Toni Morrison's Trilogy: Historical Pictures Of Afro-American Life Experience

Toni Morrison's trilogy is a summary of black history in the last century. The primary concern of the present thesis is with the theme of trauma and shame affecting on the Afro-Americans'life. Moreover, Morrison put the emphasis on the function of love and communication. People in her novels at last find a way to get well with each other or find the best self in their hearts by means of love and communication. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is the introduction that presents clearly the themes of the thesis, that is, the theme of trauma and shame and theme of love and communication. In addition, I make a general introduction to Toni Morrison's life experience which influences her works a lot. The second chapter focuses on the historical sources of the trilogy's creation. In this part, I reveal the background story of each novel of the trilogy. The third chapter is the core of the thesis. It presents historical pictures of Afro-Americans'life in the trilogy in the whole century, from 1870s to 1970s. And this historical process is divided into three phases: 1. from slaves to freemen (1870s); 2. from the southern countryside to the northern cities (1920s); 3. from the modern city to the isolated black town (1970s). In all of three novels, the main characters suffer from their respective traumatic and humiliated past. However, thanks to love and communication, the interpersonal, intraracial and interracial relationship among the Afro-Americans gets improved in this historical process. The fourth chapter is the conclusion.