A Song Of Black Women

Toni Morrison, one of America's most outstanding writers of the 20th century, is the first Afro-American woman writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. As an American Black woman writer, Toni Morrison always devotes herself to the writing of Black women. Song of Solomon, as her representative discusses the living conditions of African-American women under the main stream of the White culture.This thesis focuses on the fate of Black women in the story of Song of Solomon, based on Collin's theory about Black feminist themes, namely challenging the stereotypes of Black women in White's Literature and revealing the Black women's spiritual persecution by "internalized racism". It makes a detailed analysis of the suffering and the struggles of the Black female characters, and explores a way for them, revealing the themes of Black feminism in the novelThis thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter begins with an introduction of Toni Morrison and her works, proceeds with a survey of the critical responses to Song of Solomon, and reveal the significance of the thesis. The second chapter discusses the theoretical perspectives, introducing Black feminist literary criticism, the process of its development, and the reprehensive critics'thoughts with the stress on Collins's theory about Black feminist themes. The third chapter is based on the theme of challenging the stereotypes of Black women in White's literature.It presents a detailed analysis of the ideal Black matriarch and the respectable Black servant to refute the distorted definitions of Black females in White's literary works, and illustrates the truth that only being rooted in the Black culture and inheriting their own culture can the Black women establish their authentic identities. The fourth chapter discusses the tragedy of a Black girl to highlight the Black women's spiritual persecution by "internalized racism", especially by internalized White standards of beauty, meanwhile the internal causes and external causes of the tragedy are given. Chapter five brings a brief look of the thesis. Song of Solomon is Morrison's only novel that has a male protagonist. As Morrison shows her concern about Black women's fate and reflects Black Feminist themes and Black Feminist thought in Song of Solomon, it is a song of Black women.