福柯权力话语理论视角下的《杀死一只知更鸟》解读

本文是一篇语言学毕业论文，笔者对对整篇论文进行了回顾和总结，并在福柯理论的指导下重新诠释的哈珀·李通过小说欲传达的主旨：任何社会作为权力规训机制都可能带来不公正和不平等，面对压迫个人的抵制是宝贵的。我们需要尽最大的努力追求正义，倡导公平，让社会体制和秩序逐步地趋于完善，并坚信一切人都是生来平等的。

Chapter One Power Discourses Embodiedin To Kill a Mockingbird

1.1 The Power Discourse of Racial Discrimination
Racial discrimination is used in a loose and non-thinking way to describe thenegative feelings of one group toward another and the actions resulting from suchattitudes. For example, the whites in the American South use the Jim Crow laws tokeep the white and the black separated and unequal. This kind of relationship betweenwhites and blacks are found in the early stages of the 20thcentury and going back tothe origins of slavery. The story in To Kill a Mockingbird happened in the 1930s in theDeep South of Alabama, just after the economic decline of the Great Depression,which left many southerners owning land but unable to sell produce for much return.The nostalgia for the prosperous past made segregation practices all the moreimportant, as whites sought to keep their distance from the blacks both economicallyand socially. The discrimination governed interactions between whites and blacks inevery aspect of society. From here, we can see that the white Americans and theirfondly-held principle of “equality under the law” did not apply to blacks.
The racial discrimination was still a major social issue for the people ofMaycomb. The whites firmly believed that they were superior to the blacks in everyaspect of life. In other words, the whites considered themselves the social leaders inthe South and they produced, issued and wielded power so as to control the black’sdiscourse, which was also called the “white supremacy”. In contrast, the blacks livedat the bottom of society. They were controlled, disciplined and suppressed by thewhites. Therefore, they didn’t have any power and discourse. On the other hand, therestill existed racial discrimination between the whites. The upper white class exercisedtheir racial discourse over the lower white class. This racial power discourse can befound in every corner in Maycomb County.
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1.2 Power Discourse in Southern Patriarchal Society
Patriarchy means “the rule of the father or father-figures” in which the males ofsociety wield the dominant characteristics such as political leadership, moral authority,social privilege and control of property. Originally, Patriarchy was used to describe akind of “male-dominated family”, in which women, children, slaves and domesticservants held subservient positions under the rule of this dominant male. But now it istaken as the power relationship by which males hold primary power and discourse soas to dominate female and children.
In the family domain, males are superior to everything and everyone. On theother hand, female and heirs are in a subordinate position and considered as anextension of the private property of the male. From the male perspective, they aredeemed to be weak, vulnerable and humble. They don’t have any right andqualification to argue and compete with the male. On the contrary, they have todepend on the male’s protection to survive. Rules and order in patriarchal society arevery strict: whoever doesn’t follow these exact rules will be very sorrowful in the end.Under the authority of the males, females and heirs who obey the social norms andsubmit to the male’s power and discourse will be “safe”, a position which allowedmales to oppress and exploit females and children relentlessly.
In the society of To Kill a Mockingbird, which was set in the 1930s, the definedroles of the patriarchy were still governed along traditional lines that echoed previouscenturies. The main work of the male in the American South was to run the plantationand defend the glory of their families, while the female’s main task was to stay athome to help her husband and teach their offspring. Every respected family tended tomold their girls into graceful and well-bred young ladies. Only in this way could a girlexpect to marry with a wealthy planter and pursue her destiny as a housewife andmother. Heirs were a particular foil for male dominance: the man who held absolutepower at home could control and oppress his heirs’ will in every aspect of life, such aseducation, religion and discourse. Their heirs didn’t have a voice to choose his or herown life. Furthermore, if they defied their father’s will, they would be punished veryseverely. From these interactions, we can see that the discourse of women and heirswas controlled and oppressed by the male. Patriarchal discourse reveals itselfparticularly in the attitudes, actions and dialogue of the female and heirs’ characters.
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Chapter Two The Consequences of PowerDiscourse on People

2.1 Docile Bodies
The concept of “body” appears repeatedly in Foucault’s theoretical work.Foucault holds the opinion that the modern society is a disciplined society where thebody must be controlled at all times. Rulers try to use different kinds of knowledge or“truth” to control and regulate others’ behaviors for their own purposes instead ofadvancing the power of each inpidual. In Discipline and Punish: the Birth of Prison,it was recorded that in ancient times, physical punishment ensured the normaloperation of society. Rulers would torture rebels very cruelly with much bloodshed soas to cultivate a tamed, submissive society. However, from the 19thcentury forward,physical punishment faded away. But even as modern societies abolished torture, theoriginal goal of restraining society remained. In fact, through control exercised overpeoples’ bodies, rulers aspired to gain control over their souls. Thus, society createdmore effective techniques of exerting physical control, like prisons, state schools, andsocial programs and so on. No matter what kinds of strategies they used, the aim wasthe same: to exert control so as to make citizens docile and obedient.
Foucault describes this physical control of the soul in the History of Sexuality:Power controls life through depriving people’s life in the ancient time,but in the modern society, power’s control shifts from deprivation of life tomanagement of life. The feature, identity and function are given and shapedby power society. Body becomes more docile and more useful under thedomination of power. Life turns into the possession and managed objects ofpower. (Foucault, 1981:20)
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2.2 Loss of Discourse Power
Racial discrimination has been a deep-rooted problem in the American South.And there is an unwritten rule: whites are intrinsically superior to blacks; a black isnaturally in a lower position and is considered as less moral than a white. The societyof the mainstream culture belongs to the white who can manipulate power and issueorders. In contrast, blacks are oppressed and confined in the frames and cages wherethey can be controlled and disciplined. Meanwhile, the white’s discourse is consideredas a sign of power which deprives the black of any discourse and keeps them silence.The Maycomb County was located in such a society with serious racial problems.White society firmly believed that they were seated on the top of the pyramid ofpower and controlled and oppressed the black’s discourse. One of the typical blackrepresentatives was Tom Robinson.

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Chapter Three Resistance to Power Discourses..............................39
3.1 Resistance to Power Discourse of Racial Discrimination................39
3.1.1 The Black’s Resistance...............39
3.1.2 The White Sympathizer’s Resistance................42

Chapter Three Resistance to PowerDiscourses

3.1 Resistance to Power Discourse of Racial Discrimination
3.1.1 The Black’s Resistance
In the American South, the blacks occupied a subordinate position: they were inevery way held to be inferior to whites. They were controlled and oppressed by thewhite supremacy, having lost their power of discourse. But as Foucault outlines,where there is power, there is resistance. In To Kill a Mockingbird, some black people,such as Calpurnia and Tom Robinson, showed their resistance to the racial powerdiscourse. They demonstrated resistance to racial discrimination from differentperspectives, using different techniques.
3.1.1.1 Calpurnia
Calpurnia was a well-bred and self-educated black domestic worker. She workedfor the white Finch family but was greatly respected by her employers and theirchildren. Even so, as a black person, she showed her resistance to the racialdiscrimination of power discourse in her own way. As one of the most importantblack characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, she played several roles in the Finch family.Firstly, she was a servant who cared for the children, cooking for the family andcleaning their house. Secondly, she was like a “mother” and helped Atticus Finch byraising Jem and Scout in her own way. She never spoiled them like other blackhousekeepers. As Atticus Finch said “... if anything, she’s been harder on them insome ways than a mother would have been...she’s never indulged them the way mostcolored nurses do.” (Lee, 1982: 137) As a result, Calpurnia was deeply trusted byAtticus Finch as a faithful member of the household. Thirdly, she was like a teacher,urging Jem and Scout to show good character. Sometimes she is presented in atyrannical light from Scout’s perspective, as she urged the girl forward in spiritual andemotional growth. However, even though she was strict, she was always welcomed bychildren.
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Conclusion
Harper Lee became one of the most famous writers in the United States after shewon the Pulitzer Prize in 1960 for To Kill a Mockingbird. The story takes place in atypical but fictional American Southern community—Maycomb County. This novelcenters on two main story lines: one is Boo Arthur Radley’s ghost story; the other isthe trial of a black laborer, Tom Robinson. Harper Lee presents this story from theperspective of a six-year-old girl, which makes her novel seem at once naive, eveninnocent, and sarcastic and ironic. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee reveals manysocial problems such as class hierarchy, injustice, racial discrimination and genderinequality. In contrast, Harper Lee expressed a hopeful view that the world was notjust for the well-off, educated whites, it was for everyone, regardless of color, race,class or gender.
This thesis applies Michel Foucault’s theory of power and discourse to revealingtwo different kinds of power discourse at work in shaping people’s lives in society. Itinterpretes the consequences of the power discourses in Maycomb County and thesubject’s resistance to the domination of power discourse.
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