The Redemption Of Love—An Analysis Of Love From The Perspective Of Archetypal Criticism

Love,the second work of Toni Morrison after her receiving of Nobel Prize,is a stream-of-consciousness novel.The setting is in the eastern coast of America in 1950.It narrates that under the influence of the male protagonist Cosey,some black women lose their families,friends,lovers and ego after experiencing a series of quarrels and finally they return to love.As one of the members of black females,Morrison concerns more about the suffering of black people especially the black females living under the oppression of both race and males.Therefore,the black’s life,especially the plight of black women is revealed in her novel,which provides study materials for professors in the field.However,literature reviews on Love at home and abroad indicate that scholars pay much attention to feminism,theme,narrative theory and bible archetype and that few of them study it from the perspective of archetypal criticism.Based on the above understanding,this thesis analyzes the deficient love of black females in Love,and works out solutions to the social problem by exploring reasons leading to the plight.The thesis firstly reviews for the previous researches on Toni Morrison and Love and proposes the topic of this thesis,then gives an introduction of archetypal criticism,including the main content and developing processes,hence to provide a solid theoretical foundation for the study.Based on the theory,this thesis expounds the deficient love in families,friends,lovers and women themselves and interprets that it is the patriarchy that leads to the tragedy of black females.It firstly explores the representations of love deficiency in terms of kinship,love affection,friendship and ego.The deserted motif reveals their deficient love in relatives;The incest motif reflects the deficient love in lovers;The revenge motif shows the deficient love in friends and the quest motif reflects the deficient love in female themselves.Then it analyzes how patriarchy leads to the deficient love and at last the strategies for black females to get out of plight are revealed through the archetypes of character “L” — Prometheus and Demeter.The analysis manifests that the patriarchy is the root leading to the love deficiency of black females.Although the black launch the Civil Rights Movement to change their tragic status,it has little impact on black females.Instead,it is love that helps them go out of the plight.To conclude,this thesis analyzes the deficient love in Love from the perspective of archetypal criticism,explores the causes of the deficient state and solutions of redemption.It is expected to offer a new perspective to study Love and then provide a better understanding of black community and black females.Meanwhile,through the analysis of Love from archetypal criticism,the application of Frye’s archetypal criticism could be broadened in the literature study.