Pursuits Of Blacks For A Harmonious Family In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Jazz And Paradise

Beloved, Jazz, and Paradise are referred to as Toni Morrison’s historical trilogy, which describes the hard life of Afro-Americans in the past hundred years. Moreover, they reflect Morrison’s lasting focus on black family, community and appeal for love and reconciliation.This paper mainly explores the problems of black families and communities through analysis of Morrison’s trilogy, trying to reveal the theme that a harmonious family is the persistent pursuit of those Afro-Americans in spite of great difficulties. After a brief introduction to Morrison, her literary achievements and the relative theories to be used in the paper, the thesis mainly deals with the dilemmas faced by black families in three historical phases through analyzing the three works one after another. Through analysis and comparison, the thesis draws the conclusion that whatever hardships the blacks encountered, a harmonious family has always been their enduring pursuit; and a black community is like a big family for blacks in the white dominated America, therefore, harmony is also its pursuit. There can be many factors leading to this result, like slavery, dislocation and self-isolation. Moreover, the author’s positive family influence is another very important reason. It is hoped that this paper can offer some inspirations for contemporary Afro-Americans, even for other races in the modern world where harmony has become the main melody.