지속의 시간과 비판 정신: 『나의 안토니아』와 『미국의 아들』에 나타난 시간과 저항

Abstract

This essay focuses on the concept of time represented in Willa Cather’s My Antonia and Richard Wright’s Native Son in order to address the ways in which we perceive and represent time in these novels envisage the main theme of the two novels: the resistance against social discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, and ethnicity. As a member of a newly-arrived immigrant family, Antonia Shimerda struggles to establish her home in the new but barren territory of the American Midwest, fighting against the anti-immigrant prejudice of American Society. Likewise, Bigger Thomas also tries to overcome the racial discrimination of 1930s American society and to find out the meaning of his tragic and depressed life. In their resistance against the prejudice and discrimination of early twentieth-century American society, the perception of time works as a key role since both Antonia and Bigger use their memories and reminiscences as productive means of their resistance. Therefore, this essay discusses the creative power of memory and reminiscence from the overall perspective of Henri Bergson’s duration of time. At first, this research discusses the usage of the creative power of time by Antonia and Bigger in the novel in terms of Georg Lukács’s “power of time.” Next, this study analyzes the resemblance between Deleuze’s idea of “time-image” and the images of time described in My Antonia and Native Son. Finally, this essay reviews the idea of time in those novels in light of Bergson’s idea of time as duration, relying on his discussion of time, matter, and image. This essay concludes that both Antonia and Bigger have recourse to the power of memory and reminiscences, empowered by the duration of time, for their resistance to social discrimination on the basis of gender, race, and ethnicity.