The Aesthetic Presentation And Removal Of Black Women’s Trauma In Toni Morrison’s Novels

Toni Morrison’s novels have long been critically acclaimed for the lyricism, power andresonance of their stories. Her novels contain elements of the theory of beauty, a theory whichincludes rather than excludes black women’s trauma. Trauma and aesthetic, while seeminglycontradictory, come to become fused and intertwined in her novels. There is, indeed, a powerfuland creative energy unleashed when Morrison tries to present trauma which ultimatelychallenges traditional literary conventions and introduces aesthetic innovations. As the verynature of traumatic memory produces the challenges, few writers and artists can make it to depictthe traumatic experience aesthetically. With her successful aesthetic presentation of theunspeakable, speechless trauma of black women, Morrison becomes one of the limited.The thesis attempts to employ a fresh perspective to appreciate the power of Morrison’s writingand probe deeply into the complex and latent aesthetic elements related to trauma in her novels,aiming at seeking for the positive solutions to remove the trauma of black women. At first, itintroduces Morrison’s life experience and literary achievements in relation to aesthetics andtrauma to confirm the title. Then, it further explores the aesthetic value of her novels with an eyeto their political value. Listed creatively in the thesis are the latent aesthetic elements in herpresentation of black women characters. Many an example is drawn respectively fromMorrison’s novels and discussed in detail. Next, the trauma of black women is examined on thebasis of the prior aesthetic examples. Finally, by analyzing the aesthetics-related trauma, someaesthetic removal methods of black women’s trauma are unfolded in order to reproduceMorrison’s original intention of writing.The author makes a bold attempt to appreciate Toni Morrison’s novels written in a uniqueperspective by challenging traditional aesthetics in the thesis. Hopefully, it will make a goodsupplement to the insufficient Chinese aesthetic criticism on Toni Morrison’s works and willintensify the understanding of black women’s trauma and sufferings, and call for more attention to help black women out of their traumatic situation.