Study On The Identity Construction Of The Female Black In Morrison’s Beloved From The Perspective Of Bhabha’s Post-colonialism

The thesis is based on the theory of post-colonialism by Homi K. Bhabha. By applying hybridity, unhomeliness, third space theory, and together with Stuart Hall’s view on cultural identity, the thesis analyses the Otherness and awakening process of the female black in the novel, and how they reclaim their subjectivity and construct their identity unyieldingly. Since the World War Ⅱ, the question of identity develops into one of the central interests in contemporary literatures, and gradually becomes the hottest topic in post-colonialism. The recollection of colonialism, multiculturalism, hybridity and the Othering often lead to the colonized’s quest for their cultural identity. It is also a permanent theme of Toni Morrison’s works.The thesis analyses the awakening of the black and the identity construction of the female black which are exemplified by Sethe and Denver. In analysis, the thesis illustrates the repressed memory that is the othering process of the black during slavery period which both white and black deliberately expect to leave behind. It is this repression and separation from the painful memory that leads to a fragmentation of the self and a process of otherness.The thesis first introduces the research background, the organization, the significance of an interpretation of Beloved from the perspective of post-colonialism and the object of the thesis. Then it presents the critical reviews on Beloved from different angles at home and abroad, particularly from the perspective of post-colonialism. Besides, it provides a brief reference to the cultural identity theory proposed by Stuart Hall and the post-colonial studies of contemporary time by Homi K. Bhabha. The principal part of the thesis is devoted to the analysis of the otherness process of the black during slavery period, the awareness of the protagonists’identity, and most importantly, the attempt to construct their identity as subject and reclaim their subjectivity. In the conclusion chapter, the paper reveals the significant roles played by love, either self-love or community love, by bravely confronting the painful unspeakable history haunts them and by the arrival of the Beloved in the formation of their identity.