Tao Jiajun believes that“the root of the identity crisis lies in the contradictions ofWestern modernity”(38).Capitalism changed the entire structure of Western society from thetop down,putting American Indians on the fast track to modernity.Indians,accustomed totribal social life,are unable to adapt quickly to such a sudden social change and willinevitably develop a variety of social and psychological problems.Identity crisis is one ofthem.As an insightful writer,Erdrich discovered these special emotions of the Indians in thisparticular context.Therefore,this part mainly concerns with the three characters’representations of identity crises.
2.2 Reasons for Identity Crisis
Individual identity,is the process by which“the power manipulation of culturalinstitutions prompts individuals to actively or passively participate in cultural practices toachieve their own identity”(Tao 37).From this,power plays an important role in the processof constraining individual identity.This process,in turn,arises in the course of capitalistmodernity.Capitalist modernity has changed the structure of Western society from top tobottom,forcing large numbers of alienated people into the fast lane of modernity.Meanwhile,the invasion of strong culture forces cultural subjects to choose between strong culture andweak culture,causing a strong ideological impact and huge spiritual tribulation.It is alsooften referred to as an identity crisis.Jan Assmann believes that the crisis of individual or collective identity comes from the breakage of the“connective structure”of cultural memory(6).“This structure can not only provides cultural continuity and normative generationmechanism for the generation of cultural identity,but also serve as the organic soil for it.Once the continuity of cultural memory is disrupted or missing,the identity of the subject isbroken,resulting in an identity crisis”(6).Thus,in Jan Assmann’s view,the identity crisis isessentially a crisis of cultural memory.Louise Erdrich’s The Round House not onlyintersperses the historical narrative of the persecution of the Indians by the whites,but alsopresents the identity dilemma of the protagonist under the dual cultural conflict.The identitydilemma of the protagonist in the novel stems from the influence of the power operation ofmainstream cultural institutions on Indian cultural memory,and is closely related to thecontinuity of one’s own cultural memory as well.Therefore,this part explores how the crisisof cultural memory led to the identity crisis of Indians.
Chapter Ⅲ The Regaining of Cultural Memory ........................ 30
3.1 Indian Historic Sites: The Awakening of Memory .......................... 30
3.1.1 The Reservation: Memories of Indian Humiliation ................... 31
3.1.2 The Round House: Memories of Indian Women’s Trauma ....... 34
Chapter Ⅳ The Selection of Indian Identity Through Cultural Memory . 53
4.1 The Selection of Indian Identity in National Memory ..................... 53
4.1.1 Joe’s Return to Indian Culture ........................ 54
4.1.2 Bazil’s Selection of Indian Justice .......................... 56
Chapter Ⅴ Conclusion ................. 71
Chapter IV The Selection of Indian IdentityThrough Cultural Memory
4.1 The Selection of Indian Identity in National Memory
Under the influence of cultural memory,the common historical experience can form acohesive structure within the nation.On the one hand,it extends into the current socialframework,shapes the present and guides the future.On the other hand,it defines culturalidentity and clarifies the uniqueness and difference of our own culture from others.In thenovel,the three characters who have regained th
