If you want to know the end, look at the beginning. --African proverb From the omniscient point of view, Ernest J. Gaines opens his 1978 In My Father's House with a reference to the Reverend Phillip Martin, the charismatic preacher and community activist in the St. Adrienne parish of Bayonne, the principal site of Gaines's fictional works. As the voice of the community's disenfranchised, he enjoys a heightened esteem created in equal parts by the community and himself. His influence extends beyond the province of the community, and he has the establishment's ear on issues of social, economic, and political progress. As a man of the cloth, he believes it is his duty to offer his expert advice to the community on issues impactful to their lives. His communal position, he surmises, is to save souls and preserve the distinction of the residents in all matters of respectability. In full ownership of his social and political standing in the St. Adrienne community, he relishes his position as the community's most revered black male figure. As pastor of the Solid Rock Baptist Church, the most prominent religious institution in the parish, he advocates vociferously on behalf of the oppressed and disenfranchised and is quick to assume the political engagements brought forth by its members. In constructing Phillip in the role of minister and assigning him the last name "Martin," Gaines evokes the social politics and noble endeavors of civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. "King Martin," as Phillip is referenced throughout the parish, is a commanding dignitary among his constituents (In My Father's House 30). In one of the novel's opening scenes, in which he takes center stage during a political gathering at his home, Phillip relishes his guests' hero worship. Their fawning reaches a crescendo: "The people had begun to applaud Phillip, and he raised his hands for silence.... The people would not stop applauding him" (In My Father's House 35). The scene not only accentuates his significance in the community, it captures his flair, elegance, and aesthetic contribution to the community, providing him a propitious moment to grandstand as the physical representation of wealth, success, and prosperity: Phillip Martin wore a black pinstriped suit, a light gray shirt, and a red polka-dot tie. He was sixty years old, just over six feet tall, and he weighed around two hundred pounds. His thick black hair and thick well-trimmed mustache were just beginning to show some gray. Phillip was a very handsome dark-brown-skinned man, admired by women, black and white. The black women spoke openly of their admiration for him, the white women said it around people they could trust.... He was very much respected by most of the people who knew him. (34) While his standing in the community frames his identity, an enigmatic past creates the foundation required for a resolution of a haunting, former life. To the degree that the novel is centered upon the emotional and psychological disconnect between a father and son, a motif which governs the Gaines canon, the work is also a narrative whose structure rests upon the dependence of external figures who help set the stage for the central characters transformation. Phillip must lend himself to an exterior surrogacy if self-evolution and personal growth are the desired result. While communal allegiance, in the form of familial servants and constituents, serves Phillip admirably, it does not resolve his inner conflict. Exterior figures help consign him to an affecting space necessary for healing to occur. Phillip's introduction in the novel and the rogue staging of Robert X, the son he abandoned, are significant in two respects: they foreshadow a catastrophic reunion between the two men and ascribe Phillip's abandonment and neglect of Robert, according to Gaines, to the historical legacy of slavery, wherein families in general--and fathers and sons in particular--were separated and have been unable, since that time, to sustain meaningful relationships. …

中文翻译：

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前进的基督徒士兵：欧内斯特·J·盖恩斯在《我父亲的家》中主持菲利普·马丁牧师的救赎之路

如果您想知道结局，请看一看。-非洲谚语从无所不知的角度来看，欧内斯特·J·盖恩斯（Ernest J. Gaines）于1978年在《我的父亲的家》（My My's House）中开幕，他提到了巴约讷（Bayonne）的主要所在地圣艾德丽安教区的有魅力的传教士和社区活动家牧师菲利普·马丁（Reverend Phillip Martin）。盖恩斯的小说作品。作为社区被剥夺公民权的声音，他享受社区和他本人在同等程度上树立的崇高敬意。他的影响力超出了整个社区的范围，他对企业的社会，经济和政治进步问题也颇有建树。作为有经验的人，他认为有责任向社会提供对他们的生活有影响的问题的专家建议。他推测他的共同立场是，是为了在所有值得尊敬的事情上拯救灵魂并维护居民的尊贵。他完全拥有自己在圣艾德丽安（St. Adrienne）社区中的社会和政治地位，因此享有自己作为该社区最受尊敬的黑人男性身分的地位。作为教区最著名的宗教机构-实心摇滚浸信会教堂的牧师，他代表被压迫和被剥夺权利的人大声疾呼，并迅速承担其成员带来的政治参与。盖因斯在任命菲利普为大臣时，给他起了姓氏“马丁”，唤起了社会政治和民权领袖马丁·路德·金（Ringend Martin Jr.）的崇高努力。在他的选民中是个命令性的贵族（在《我父亲的房子》 30号中）。在小说的开场场景之一中，菲利普·菲利普（Phillip）在家中的一次政治聚会中占据了中心舞台，他对客人的英雄崇拜表示高兴。他们的讨好声越来越高：“人们开始为菲利普鼓掌，他举起手以示沉默……人民不会停止为他鼓掌”（在我父亲的房子里35）。这个场景不仅强调了他在社区中的重要意义，还捕捉到了他在社区中的才能，优雅和审美贡献，为他展示了丰富，成功和繁荣的身体提供了一个有利的时刻：菲利普·马丁（Phillip Martin）身穿黑色细条纹西装，浅灰色衬衫和红色圆点领带。他六十岁，高六英尺，他重约两百磅。他浓密的黑发和浓密的胡须刚刚开始显得有些灰白。菲利普（Phillip）是一个非常英俊的深色皮肤的男人，黑白相间的女人对此表示敬佩。黑人妇女公开称赞他们对他的钦佩，白人妇女说这是在他们可以信任的人周围....大多数了解他的人都非常尊重他。（34）虽然他在社区中的地位构成了他的身份，但神秘的过去为解决困扰着的前世奠定了基础。在某种程度上，这部小说集中于父子之间在情感和心理上的脱节，这是控制盖恩斯经典的主题，作品也是一种叙事，其结构取决于外部人物的依赖性，这些人物有助于为中心人物的转变打下基础。如果要实现自我发展和个人成长，菲利普必须将自己代之以外部代孕。虽然以家族仆人和选民的形式进行的效忠，对菲利普·佩里斯的服务令人钦佩，但它并不能解决他的内心冲突。外部人物有助于将他带到一个需要治愈的影响空间。菲利普在小说中的介绍以及他遗弃的儿子罗伯特X的流氓表演在两个方面都具有重要意义：它们预示着两人之间的灾难性团聚，并根据盖恩斯的说法将菲利普的遗弃和忽视罗伯归因于历史遗产奴隶制 自那时以来，一般的家庭-尤其是父子-被分开了，因此一直无法维持有意义的关系。…