Seeking For A Paradise

As the first African-American woman writer winning the Nobel Prize for literature, Toni Morrison has published eight novels to date. Paradise is the first novel published after she was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature. It has caught the attention of the critical circles since it came out in 1998.The novel depicts a group of African-Americans who had been rejected and oppressed by the white after the American civil war and then had to build their own community. This paper attempts to explicate the deconstructive ideas implied in this novel by using the text analysis approach.The thesis is made up of the following six parts:The first part is an introduction to Morrison's life, literary career and her novel, Paradise.The first chapter is the second part of the thesis. The theory of deconstruction is briefly explained.The second chapter is the third part of the thesis. In the second chapter of this paper, two centers are presented: the white center and the male center. Starting from an analysis on the writing background of Paradise, the author of the thesis tries to establish the white center. Through analyzing the two black towns Haven and Ruby, the author of the thesis picks out the male center.The third chapter is the fourth part of the thesis. In the third chapter the author of the thesis explicates how the two centers are deconstructed. In order to subvert the white center, the author of the thesis focuses attention on the 8-rock blacks in the all-black towns. While in order to subvert the male center, the author of the thesis pays attention to women not only in the all-black towns but also in the Convent nearby the town, Ruby.The fourth chapter is the fifth part of the thesis. In the fourth chapter the author of the thesis points out the way towards a happy earthly paradise. Taking Toni Morrison's explanation of a real paradise for reference, the author of the thesis points out that the reconciliation between the white and the black, between the male and the female is necessary in order to build a happy earthly paradise which everyone can walk into whichever race and gender they belong to.From the analysis in the above chapters, in the sixth part, a conclusion can be drawn that through deconstructing the two centers and appealing for reconciliation between the white and the black, between the male and the female can a real earthly paradise be constructed, which is accessible to everyone regardless of their gender and race.