Trauma,Depravity And Redemption

Toni Morrison(1931-)is so far the first black woman writer who has ever won the Nobel Prize for literature.As a black woman writer,Morrison explores gender and racial conflicts,as well as the impact of racism and slavery on black women's personality and dignity.The novel A Mercy shows readers what life all kinds of people live in the institution of slavery.Slavery institution,white-dominated culture,and patriarchy,are all social reasons for the female tragic destinies.Unlike her previous novels,Morrison makes a breakthrough and pays her attention to females of various races in A Mercy.The major women characters in this novel,such as Florens,Florens' mother,Lina,Sorrow,and Rebekka,all suffer some kind of trauma for various reasons,and they all try to seek their own redemption,ending up in success or failure.There are a large number of academic studies on Toni Morrison's works,but there is still room for further study.According to Michel Foucault's power theory,the colored characters in A Mercy are subjects that the slave owners create,discipline and shape with power and knowledge.Slavery as a kind of class exploitation system,its formation process is also the process of the operation of social power,with human beings being converted into materials.Existing as the antithesis of whites,colored people are gradually converted into tools,in other words,they are converted into slaves,like the black girl Florens and her mother,the Indian woman Lina,and Sorrow,a mixed-blood girl,working for the whites who have got discourse power.To whites,the operation of social power during the formation of slavery system is also the process of the distortion of human nature,like Vaark Jacob,who,while pursuing wealth,gradually gives up his original social values,indirectly gets involved in the evil trade of slaves,and in the end dies of an infectious disease;and his wife Rebekka,who gradually gives up her sisterly friendship with the female slaves because of the social concept of racism intensifying in her mind with the formation of slavery system,and becomes a slave owner in its true sense.This thesis is mainly divided into five parts.Chapter One is introduction to Toni Morrison and her novel A Mercy,introduction to Foucault's power theory and the literature review of A Mercy.Chapter Two is to explore the social causes of the female tragic destinies,namely the slavery institution,white-dominated culture,and patriarchal society.Chapter Three analyzes the trauma the females suffer,and their depravity.Chapter Four analyzes the women's spirit redemption,and explores the reasons for their redemption.The last part is conclusion for the thesis.Slavery not only hurts people physically and spiritually,but is also a wound in American society and history.Morrison arouses public attention to slavery once again.