An Analysis Of The Deconstructive Tendency In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Toni Morrison is the first African-American woman writer who wins the Nobel Prize. Morrison focuses the theme of her works on black woman, and aims to reveal the physical and mental damages brought to African Americans by racism and gender discrimination. Toni Morrison has become the spokes person of the black people for her devotion to the career of writing for African Americans. Morrison’s works are popular among readers, and her novels have attracted critics for its significant meaning as well as its intense appealing effects. This thesis tries to apply Derrida’s theory of deconstruction together with its relevant lingos and discusses the deconstructive tendency in Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye. Though published in the early1970s, the significance of the novel makes it still well worth researching.The writer finds that deconstructive ideas such as decentering and subversion of binary oppositions, which are promoted by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, appear a lot in The Bluest Eye. Consciously or not, it deconstructs the western ideology of white superiority. By the deconstructive reading strategy, say, decentering and subverting, the western metaphysical thinking is smashed and the notorious dichotomy dismantled.This thesis first introduces lingos of deconstruction that Jacques Derrida applies, such as decentering, binary oppositions, subversion, deconstruction and reconstruction, etc, and makes clear the procedure as well as the aim of deconstructive reading. Then, the lingos and theory are applied to analyzing Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye. Four pairs of binary oppositions:white/black, man/woman, the privileged white culture/the unprivileged black culture and good/evil are subverted. In this way, Toni Morrison fully presents the incredibility and harm of logocentrism. A conclusion is thus made that the text of The Bluest Eye has deconstructive tendency on the western ideology of logocentrism. The purpose of deconstruction is reconstructing, rather than destroying. Deconstruction provides the possibility for reconstruction, especially for the African-Americans to reestablish their own identity.