Toni Morrison’s Construction Of Black Female Madness In The Bluest Eye And Sula

Toni Morrison (1931-) is the only American black woman writer who has ever won the Nobel Prize of Literature. Her literary works depict the living condition of American female blacks vividly, like an epic of black women’s torture and dilemma. She blends her understanding and thinking of American female blacks with her magnificent writing skills, showing her humanistic concern for them, which impresses the readers.The past researches at home and abroad focused on her masterpieces such as Beloved and Song of Solomon. Researches generally take the approaches such as feminist, narrative method, gender study and so on. Some scholars give a comprehensive study of Morrison’s novels, but seldom do scholars study female madness in her works. Researches on the manifestations of female madness in her novels are rare. It’s generally acknowledged that Morrison has a keen observation of American black’s life. Her plots and language are vivid as well as her imagination is fertile. Morrison’s novels focus on the protection of black culture, the black’s self-realization and the restoration of black culture. This paper applies Foucault’s and Showalter’s theories on madness and elaborates The Bluest Eye and Sula as the texts. It aims to explore Morrison’s construction of black female’s madness, including the mention of madness in the texts, the author’s methods of construction and the sociological causes of madness. Through her effective construction of black female madness, Morrison successfully depicts the plight of black females. This paper is consisted of six parts. Chapter one is the introduction of Morrison and her achievements as well as literature review. Chapter two introduces the causes and history of madness. Madness is not only a medical condition, but also has its root in society, which suggests that it is constructed by the mainstream culture. Chapter three, four and five are the main parts, which elaborate the manifestations of madness in Morrison’s novels and her methods and causes to construct madness respectively. The manifestations of madness in her novels mainly appear as disturbance of perception, disorders of affection and delusion. Morrison applies magical realism to construct madness, while using deconstruction to negate appearance and affirm the reality. She contends that female madness is constructed by the mainstream social forces. Through the construction of madness, she shows her humanistic concern for black females and resists the attack on black culture from white culture. Chapter six is the conclusion part.Black women carry deep meanings in her novels. Through her impressive characters, the hard living condition of black females is shown to the public, which arouses the public concern.