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ays holding the discourse and gazing at the Blacks unfriendly. River spent a long time in Parchman and was left a lifetime of miserable memories. His Black identity subjectivity has mostly disintegrated in prison, and his past encounters make him realize that the Black race was not equal to the White race. More specifically, the White is superior to the Black. So he teaches his children not to go to White people’s party. In the power field dominated by the White people, even though Given performs as well as his White friends in some aspects, he may not receive equal respect because of the color of his skin. Since the external biological attribute of White skin constitutes a symbol of privilege in the long-term social construction.

Chapter Two Power Fields Dominated by Black People

2.1 River’s anti-gaze

After a long period of the White’s subjugation and domination, the Black prisoners become subservient, lose themselves to the oppression of wardens’ power, and submit to the power status of the White guards. River, however, is different. He is brave to confront the oppressive gaze and words of White guards, and he is not afraid of the racial oppression of power. In the novel, Kinnie is a White prisoner who used to be in charge of dogs. He had done many illegal things and even killed people before, while many poor White people in the South love him because he dares to defy and break the law. Kinnie is a big, athletic man who rides a horse and leads dogs to manage Black prisoners in Parchman. When other Black prisoners see him, some of them are scared to run away, and some of them are even scared to knee down. But River does not. He goes on with his work whether Kinnie or other sergeants, because he has his own dignity, “Took as much time as I could, because he was the type of man who expected me to run. To look at his big, healthy Whiteness in awe” (Ward 63). River feels that even in prison, even White and Black, legendary and ordinary, guards and prisoners should be equal in ordinary life, so there is no need to fear the intangible power oppression or to flatter the status position of White guards. So River bravely walks up to Kinnie, not running, not getting too close to Kinnie, keeping a distance from him to avoid being kicked by Kinnie’s horse. However, Kinnie put pressure on River’s brave approaching. He glares at River with blue eyes and aims his gun at River, “But do you know your place?” (Ward 64) Even in the face of further probing and gun pressure from Kinnie, River shows no fear, he replies, “Yes, sir” (Ward 64). When facing Kinnie’s gaze and the oppression of power, River does not adopt an evasive attitude, but frankly accepts the pressure of his opponent’s gaze and words, maintaining the dignity that a Black individual should have. There is another scene in the novel that also shows River bravely confronting Kinney’s gaze, when he and Kinney are tracking a gunman together, after River witnesses Kinnie putting a bullet through the gunman’s skull, “And then his gaze is on me. I looked right back” (Ward 64). River’s bravery and frankness demonstrate his confrontation with the oppression of White man’s power. His fearlessness, his ability and his defense for his Black individual’s dignity, all of his bravery and uniqueness make Kinney begin to appreciate him. 

2.2 Richie’s anti-gaze

Richie is also a rebel against the racial gaze. He is the本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。