无名的“他”——凯瑟琳·安·波特短篇小说《他》中的身份焦虑解读

The Boy without Name——An Analysis of the Identity Anxiety Reflected in He by Katherine Anne Porter

凯瑟琳·安·波特的短篇小说《他》描写了一个被父母和家庭抛弃的美国南方孩子。这个孩子始终被称为"他",而没有属于自己的名字。小说中"他"的无名状态意味着个体被剥夺了自己在家庭中的身份,而小说结尾处"他"被送往县救济院则意味着"他"既遭受了老南方的否定,又遭受了新南方的抛弃,"他"陷入到被历史与现实双重抛弃的处境之中。作为一位杰出的南方女作家,波特在《他》中表达了南北战争战败后美国南方人对于自身身份的焦虑,《他》中那个无名的孩子正是波特这一代新南方人对于自我身份焦虑的形象化体现。

The short story He is about an American southern boy who is abandoned by his parents and family. This abandoned boy, who has no name of his own, is called as He. He in the short story manifests that individual is deprived of his identity in family and his being sent to the County Home in the end of the story means that He is abandoned both by the Old South and the New South. He is involved in the trouble of being abandoned both by the past and the reality. As an outstanding American southern female writer, Katherine Anne Porter reflects in this short stox7 American southerners＇ identity anxiety after the Civil War. The boy without name is the embodiment of every Ameri- can southerner＇ s anxiety about his or her own identity.