Looking Bear, and Alberta Frank) encounter with many problems of the identity under various cultural clashes. The three homecoming characters are finally regenerated via homecoming journeys to understand the significance of home, seek for homes, and feel at home.

This thesis includes five chapters. In Chapter One, I point out the main idea of the thesis, the motives of focusing on homecoming, and I explicate how cultures and problems of identity form a complex web of the politics of homes. Moreover, my theoretical frameworks will be briefly introduced for the following chapters. Chapter Two analyzes how Lionel Red Dog finds his home, which is land-based. I argue that landforms and tribal rituals can strengthen the tribal communities and arouse the homecoming characters’ yearns for the lands and tribal traditions. Chapter Three will read Charlie Looking Bear’s homecoming journeys in a perspective of transnational-crossing. Charlie’s transnational-crossing crumbles the national border between the U.S. and Canada which always suppresses the mobility of the Natives. Besides the issue of border-crossing between the two countries, I point out that the whites and the Natives can show cultural mobility by merging with and absorbing in the cultures of each other. Charlie thus sees both Blossom and Hollywood as his home finally. In Chapter Four, the female homecoming character, Alberta Frank, frees herself from colonial dominance and patriarchal violence by creating an unknown future and a deterritorialized home. In addition, Alberta’s asexual pregnancy subverts the conventional concepts of formation of family. A tribal woman’s body is no longer underestimated and persecuted under the colonialism and patriarchal system. Instead, woman’s body represents a force that carries cultural luggage and new hopes for the tribespeople. Chapter Five concludes the discussions of homecoming and meditates on the importance of King’s various representations of homes and different directions towards “home” King opens for Native literature.

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