An Analysis Of The Black Mother Image In Terry Mcmillan’s Work Mama

African American Women’s literature is an important part of African American literature. Its history can be initially traced back to more than 200 years ago. During its history, a number of outstanding black female writers appeared. They have enriched African American Women’s literature and laid the tradition for it with their keen insight, deep thought and excellent writing skills. Terry Mc Millan is an African American female writer who showed up in American literary circles in 1990 s. Her works inherit from the predecessors, and develop in accordance with the characteristics of the times and her personal experiences.With Mama as the object of study, the thesis analyses the black mother image Mildred Peacock, reveals the evolution from the traditions of black mother images in African American Women’s literature, and digs into the causes that bring about the characteristic changes.The thesis is made up of five parts: introduction, three main chapters and conclusion.The introduction part briefly presents Terry Mc Millan’s life experiences and her works. It also introduces various theories of motherhood developed over time as the thesis’ s theoretical basis. A literature review of Mama is given as well.Chapter One presents the traditional black mother images in African American Women’s Literature, and the evolution of African American mother images in works of previous African American female writers.Chapter Two analyses Mildred Peacock as a contemporary African American mother image, including the traditional and new characteristics embodied in her, in comparison to the traditional black mother images summarized in Chapter One.Chapter Three discusses the possible causes of these changes and developments. The author’s personal experiences, changes of literary and social context are regarded as possible reasons.By analyzing the black mother image of Terry Mc Millan’s Mama, the author concludes that, when portraying the character Mildred Peacock, Mc Millan not only inherits the traditional characteristics of black mother images, but also endows her with many new characteristics. This evolution is caused by the changes of literary and social context, as well as author’s personal experiences.Created in a different time, the living situation and problems of black women have changed substantially. The African American female writers of the new era should grasp the pulse of the era and create works with the features of the era on the basis of understanding African American history and absorbing the essence of their predecessors.