On Contemporary Social Ethics In God Help The Child By Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison（1931-2019）was the first black woman writer in American history to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.Her works are intensely emotional,short and poetic,and are known for her sharp observations of black life in America.In terms of Morrison’s published works,her black characters,mostly female ones,span over a hundred years of American history from the slavery era to the contemporary American society.In her previous works,she has been devoted to exploring the history,culture and moral and emotional world of African Americans,trying to disclose the tragic fates and moral dilemmas of them,while seeking ways to get rid of their miserable fates and moral dilemmas,help them find themselves and rebuild their national confidence.In 2015,Morrison published her latest work,God Help the Child and it can be said that this work still continues her exploration of the fates of black people,showing her humanistic concerns for the black community.But,slightly different with her previous works,Morrison,in her latest works,focuses on the contemporary American society,describing the pains and traumas of different color characters and revealing increasingly terrible social problems in contemporary society such as racism,childhood trauma and commodification,through showing the recounting and life experiences of characters owning different backgrounds.Moreover,these above problems also have a profound impact on the growth of individuals in the family and social environment.Indeed,if these above problems are placed in the event of ‘George Freud,a black citizen,was suffocated by a white police’ and it will be clear to find that traditional ethical relationships among people,moral standards and value orientations have a profound transformation.Therefore,the contemporary ethical thoughts in this novel will become more prominent.The thesis emphasizing the moral and ethical factors contained in this story,combined with ethical literary criticism advocated by professor Nie Zhenzhao,attempts to discuss in detail ethical issues in contemporary society and the relevant ethical thoughts.To be specific,this thesis is divided into four chapters and one introduction.In introduction,it mainly introduces Morrison’s growing environment,summarizes the moral and ethical features in her previous works,and further clears the significance of studying the novel from the perspective of ethical literary criticism.The first chapter is mainly an introduction on ethical literary criticism like introducing the definition and significance of the theory,highlighting relevant ethical criticism and moral traditions,and explaining some important theoretical terms.The other several chapters are the dominant contents of this thesis,mainly integrating theoretical terms with literary texts to make researches.The second chapter mainly analyzes the sufferings and consequences when these characters face with different ethical predicaments and ethical choices.The third chapter mainly analyzes the methods of ethical redemption and the processes of ethical growths of the hero and heroine in the novel.The fourth chapter back to the title of this thesis,mainly analyzes the contemporary moral teachings in this novel and after studying carefully,it is held that‘the recognition of racialized beauty’,‘the pursuit of wisdom and true love’ and ‘the coexistence of different colors’ are contemporary social ethics and correct values orientation advocated by Morrison in this novel.At the same time,the ethical characteristics and moral teachings in God Help the Child by Morrison,are deep introspection and correction after exposing American contemporary social realities on one hand,and are also synchronic reflection and warning of the common problems in contemporary society of all human-beings on the other hand,which,undoubtedly,have important teaching and referring significance in the contemporary Chinese society advocating legal construction.