A Study Of Tony Morrison's Novels From The Perspective Of Archetype Criticism

Toni Morrison is a bright star in the history of African American literature.She constructed a magnificent and mysterious African-American literary world by her fantastic imagination and symbolic writing.It presents the situation that African-American were oppressed and enslaved,there is no room for their conversion in the oppressed body and soul.In her works,there are a large number of Biblical archetypes and ancient Greek mythological archetypes.Through the adoption of Frye's archetypal criticism,this thesis takes a macro view of Toni Morrison's four major novels:Beloved,Solomon's Song,Sula,and The Bluest Eye,and takes text attentively reading to discover the prototypes of characters,prototypes of images and prototypes of motifs,which can find the deep value behind Toni Morrison's novels by using these prototypes.The first chapter begins with the prototype characters,analyzes and interprets the characters from the Medea archetypes and Odysseus archetypes in ancient Greek mythology and the scapegoat archetypes and Jesus archetypes from the Bible.In the second chapter,from the perspective of archetype imagery,the natural images represented by water,fire,and tree and the personified images represented by blue eyes?flying people and flying?name metaphors are respectively taken to explain the deep meaning behind these archetype images.The third chapter discusses the archetypal motifs in Toni Morrison's novels,including maternal love and violent juxtaposition,resentment and revenge,death and reincarnation.Behind these motifs,the African American' living dilemma and Mental suffering can be presented.The fourth chapter explores Toni Morrison's archetype and its deep value.Through the use and replacement of many archetypes,Morrison's novels can learn from the traditional nutrition of European classical culture and return to African black culture.In addition to criticizing the realities of African Americans,they also sought to save the spiritual power of African American.In the perspective of archetypal criticism,Toni Morrison's novel presents the non-human living space,the internal division of the contradiction,and the enormous soul trauma brought by the identity loss of African Americans under racial discrimination and oppression.The reproduction and reconstruction of many prototypes in Morrison's novels lead people into the tradition,especially awakening and reshaping the collective memory of African Americans on the ancient history and cultural traditions of Africa.She used her works to remind black people not to cut off their flesh-and-blood connection with African culture.Only by sticking to a clear value judgment,protecting the cultural roots of their own people,and daring to chant and sing for their own people under any circumstances can they really achieve self-salvation?gain independence of soul and spiritual development.