On The Female Subjectivity In Toni Morrison’s A Mercy

Toni Morrison is the first African American who has won the Nobel Prize forliterature and takes a vital role in the literary world. In A Mercy published in2008,Morrison continually focuses her attention on the females’ living conditions. Thispaper takes the subjectivity thought as the main line and probes into the lack andreconstruction of subjectivity of females from different races and colors, disclosingthe nature of enslavement.Subjectivity, as a kind of mental activity, refers to an individual’s performancethrough which one affirms his/her ability, takes his/her own power as the subject andconsciously improves other abilities. The subjectivity of human beings will beweakened by the external elements; this paper analyzes different reasons that havecaused the lack of subjectivity: mother’s abandonment, erosion of white dominatedculture, split personality and oppression of patriarchal society. While male’senlightenment and sisterhood takes an important role in wakening females’ selfconsciousness. Re-memory, retracting to the native culture and claim of motherhoodare significant factors that have made women establish and reconstruct self. Onlythrough self possession and self control can one forge a sense of real self. There is nonecessary relationship between enslavement and color. While the real reason behindenslavement is the degeneration of inner heart, the withering inside made them loseself and willingly to be enslaved. Only through self possession can one be his ownmaster and master of his own destiny.