Paradise: Making History

Published in the year of 1997, as her first novel after winningthe Nobel Prize for literature in 1993, Paradise enjoyed muchexpectation from the general public. It is the completing novel in thetrilogy through which Morrison intends to construct a black historyfrom an African-American perspective. The novel is set in twoseparatist communities: Ruby, a small town in Oklahoma, and theConvent near the small town. The novel centers on the lives ofresidents of Ruby and the women in the Convent. Men of Ruby areobsessed with the "glorious history"of their forefathers and are eagerto make their own history, whilst the Convent women, shunned andmarginalized as they are by the Ruby men, have also formed theirown version of female history through their memories, both personaland collective. It seems to be quite obvious that Toni Morrison hasboth the Ruby men and the Convent women constructed their ownhistory/herstory, yet for different purposes. Thus, if we interpret thenovel in the light of new historical criticism and feminist criticism,we will obtain a deeper understanding of Morrison larger scheme inwriting the trilogy, that is, she is attempting to rewrite theAfrican-American history from an African-American femaleperspective. Therefore, this paper is devoted to an analysis of themaking of history/herstory in Paradise, in an attempt to shed somelight on our interpretation of this profound novel.In Chapter One, a general idea of both the novel and the paperwill be offered and major focuses will be given to a review of thecritical attention Paradise has drawn ever since its publication in1997 as well as a brief introduction of feminist criticism and newhistoricism, the critical theories employed in this paper. Chapter Two deals with the making of black male history in bothHaven and Ruby. Main focus is given to how and why history ismade in the two black separatist communities. Through memories oftheir forefathers, men of Ruby establish their history as ahard-working, proud, righteous and God-chosen people. However,from the very beginning, the narrative is unreliable and the memoriesof the Morgan brothers are questionable. Nonetheless those unreliablememories, intentional or otherwise, become legendary stories andlegendary stories become myths and glorious history. Through aprocess of falsification and beautification of facts, concerning theDisallowing, the search for the Promised Land, and the raid on the"witches"in the Convent, the history of a proud and righteous peopleis made. On the part of the 8-rock black people, it is highly necessarythat they have a history of their own for their survival. However theirrefutable fact is that facts are greatly distorted in the history-makingprocess and history is manipulated by men. Chapter Three concentrates on the victimization of women in themaking process of the black male history. As demonstrated in theinstances of both Haven and Ruby, the making of black male historyis based on the distorting, stereotyping, marginalizing, silencing oreven killing of women. The realm of history becomes anotherbattleground where the eternal power struggle between men andwomen goes on. In this chapter, by analyzing how history is made inboth Haven and Ruby, the point that women fall victims to thehistory-making process is reiterated. History becomes a tool with iiiwhich men control women, both physically and mentally. Chapter Four is focused on the construction of herstory, a historyof women, by women and for women, both in the Convent and inRuby. Through the personal memories of the five shattered womenand their respective experiences there, the herstory of the Convent asa healing space for women is well established. In the Convent, amidsta female collectivity, women can rejuvenate their shattered bodiesand broken hearts. While at the same time, the Convent is also aparadise for femininity where women can truly embrace the beauty ofthe female body as well as their sexuality. What's more, with itsstrikingly unconventional women residents, the Convent, as a femalecollectivity, serves as an effort at "killing the angel in the house", thatis to subvert the conventional images of women in the male historyand construct new images of women in herstory. Besides, several ofthe Convent women play dominant roles in their sexual and familialrelations with men, thus inverting the conventional sexual and genderrelationships. Most importantly, in the Convent, the five women areassured that women can be sexual and divine at the same time, thusreclaiming female divinity. Through the analysis made in the four chapters, we can draw theconclusion that history, or more specifically, male history in Paradise,is oppressive and destructive both in its making process and in itsfunction. It has become a tool for the upper class to control the underclass, for whites to control blacks, for men to control women, bothphysically and mentally. Herstory, on the contrary, is liberating andhealing in nature. Only when blessed with herstory, can women,...