Blacks’ Self-emancipation

The1993Nobel literature prize winner Toni Morrison in her early period ofliterary career mainly focused on the racial problems. In her works, we can see theaftermaths caused by the whites’ inhumane oppression on the blacks. Using herunique insight, Morrison paid especial attention to black women who are underdouble oppression in the patriarchal society. Her fifth novel, Beloved, which wasawarded the Pulitzer Prize in1988, had attracted a great deal of attention of themainstream critics both at home and abroad. They have interpreted it from Marxistcriticism, narratology, feminist approach, psychoanalytic perspectives and so on. Thetragic life experiences of Sethe and other blacks not only denounce the evil slaveryand its disastrous influences on the blacks but also express Morrison’s deepsympathy for the blacks.With the help of the theory of post-colonialism, the present thesis aims atdiscovering how the whites establish hegemonic power that causes great harm to theblacks, while there exists effective ways for the blacks to improve themselves tofulfill real emancipation. The first part deals with the oriental gaze and the whites’hegemony on the blacks and under their persecution the blacks’ loss of identity. Inthe second part, the author of this thesis indicates the unfortunate experiences of theblacks in the light of the postcolonial approach by considering symbols in Beloved.The postcolonial interpretations of the symbols show us the blacks’ resistantconsciousness in their inner hearts and their yearning of self-quest. The third partmainly elucidates the effective ways—brave confrontation of the traumatic past,preservation and development of the native heritage and the union of the communityand the whole nations—by which the blacks fulfill the real emancipation.