《女奴生平》中的权力凝视现象

Power Gaze in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

哈里特·雅各布斯的自传《女奴生平》是美国非裔文学史上女奴叙事的代表作。奴隶制下的美国社会如同福柯提出的全景敞视监狱,奴隶受到奴隶主高强度的监视。在《女奴生平》中,这种权力凝视具体表现为黑白种族之间的性关系。女主人公琳达不仅受到来自白人男性带有性特征的异性凝视,也受到来自白人女性出于性嫉妒的同性凝视。然而,琳达没有屈从淫威,而是与代表奴隶制的弗林特医生斗智斗勇,最终逃出魔掌,获得自由。自传不仅展现了勇敢智慧的女黑奴形象,而且揭露了美国种族奴隶制性道德堕落的本质。

Harriet Jacobs’ s autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a representative female slave narrative in the history of African American literature. Just like a panoramic prison proposed by Foucault, American society under slavery witnessed intense surveillance of slaves by slave owners. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, such power gaze is embodied in the sexual relationship between black and white. Linda, the heroine, is subjected to both the heterosexual gaze from white men and the homosexual gaze from white women out of sexual jealousy. However, instead of yielding to the despotic power, Linda fights with the slavery represented by Doctor Flint and finally escapes from the control to freedom. Thus, her autobiography not only portrays the image of a brave and wise black slave woman but also reveals the depravity of American racial slavery in sexual morality.