This passage depicts electricity as an element invisible but omnipresent,invading human consciousness and taking effect in a subtle way.As a special epitome of power,it"provides an illusion of mastery to those who appear to possess it" and then"suddenly unmasks itself as destroyer" or killer（Harpham,1985：86）.Based on this metaphor,Daniel leams to make broad connections,that is,the interpretative ability to grasp the ideological essence behind the knowledge system and social values.This practice of interpretation is,for Daniel,a token of his radicalism,as Jieun Kwon states,"The radical discovers connections between available data and the root responsibility.Finally he connects everything"(Kwon,2014： 140）.With this ability Daniel begins to discover the connection among events that look random on the surface： his parents died not only because of the conspiracy of government agency like FBI,of the testimony of some treacherous friends,but also of the co-work of multiple forces including the foreign policy at that time,the propaganda of media,and even their own complicity-Paul's naivete in believing the system and Rochelle's rigidity and self-sacrifice.Daniel also learns the relativity of social categorizations such as truth and falsity,justice and injustice： the idea of justice or truth in itselfis an idea"which in effect has been invented and put to work in different types of societies as an instrument of a certain political and economic power or as a weapon against that power"(Foucault,1984： 6）.Yet,the truth and justice Daniel has been seeking is obscure and inapproachable not just due to the
manipulation and control of macro-power.They are caused by the power ofimages and words-the micro-power,which influences human consciousness in a more
subtle way like electricity does.The great power of images is revealed in the remarks of Daniel's friend Artie Sternlicht,a representative of the New Leftist in the 1960s.Unlike the old communists such as Paul Isaacson,Artie never expects mild revolution inside the American system can bring about any substantial change to the society.He despises the nalve optimism ofthe old generation.With his apartment walls full of collages of posters,Sternlicht tells Daniel that he will wield the weapon of media like television to"Overthrow the United States" with images for them are inevitably ideological(140）.However,Daniel shows his worry about images as he thinks that they are the building blocks of narrative and they have an uncertain relationship to the narrative that binds them.Narrative,with its constituents of words,images and metaphors,can exert a tremendous power on people's perception.One can accept the truth a document has claimed,or he can be susceptible to the infiuences of a document's infringement of truth just because he believes a document is the faithful record of reality.In the contemporary society,some forms of narrative(such as document,history,scientific report） are presumed to be more reliable than others(fiction）.As a result,they are invested with more power to justify,to convince or to dissuade.
Daniel's meditation on the power of narrative is also what Doctorow elaborates in his essays.As Geofferey Galt Harlpham points out,one of Doctorow's lasting concerns is"narrative itself and its relation to power,imagination,and belief(Harpham,1985： 89）.To Michelle Foucault,power is not a thing,but a relationship between two parties,so"every time one side does something,the other one responds by deploying a conduct,a behavior that counter-invests it,tries to escape it,diverts it,turns the attack against itself,etc."(Foucault,1996： 144）.This pervasive power network Daniel discovers actually includes the power of narrative,which can be used as the instrument for ideological control and also as a way of resistance to counteract the control.Narrative,with its volatile images,is"a political issue-perhaps the quintessentially political issue,since its truth status always depends on the power of the authorities that sanction it"(Harpham,1985： 84）.
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