The Hard Course Of Searching For Self-Identity

Toni Morrison is a famous writer in America, and she is also the first black woman winner of the Nobel Prize in 1993. She regards writing as a manner of thinking, and she endeavors to describe the loss of black cultural value, the search of black women for selfness and for cultural root in her works. Morrison's writing combines the elements of western traditional literature with the features of the blacks'national literature, reflecting the life of African American people. The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Song of Solomon are Toni Morrison's first three novels in which black women's quests for self-identity is deeply discussed. The scholars at home and abroad have done a lot of research about the three novels, most of which focus on the analysis of the single work's characters, themes and literary meanings from the perspective of black feminism. But few researchers make a longitudinal analysis of the three works as growing-up novels from the theory of black feminism to find the feminism ideological changes of Toni Morrison..As the extension and development of feminism literature, black feminism criticism has changed the themes and connotation of traditional feminism and provided a new perspective for research. Black feminists believe that gender is not the only element that influences women's fates, so they introduce the element of race into feminism criticism. Meanwhile, they make black feminism become the spearhead of identity criticism. This research, based on the ideas and theories of black feminism, makes a deep discussion about the hard growing-up course of the heroines in the three works from the aspects of the loss of self-identity, the experimental pursuit of self-identity and the search for self-identity in the guard and protection of native culture. Therefore, it's concluded that if black women pursue their survival and realize their selves under the racial pressure and sexual prejudice, they would not separate themselves from black communities. At the same time, they have to stick to national cultural tradition, and break away from the fetters of the whites'values. It's the only way for African American women to recover from the heavy historical memories and become a new kind of subject of women. At the same time, through the analysis of three protagonists'different ways to search for self-identity, we can also know more about the maturing process of Toni Morrison's feminist ideology. The aim of the thesis is to provide some information for the further research of Morrison's ideology and the solution to the problem of black women.The thesis is divided into seven chapters:Chapter one introduces the background of study and Toni Morrison, the plots of Bluest Eye, Sula, and Song of Solomon and the framework of this thesis.Chapter two is the general literature review. The first part focuses on the review of black feminism criticism at home and abroad. The second part concentrates on the review of the researches of the three works—The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Song of Solomon. But most of them focus on the analysis of the single work's characters, themes and literary meanings from the perspective of black feminism. Few researchers make a longitudinal analysis of the three works to find the feminism ideological changes of Toni Morrison.Chapter three gives definite definitions of identity and identity-construction in black feminism criticism. Because black women face double-identity conflict, reproducing the black women's search for self-identity and self-consciousness has been an important theme in the works of black feminists.Chapter four analyzes the helplessness and hardness of the poor girl—Pecola in The Bluest Eye in terms of the quest of self-identity and values under the influence of white culture and the suffering of the abandonment of families and black community. What's more, Pecola lacks the consciousness of self-protection and self-resistence, and at last fails in searching for self-identity.In the fifth chapter, the thesis analyzes the character Sula who is completely different from the passive and negative Pecola. Sula is independent and brave, but self-centered. She takes a radical way that breaks away from black traditions and community to look for self-identity, which makes her a lonely experimentalist that cannot establish the definite self-consciousness.In chapter six, the thesis discusses about a mature image of black woman—Pilate who is kind, philanthropic, brave and independent and has strong self-consciousness. She overcomes all the shortcomings of Sula, and cherishes and protects black cultural tradition, all of which impel Pilate to find and keep her a complete self.The last part is the conclusion of the thesis. From the passive and negative Pecola to the radical Sula and then to the pilot of the quest of black self-identity, Morrison reproduces the hard and long course of black women's search for self-identity and self-consciousness. Meanwhile, through the analysis of the three heroines'different ways to seek selfness, we can also know about the maturing process of Toni Morrison's feminism consciousness.