Analysis Of Signification In Song Of Solomon

Toni Morrison is one of the most famous novelists in 20th century, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Her works, due to its authentic and vivid description of African American experiences and poetic and powerful diction, have exerted great impact on American and world literature. Morrison, in her works, illuminates and authenticates the distinctiveness of Black literature with her unique artistic style, which has enriched our appreciation of her absorbing works.Song of Solomon is Toni Morrison's masterpiece, which surpasses her former female topics to create male characters to show her concern with the Afro-Americans' fate.Based on black literary critic Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s Theory of Signification, this thesis deals with Toni Morrison's application of Signification in her novel Song of Solomon, which helps her to pursue the Afro-American folk tradition and surpass racial limitation. The strong sense of Morrison's Signifyin(g) consciousness in Song of Solomon helps Morrison go beyond the traditional black literature motif that envies or hates the White, and undoubtedly advances a more enlightened strategy of expression in black literature.Gates' Theory of Signification includes two categories: Signification of imagery by Signifyin(g) language and Signification of text. So this thesis attempts to analyze the Signification in Song of Solomon from three aspects: Signifyiri(g) language, Signification of imagery and Signification of text.This thesis is divided into four chapters.Chapter 1 is a general introduction to Theory of Signification, including the theoretical Archetype of "The Signifying Monkey" and definition and characteristics of Signification. The chapter 2 analyzes and argues the Signifyin(g) language used in Song of Solomon from two aspects: the use of black vernacular and the Signifyin(g) to the Bible. The chapter 3 mainly concerns several Signifyin(g) images in Song of Solomon. The chapter 4 researches on the Signification of text. With analyzing the Signifyin(g) relation between the two milestone works in Afro-American literature: Song of Solomon and Invisible Man, the analysis suggests that Morrison pushes the research of identity problem forward by pointing out that Afro-American identity could not avoid its racial background. The conclusion summarizes the significance of Morrison's application of Signification in discussing the current problem of Afro-American existence.