A Study Of Toni Morrison's Novels From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

The central concept of the thesis is ethic, which refers to the naturally established relationship and order either between people and things or inside things. The change of ethic is determined by the evolution of the essential connonation of the concept of Man. In the course of history, the essential connotation of the concept of Man has changed from"Natural Man","Social Man"to"Cultural Man". Therefore, ethic based upon the maintaining basis of human relations evolves from"Natural Ethic","Social Ethic"to"Cultural Ethic". Synchronically, according to the situations and the aspects of life and activities that are related to the relationship between people, ethic can be classified as"survival ethic","sexual ethic","family ethic","interpersonal ethic", etc. The most important task of Ethical Literay Criticism is to reveal the changing process of people's ethic, which embodies the core ethical values of the author.Morrison'literary language with infinite symbolic meanings and the female characters portrayed by her, who have indomitable willpower and uncompromising revolt spirit although usually destined for misfortunes, construct a splendid artistic world. The life experience of these women spans an over-one-hundred-year period from slavery society to the 1990s. Analyzing Morrison's novels from the four synchronically defined kinds of ethic, we will find the following corresponding characteristics: life outweighs reason; personal satisfaction takes the lead; women can head the family and power is status. As they haven't been treated as human beings, black women have adopted body revolt which is different form normal resistence. Therefore, their body revolt is of political significance.The ethic between the black female characters experiences the changes form human ethic, rational ethic to cultural ethic. The changes conform to the the special trait of American culture, which emphasizes individualism as well as harmony between individuals and the collective.The core of Morrison's cultural ethical values is the harmony achieved with others after self-gratification.