| Identity construction has come to be one of the recurring themes in contemporary literature, especially in ethnic and diaspora writings. So it is with Toni Morrison. As a black woman writer with a strong black consciousness, Morrison has been focusing on the miserable sufferings of Afro-Americans, especially African American women who are subject to intersecting oppressions of racism, sexism, and classism.A Mercy (2008) is Morrison’s ninth novel which continues her concern with black women. What this novel distinguishes itself from previous ones is that it not only focuses on black females’but ethnic females’struggle against multiple exploitations of racism, sexism and classism. In view of this, this thesis employs black feminist literary criticism which combines the three factors mentioned above together with a close reading of the text, aiming to explore how the ethnic females in the novel lose their identities under a hostile environment characterized by racism, sexism and classism; then how they negotiate and eventually achieve identity reconstruction by various means. At last, the thesis examines Morrison’s writing intention.The conclusion of the thesis is:through depicting how intersectional oppressions of racism, sexism, and classism affect ethnic female characters, Morrison protests against a flawed social system. Yet this does not mean that she intends to reverse the existing system. Adopting an open standpoint, Morrison embraces an equal and united world; despite the setbacks facing the ethnic females, they never surrender. Instead, they fight against the multiple oppressions in their own way and finally achieve personal empowerment. By portraying these females’struggle, Morrison brings a marginal group to center and proposes a viable way out. This solution is not only enlightening for ethnic minorities in America but also for all the people who remain invisible throughout the world, which reflects humanitarian brilliancy in her works. |
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