The Pilgrims’ Psychological Progress In Morrison’s Song Of Solomon From The Perspective Of Personality Structure

Song of Solomon is the masterpiece of the famous American black female writer Toni Morrison that explores the traditional culture and spirit of the black people.The novel has enjoyed a high reputation for its dedicating description mature artistic style since its publication.It is also beneficial for Morrison to consolidate her position in American literary circle.In this novel,Morrison not only describes the spiritual world of characters but also using some dramatic plots to present their spiritual dilemma and how the black people pursue freedom and rebuilds their homeland.Up to now,there has been a great deal of analysis on Song of Solomon both abroad and at home.However,the study of this novel from the perspective of Freudian theory is rare.Through careful analysis,the writer has found that as the historical epitomes of other millions of unprivileged black people,the psychological growth process of three main characters present an obvious stepwise-shaped progress from tragedy to awakening to sublimation,and the writer holds the opinion that the root cause of their different realms is whether they have a balanced personality structure.Therefore,this thesis would analyze Guitar,Milkman and Pilate,the three main character’s psychological progress and personality structure in this novel by using Freudian personality structure and the method of close reading,and try to establish an effective relationship between the balance of personality structure and the fate of the role,which has profound meaning for people to understand the struggles of the black people,and it can provide other nations who are still being oppressed with proper instruction.In order to study the roots of the three characters’ step-by-step progress,chapter one to chapter three will respectively analyze the id,ego and superego of Guitar,Milkman and Pilate.Finally,based on the analysis,the thesis comes to the conclusion that the id,ego,and superego are not only constantly affecting people but also conflicting and coordinating mutually all the time.Without control and coordination,the personality structure may cause the tragedy of people,Among them,Guitar goes to tragedy because of his imbalanced of personality structure;relying on the intervention from gradually developed ego and appropriate superego,Milkman puts his life back in order;Pilate is the perfect representative of the female image who enjoys the balanced personality all the time.As a result,it could conclude that the balanced personality structure plays an important role in one’s fate.As the epitomes and the spiritual continuum of other millions of unprivileged black people,the continuous progress made by the three characters in reviving their nation comprehensively reveals that in the society which dominated by the white culture,it is of great importance for people to maintain a healthy personality structure and rebuild their spiritual home.