Exploration Of The Diasporas' Writing In Toni Morrison's Home

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison ranks among the most highly regarded and widely read fiction writers and cultural critics in the history of American literature. As the novelist, editor, essayist and playwright, Morrison enjoys such high regard both in her country and internationally that she is often compared with the best-known writers in the world, such as James Joyce, Thomas Hardy and William Faulkner. From her first novel The Bluest Eyes(1970) to the latest one God Help the Child(2015), Morrison has written eleven novels which reveal the miserable life of black people and narrate the long history in which they fight against the physical and spiritual abuse brought by the white society.In her tenth novel Home(2012), Morrison also concerns about African Americans' destiny and expresses her sympathy for their suffering. Furthermore, she delves deeply into the ways to help them, believing that they can end the state of being exiles and reconstruct their identities by returning home. Just like her precious works, she tries to relate different events which refer past and future by using the stream consciousness and re-remembering the past events. This novel has the important significance of uprooting and homecoming.Morrison directly names this novel Home, indicating two basic questions which closely concern with African Americans: where he\she lives and where he\she belongs to. Those questions are in accord with the subjects which diaspora literature mainly concentrates on. Diaspora and diasporic studies have already attached much importance to academia under the background of globalization. Edward Said, Stuart Hall and Homi Bhabha are famous post-colonial critics and typical diasporic intellectuals, whose exilic experiences provide them with the foundation to develop their theories. Based on their theories of diaspora and exiles, this thesis focuses on the plights and sufferings of the protagonists, caused by the vagrant life in the novel Home, probing into the possibility of finding their own “home” in the segregated society.This thesis consists of mainly three parts. The first one is the introduction, and the main body is comprised of three chapters, while the last part is the conclusion.The introduction part briefly introduces Toni Morrison and Home, the literature review at home and abroad and the framework of the thesis.The first chapter introduces the origin and development of diaspora, especially the formation and characteristics of African diaspora. Then the theories about diaspora which are expounded by the main theorists Edward Said, Stuart Hall and Homi Bhabha are discussed in detail.The second chapter analyzes the dilemmas of the two protagonists brought by the diaspora at full length. Frank Money and Cee Money wander about in America where they were born and grew up but the white people are always cruel and indifferent to them after they are forced to leave their home. They both try their best to develop their conditions and change their fates outside their hometown, but due to the African diaspora, they are doomed to be refused and hurt badly by the segregated society.The third chapter mainly explores the long journey of Frank and Cee's return from the state of exile. And the most important issues--whether they really find the eventual belonging and how to conquer the problems in the future, are discussed at full length. Frank and Cee who have been badly hurt in the outside world finally find that only their community--Lotus can offer them a safe and warm shelter and provide them with the chance to rebuild their identities. They also gain the confidence and courage to confront with unknown obstacles in the future with the help of their fellow people.Based on the above analysis, the conclusion summarizes the thesis by pointing out that African diaspora are able to find their final return by coming back to their own communities where they can end the state of being exiles and construct their hybrid cultural identities through a long and hard journey. This novel reflects Morrison's deep concern for black people's living condition and their future life in the dark and segregated society.