Getting Out Of The Other Status

Toni Morrison is the first one who won the Nobel Prize for Literature among contemporary black women writers in the United States. Love published in2003, extends her subject of love and expresses her new interpretation of love. The family story placed into a grand historical background, Morrison deflected her attention from white racism on black victims to gender oppression within black communities, indicating the tragedy of black women is rooted in the internal gender oppression.This thesis attempts to use the black feminist criticism and Simon de Beauvoir’s theory of the Other to explore the formation of the Other status and the way out for black women to get out of the Other status. As a branch of feminist criticism, black feminist criticism arose in the United States in the1970s. Black feminist critics study the works of black female writers from a feminist or political perspective. Therefore, examining Love with black feminist criticism is consistent with the theme of black feminist criticism. Another theory is Simon de Beauvoir’s theory of the Other. The Other mentioned in The Second Sex refers to females, the One to males. There exists a relationship of domination and subordination, the essential and the inessential, the subject and the object, the One and the Other between males and females. And the gender oppression is emphasized in Love, so it is practical to study Love with Simon de Beauvoir’s theory of the Other.This thesis is divided into five chapters:The first chapter introduces Tony Morrison’s life and works; makes a brief introduction to Love; and gives an account of the literary theories adopted by the author, including feminist criticism, black feminist criticism and Simon de Beauvoir’ s theory of the Other.The second chapter analyzes the formation of the Other status by describing the suffering of May, Heed, and Christine. In patriarchal society, men hold a dominant position, whereas women inevitably become the Other.The third chapter examines the awakening of the Other. In the end of the novel, years of resentment is resolved between Heed and Christine, and their last dialogue shows their female consciousness has awakened. Junior is a new black woman with rebellious spirit. The absence of father makes her not deeply poisoned by patriarchy. In the process of growing up, her female consciousness is gradually awakening.The fourth chapter investigates getting out of the Other status. Junior gets rid of the patriarchal ideology, achieves completely economic independence, and acquires a dominant position in love with Romen, finally getting out of the Other status. Cook L, a wiser, with the independent subjectivity and deep insight into life, defuses the hatred between black women in her own way.The final chapter is the conclusion of the thesis. By demonstrating black feminists’views of Morrison on Love, the thesis goes further step to prove patriarchy is the root of black women oppression; black women must work together to get rid of patriarchal ideology, achieve economic independence and eventually establish a harmonious society where women can enjoy a complete equality with men.