Resistance To Marginality

As a spokesperson on Afro-American affairs, Toni Morrison has composed many works that demonstrate a unique cultural self-consciousness. Her novels are not only aesthetic artifacts but also the expression of her cultural poetics devised to create a space for black American culture within the dominant cultural discourse.Beloved, a masterpiece by Morrison, wins her the Nobel Prize for literature. By telling a story about the slaves’escape from the slavery and their journey to spiritual freedom, it documents the destruction and resilient survival of the Afro-American people-60million or more, according to Morrison’s approximation of how many died in the Middle Passage.From the perspective of postcolonialism, this thesis is an attempt of exploring the predicament of the African-Americans in trying to establish their own cultural identity. The causes of the dilemma of their cultural identity are also expounded, including colonialism, racial oppression and cultural hegemony implemented by the mainstream society. Through her novels, Morrison reveals that if African Americans intend bringing themselves out of the predicament and reconstructing their cultural identity, they must eliminate racialism, struggle for equal rights and freedom, dissolve the white’s cultural hegemony, renovate and spread the culture and the tradition of African Americans.This thesis consists of six parts. Introduction briefly introduces Morrison’s life and her literary works, accounts of the commentaries on Beloved at home and abroad. The purpose and structure of the thesis are contained in this part. The second chapter is the theoretical framework. Postcolonial theory and a key word are briefly summarized. Chapter Three discusses the nightmares of African-Americans, colonialism, racial discrimination, and cultural hegemony. Chapter Four specifically discusses the painful experiences of African-Americans in the novel. Based on the analysis in chapter four, the fifth chapter makes a detailed analysis that how the black people in the novel pursue and construct themselves. The last chapter is a conclusion and summarization of this thesis. Toni Morrison realized that it is necessary to develop black culture for holding it’s ground if black nations want to rebuild themselves. Only by combining seeking for themselves with the development of themselves in modern society can blacks master their future.