Sula: A Text Of Signifyin(g)

Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993for her tremendous contributions in literary field. As the first AfricanAmerican woman writer to be so honored, Morrison has not onlyembraced her heritage of Western literary tradition, but alsoacknowledged her creative debt to her experience as a black female.Morrison spares no efforts to illuminate and authenticate thedistinctiveness of Black literature with her unique artistic style, which hasenriched our appreciation of her absorbing works. Her works have brokena new ground during a critical time for black writers, particularly forblack women writers, and appealed not only to scholars but to the generalpublic.Morrison's double cultural traditions are evident in her second novel,Sula. This novel, published in 1973, immediately has marked her as asuperb portrayer of the kaleidoscopic realities in American culture andsociety, and clearly established her as a significant literary voice inAmerica.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate in Sula how MorrisonSignifies on the Western tradition and the Black tradition. By adoptingHenry Louis Gates, Jr.'s Signifyin(g) Theory, the thesis attempts to demonstrate a strong sense of Morrison's Signifyin(g) consciousness inSula through revising the Western canonical images and repeating thethemes in Black literary tradition. After intertextual reading, this thesisfinds that Sula is a text of repetition and revision.This thesis is divided into three chapters.Chapter 1 briefly introduces the Signifyin(g) Theory. From thisperspective, the author intends to interpret Sula as a text of Signifyin(g).In Chapter 2, the author presents in detail how Morrison appliesSignifyin(g) as a trope of rhetorical strategy to her novel throughrepeating and revising the Western canonical images of scapegoat andsuicide in the context of African American literature. Chapter 3 goes on todiscuss how Sula, as a text of repetition and revision, is Siginfyin(g) onthe water spirit in African tradition and the themes of female experienceand female friendship in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Finally theresearch ends with the conclusion that Sula, filled with elementspossessing characteristics of Signifyin(g), can be interpreted as a text ofSignifyin(g).