Double Literary Traditions

Toni Morrison being awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize for literature makes her the first African American to be so honored and marks not only a personal triumph but also the recognition of the artistry of African-American fiction and the validity of the black woman's voice. Sula is her second novel, and deals with themes of race, womanhood, the effects of history, and the contingencies of love, examining how myths intertwine to affect the beliefs and actions of individuals.Given the unique role of myth in this novel, an attempt is made in this thesis to analyze related elements of the myths found in this novel from the archetypal critical approach. As an important theoretical perspective, archetypal critical approach contributes to a deeper exploration of the literary value of this novel. This thesis consists of six parts, including four chapters between the introduction and the conclusion.Chapter one expatiates the archetypal criticism, especially Northrop Frye and Carl Jung's archetypal theory, as well as the influence of both African and Western cultural traditions on Toni Morrison's writing of Sula. Morrison, being long familiar with the Bible and ancient Greece and Roman myths, always uses myth in depicting her novels.Chapter two focuses on three Hero Archetypes of Sula, the heroine of the novel. The three archetypes are the doomed scapegoat, the rebellious Lilith and the eternal River Spirit. The archetypal image of scapegoat has always been a classic one in literary works. Sula is the most important scapegoat in the novel, bearing endless meanings. Creator and destroyer, seducer of man and murderer of infants, Lilith is the first female trickster as well as the incarnation of rebellious woman. Sula, a defiantly independent breaker of gender and social taboos, lives a rebellious life as Lilith. At the same time, as a writer brought up on mysterious Afro-African stories, Morrison moulds Sula into a River Spirit, who symbolizes the eternal ancestor of the black...