Oppression And Rebellion

Toni Morrison (1931-), as one of the most outstanding representatives ofAfrican-American female writers, has the highest reputation. Since1970, she haspublished nine novels which contributed to her position in the literary world andpromoted the African-American female literature to an unprecedented new height. In1988, her most famous novel Beloved was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, andin1993when she was sixty-two years old Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literaturemainly because of Beloved. She is the first African-American writer and also a femalewriter that gets this honor. From then on, she has attracted more attention and beenpopular with people around the world.There are a large number of academic articles studying Toni Morrison’s works.Especially studying on Beloved has become a hot research spot. Researchers havedone nearly complete and deep studies, but there is still room to study. The articleswhich study Beloved from Foucault’s power theory don’t go deep enough, so thisthesis takes a further study from this aspect.This thesis is mainly divided into five parts, including Introduction, Chapter One,Chapter Two, Chapter Three and Conclusion. Introduction consists of introduction toToni Morrison and Beloved, introduction to Foucault’s power theory and literaturereview of Beloved. Chapter One mainly explores the oppression from the whites to theblacks. The author applies Foucault’s disciplinary techniques to analyze the whites’discipline on the blacks’ body and soul, and thus reveals the essence of the operationof capitalist power behind slavery. Chapter Two mainly explores the rebellion fromthe blacks to the whites. In this chapter, the author applies “taking care of yourself”principle of Foucault to analyze three types of rebellion. Chapter Three mainlyexplores Toni Morrison’s point of view on the black history. Toni Morrison is a writerwith strong historical sense and she has the similar view of history to Foucault. ToniMorrison wants the blacks to face their history straightly and she wants to rewrite themarginalized history of the blacks ignored by the mainstream history, for this is anindispensable procedure for the blacks to build their identities. The last part isConclusion. Foucault’s power theory reveals the oppression of the whites and therebellion of the blacks. The blacks seek for the revival of their nation step by stepfrom awakening to rebellion and then to the fusion with the whites.In this thesis the author analyzes Beloved by using Foucault’s power theory,reveals the essence of the operation of capitalist power behind slavery as well as theefforts the blacks made to fulfill freedom and the revival of their nation. The authorhopes to provide a new angle for readers to have a deeper and better understanding ofBeloved.