A Signifyin(g) Analysis Of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

Toni Morrison is one of the preeminent contemporary Afro-American novelists and has been awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize for literature. She is not only influenced by the western literary tradition, but also roots herself in the black experience. This thesis is based on the Henry Louis Gates's interpretive theory of Signifyin(g) to present a systematic analytical mode of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, which aims to offer a new way of reading and appreciating Morrison's works.According to Henry Louis Gates, Signifyin(g) manifests itself in Afro-American literature as explicit theme and rhetorical strategy mainly by Signifyin(g) on language and imagery within the text, and Signifyin(g) on text in between. Therefore, this thesis analyzes Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye correspondently from three chapters:The first chapter devotes to explore the novel's Signifyin(g) on language from four perspectives, namely, the mixture of Standard English and Black Vernacular, the echo of the Bible, Signifyin(g) way of naming, and the effect of political appeal as a further exploration.The second chapter focuses on Morrison's explicit Signifyin(g) on imagery both from western literary and cultural tradition, and Afro-American literary tradition to express her implicit understanding of American mainstream culture and of pains that Afro-American people suffer.The third chapter will provide intertextual evidence to show Morrison's Signifyin(g) on Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man by revising the theme of black Bildungsroman and inheriting the blues as narrative aesthetics.Based on the above analysis, the thesis reaches its conclusion that Toni Morrison applies Signifyin(g) as a mode of writing to ponder the problems of the Afro-American existence, and to quest for Afro-American personal and social freedom, literacy and wholeness.