摘要
This paper explores Du Boisian notion of double consciousness and the notion of black nihilism suggested by Cornel West in Ralph Ellison＇s Invisible Man （1952） and August Wilson＇s Fences （1986）. In order to conduct this study, the researcher adopts African American approach and shows that double consciousness and black nihilism are the immediate effects of African Americans＇ marginalisation. According to W. E. B. Du Bois, all African Americans develop the sense of double consciousness which means being both African and American simultaneously. On the other hand, Cornel West believes that black Americans suffer from nihilism which means loss of hope and absence of meaning. The paper is an attempt to compare the novel Invisible Man and the play Fences thematically based on these two theories. It then looks to find the considerable similarities in the conditions of the protagonists of these two literary works. Although both protagonists migrate to the North to escape Southern racism in the era prior to the Civil Rights Movement, they become totally disillusioned, for they are treated as the invisible marginal. Interestingly though, at the end of both stories, there remains a ray of hope for reactivation and the creation of democracy for black Americans.
