Study Of The Themes In Toni Morrison’s Paradise

Published in the year of1998, as her first novel after winning the Nobel Prize forliterature in1993, Toni Morrison’s Paradise enjoyed a high reputation. The novel isset in two separatist communities: Ruby, a small town in Oklahoma, and the Conventnear the small town. The novel centers on residents of Ruby and the women in theConvent.This paper mainly focuses on the themes in Paradise: historical theme, religioustheme and maternal love. Archetypal Criticism and New Historicism will beemployed in this paper. What makes her historical novels unorthodox is thatMorrison is more concerned about the voices from the bottom of America society.Paradise writes down people’s misery and tribulation. In Paradise, the8-rock blacksassert superiority over the light-skinned blacks. To Morrison, a perfect paradiseshould be inclusive, accessible to everyone. Morrison implies what her perfectparadise is like at the end of Paradise, that is, the reconciliation between blacks andwhites, men and women. Religion is another significant theme in Paradise. Thecharacters and the title are coincident with that of the Bible’s. The Convent womenhave no public voice or power to determine how they are perceived in Ruby, they areeasily molded into a scapegoat. Consolata plays the role of a mother in Paradise. Sheprovides food, warmth, protection and safety for the women.