Abstract
African Americans have lived in America for hundreds of years ever since black people were sold as slaves in the early 17th century. In the life full of difficulties and discrimination, African Americans are still struggling to look for their national identity.
Part 1 gives a brief introduction to the historical creation background of Native Son and Invisible Man, as well as their influences in African American literature. Part 2 respectively analyzes Bigger Thomas and the invisible man’s identity cognition and put them into comparison. Part 3 looked into black people’s identity cognition development in Native Son and Invisible Man from the perspective of Du Bois’s double consciousness theory.
Key words: Double Consciousness, African American Literature, Self-Identity
Content
Abstract 3
Content 4
I. Introduction 4
II. Du Bois’s Double Consciousness Theory 5
III. The self and national identity consciousness of the two protagonists 6
1. Attitudes toward the mainstream society - rebellious and obedient 6
2. Attitudes toward their own culture 6
IV. Analysis of black people’s self-identity cognition and exploration of national prospect from the perspective of Double Consciousness 7
V. Conclusions 8
VI. References 8
