Community Harmony And Black Individual Development

Toni Morrison (1931- ), one of the most famous contemporary American novelists, published many novels to describe Afro-American life. In 1993, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, for giving"life to an essential aspect of American reality"in novels"characterized by visionary force and poetic import."Among her works, her fifth novel Beloved (1987) is the most famous one. In this novel, Morrison traces back to the history of slavery which is the darkest period in American history with deep influence. The novel, taking an infanticide story as the main thread, exposes tremendous trauma black slaves suffered physically and spiritually through fragmentary memories. In 1873 of the Reconstruction era, Sethe escaped from the southern plantation Sweet Home to Cincinnati. She lived with her daughter Denver in 124 at Bluestone Road—a farmhouse full of a baby's venom. Eighteen years ago, unwilling to relinquish her children to the trauma she had previously endured, Sethe killed her first daughter. Since then, Sethe and Denver have retired from the outside world without courage to recall their past. Paul D was the last male slave in Sweet Home. He also dared not to recollect his memories which were locked into his imaginary"tobacco tin". Although they have got physical freedom, they could not step out of the shadow of the past and extricate themselves from the nightmare of the ghosts day and night. How could they obtain a bright future? To answer this question, Morrison focuses on the community. Through the rich and vivid description of the characters and thought-provoking narrative, the author offers us her meditation. Morrison figures that black individuals need to construct harmonious community in order to realize both physical and spiritual liberation.This thesis is to explore the presentation of community in Beloved, analyze the two basic elements of constructing community harmony—racial memories and mutual love, and finally reveal the positive effect of community harmony on black individual development. This thesis consists of five parts.Chapter One is a general introduction to this thesis. It includes a brief introduction to Toni Morrison, her novel Beloved, literature review, and the framework of the thesis.Chapter Two is to analyze the presentation of community in Beloved. The term"community"may refer to a group in a certain geographical area. It also refers to a suppositional collective. Through analysis, community in Beloved is not only black people's dwelling place, but also their spiritual home. Chapter Three is to explore the ground and base of constructing the harmonious community: racial memories and mutual love. In the novel,"the Middle Passage", the marks on the slaves'bodies and the tree"Brother"are the cultural symbols that Morrison employs to convey black racial memories. Furthermore, in the two regions of the Ohio River and Cincinnati, mutual help and harmonious relationship between the black and white establish the base of black individual survival and development.Chapter Four analyzes the importance of black community harmony and black-white community harmony to black individual development respectively. In the harmonious black community and black-white community, Sethe, Paul D, Denver and other former slaves finally step out of the shadow of the past and begin to live confidently.The last chapter is the conclusion. The united and friendly community is the key factor that contributes much to the development of black individuals. Only in the harmonious community, can they begin a new life with confidence and courage."Community"in this novel is consequently endowed with abundant cultural connotation.