| The first female African American writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993,Toni Morrison is best known for her idiosyncratic narrative techniques and for her persistent concerns for the existential issues of African Americans.Her fourth novel Tar Baby(1981),in particular,drew heated critical debate for its irregular narrative rhythm,garbled plots,dull descriptions of characters and ambivalent ending.Reviews on this novel are legion,varied and mixed,but a probe into this novel from the perspective of Bakhtin’s narrative theories is surprisingly lacking.Based on insights from Bakhtin’s narrative theories,this thesis approaches Tar Baby in terms of its spatial-temporal dynamics,features of its carnival narrative,and its multi-dimentional voices and consciousness.This thesis argues that in Tar Baby the space becomes the signifier of time,and by virtue of narrative time varied in respective space,readers come to realize protagonists’ attitudes towards cultures represented by different spaces.Besides,the carnival narrative through Tar Baby’s exhibition of carnival plots and its decrowning structure is highly suggestive of subversive impulses among blacks for reconstruction of race relationships with whites.Finally,polyphony featuring protagonists’ multi-voices and double-voiced consciousnesses reveals cultural or identity confusion of society and individuals,whereas the coexistence of these independent voices perfectly exemplifies how to fulfill the spirit of carnival.As mixed reviews still exist concerning Tar Baby,this thesis is but an attempt at the reinterpretation of narrative strategies in Tar Baby,and by so doing,it hopes to underscore how such reinterpretation enlightens readers on contemporary race relations,that is,amidst racial and cultural discrepancies,a harmonious world of diversity will not come until stereotypes are discarded,different voices are respected and each varied racial groups guaranteed equal rights. |
PDF Full Text Request