| Toni Morrison, a socially concerned novelist, employs various forms of fantasy and mythic patterns in her novels--The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, and Tar Baby. These works either belong directly to the genre of fantasy or may be construed as having central affinities with the "fantastic." A Marxian and Freudian analysis reveals an effort in her novels to make visible the un-seen and the un-said of bourgeois reality. Morrison's predominantly realistic narratives suddenly erupt with fantastic interludes of violence, dream, unreason, sexual desire, and the supernatural. Throughout these works one can discern at least three major concerns that center on such fantastic events: the examination of self or quest for self-discovery, the presence or absence of the ancestor, and the problem of interpersonal relations. Hence, far from being a mode of escapism, fantasy in Morrison's novels reveals an effort to confront contemporary Afro-Americans with the perplexities and realities of modern American life. |
