| Gloria Naylor is an important writer in the contemporary American literary world. For many scholars and readers of women's writings, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Gloria Naylor have come to represent a kind of"holy trinity"of African-American women's literature.1 In 1982, she published her first novel The Women of Brewster Place, which won the American Book Award for Best First Novel in 1983. During the next two decades, that is, from 1985 to 2005, she published five novels: Linden Hills (1985), Mama Day (1988), Bailey's Café(1992), The Men of Brewster Place (1998) and 1996 (2005).Linden Hills and Mama Day are chosen for detailed discussion in this thesis. The former focuses on the experiences of middle-class blacks, while the latter explores the power of love and magic, putting emphasis on life in an isolated island in the south of America. The two novels may seem totally different in narrative structure, characterization, etc., yet some connection between them can certainly be found if we pay attention to their themes. There is one theme that is coherent in these two novels—the theme of identity-seeking. This thesis analyzes in detail the issue of identity-seeking in these two novels, an identity crisis in Linden Hills and a possible solution in Mama Day, to be exact.This thesis is divided into four parts. Part One is the introduction, including a brief introduction to Gloria Naylor's life and her works, literature review and the basic structure of the thesis.Part Two focuses on the analysis of some typical characters in Linden Hills. Those characters, though different as far as their sex or social status is concerned, share one thing in common, that is, they lose themselves, either because of their oppressed position or in their pursuit of material success. This part analyzes them one by one, exhibiting their somewhat twisted lives and the different ways they have gone through their lives. Women and men are to be analyzed separately.Part Three brings characters in Mama Day into consideration. Different from characters in Linden Hills, the protagonists in Mama Day (Cocoa, George and Mama Day) get on well with each other and live comparatively happy lives. This part takes Cocoa and George as the focus of analysis, exploring how they help each other with their respective growth, what is lacking in George that leads to his death, and the elements that help Cocoa to survive.Part Four is the conclusion. Through the analysis of some major characters in these two novels, the thesis concludes that identity-seeking is one shared theme that connects the two novels. In Linden Hills, Naylor depicts the terrible lives of those people who have lost their souls; while in Mama Day, Naylor offers (directly or indirectly) a possible solution. It seems that to Naylor both harmonious male-female relationship and traditional black culture are important in the black's seeking of self-identity.
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