The Space Of The Other:A Study Of Toni Morrison's Fiction

As an African American woman writer,Toni Morrison(1931—)takes the African American experience as her primary thematic concern of writing which tells stories of the African Americans searching for their self and cultural identity in an unjust society.Meanwhile,Morrison's concern with women embraces universality for her stories deal with non-black women as well.Morrison takes the perspective of the Other and the marginalized to represent the historical presence of women and African Americans in order to express her strong ethnic and gender consciousness and to reconstruct the subjectivity of the Other.Morrison's characters are otherized by the American abstract space in different times,i.e.the dominant values and systems that are beneficial to the whites but detrimental to the blacks.The otherness of women lies in that they are the Other of the Other for they are subjected to both racial and patriarchal power.The spaces in Morrison's novels include the Atlantic voyage of Middle Passage,colonial spaces,the slavery plantations,the northern city and the southern country after the Civil War and during the Civil Rights era,overseas spaces like Paris and the Caribbean islands,and battle fields in Korea,Viet Nam and Europe.All these spaces are related to the spaces of home,community and various heterogeneous spaces.Home,community and heterogeneous spaces link all spatial experiences of Morrison's characters and reflect their otherness in the world.This dissertation adopts the concept of "the Other" and Lefebvre's space theory to explore Morrison's space narrative.The openness of "the Other" evokes Morrison's writing and critical perspective.She takes the stand of the Other either in writing or in literary criticism.The space of the Other is related to the abstract space in Lefebvre's theory.It is the different space under the homogenization of abstract space.The spaces in Morrison's novels are such different spaces.Foucault's concept of "heterogeneous space"(heterotopia)also contributes in the analysis of Morrison's space politics.Based on Morrison's 10 novels up to date,this dissertation examines home,community and heterotopias and investigates her space politics.The first chapter analyzes the unhomeliness of the African American home,discussing its otherness from the aspects of race conflict,dwelling,family love and gender.The unhomeliness of home reflects the racial and patriarchal power that imposes on the home.The history-rooted subordinate place of the African Americans is demonstrated in a home shared by blacks and whites in which blacks are disciplined and excluded by the space of home.The dwelling spaces in Morrison's novels uncover the myth of color,and the difference of color results in the difference and hierarchy of dwelling spaces.The unfavorable dwelling spaces contribute to the tragedy of the characters.The position as the Other leads to the incompleteness of the African American home.The characters in Morrison's novels are all home-abandoned.When rebuilding their home,the characters bring with them the trauma of their parents and that of their own,which results in the want of family love and the distortion of it if any.The African American home is labeled with gender imbalance,and it becomes a one-gender space(usually women)or a space under patriarchy.In either case,home is represented as the space of women as the Other.The second chapter discusses the significance of community to African Americans,focusing on community construction and the relationship between community and holistic survival of blacks,individual identity,or individual dwelling space.The black community is the result of the homogenization of the American abstract space;its construction is subjected to group oppression and discrimination and its otherness is formed under the power of privilege and exclusion.Black community is an important space for those who shared the common otherization to search for a holistic survival and development.Their survival and development are closely related to the African American culture whose maintenance and promotion are mainly secured by African American women.The community fosters and restrains the black individual and it is closely related to the building-up of black identity.Individual dwelling space(home)is dependent on the community;the latter restrains and influences the former and both can find their development only in the connection between them.Chapter Three adopts Foucault's concept of "heterotopias" to explore the otherization of African Americans and women.Heterotopia shows more overtly the spatial imposition of racial and patriarchal violence on the Other.The slavery plantations,graves,churches and "floating" spaces are examined in this chapter.The capitalist social relations and the space politics in the slavery plantation lie in that the African Americans are regarded as the Other and their life become "naked life".The author's racial consciousness and gender politics are expressed in the writing of graves which show the hierarchy between whites and blacks,the racial discrimination against blacks,as well as the imposition of racial and gender violence on women.The folklore of grave and spirit helps strengthen these points.The Christian church as a colonizing space is related to the survival of African Americans as the Other.It becomes an important space for African American survival.The church also functions as the space of females as the Other.Various "floating" spaces,such as cars,trains and ships function as the spaces of the Other for African Americans and females,such as the otherization of Blacks during the Middle Passage and the racial discrimination of the 20th century,the intraracial gender oppression among the African Americans in the 20th century,and the otherization of women in the colonizing period.Taking the Blacks and women and their being as its main content and adopting a spatial form of narrative,Morrison's fiction blends a space politics in the reader's participation,making the reader work together with the author in order to complete a say for the "unspeakable".This say shows the otherness of African Americans and women in various other spaces,whose subjectivity should be claimed.Thus,Morrison intends to realize a construction of the subjectivity of the Other.