Ripping The Veil: Recovery Through Rememory--The Psychological Reading Of Toni Morrison's Beloved

To most of the Chinese readers, Beloved may not be the most famous work of the renowned female black writer Toni Morrison, but it can be viewed as one of the best illustrations of her prominent skills in depicting characters through their consciousness. Morrison intends to reveal the mental and physical trauma on the ex-slaves even after the abolishment of slavery of the United States. That is why the writer of this thesis chose the perspective of psychoanalysis as an approach to make closer investigation.Bearing the characteristics of the traditional black literature, seemingly it is a story of the ghost named Beloved who is the reflection of the consciousness of each character. After surviving the slavery, Sethe, the protagonist, is still haunted by her dead baby daughter. Physical liberation doesn't equal spiritual peace. The abnormality prevents her and her fellow blacks from obtaining self-identity and self-value. Therefore, it needs probing into firstly. The purpose of analyzing all the symptoms is to discover their causes and then to look for therapies, and they are the contents of the following chapters. To lead every suffering character out of their dilemma, Morrison invents a word Rememory to indicate that only through the re-experiencing of the past can one achieve new life and future. That is the point to lay emphasis on. At last, considering the collective force of the blacks, it becomes inevitable to discuss the importance of finding one's position in a community and culture and tradition.The disappearance of the ghost at the end of the novel foretells the rebirth of the ex-slaves. However, living in the present American society, the Afro-Americans should keep on struggling against the social prejudice. To call attention to the mental welfare of the minorities is one of the objectives of the writer of the thesis; the other is the attempt in handling the psychological approach to analyze the literary works.