An Analysis Of Cubist Painting Techniques In Toni Morrison's Beloved

Toni Morrison is one of the greatest authors in contemporary American literature.Her wining the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 makes her the first African American writer to get the honor.Since Beloved was first published in 1987,it has aroused great reverberation in American literature and has been considered as a milestone in the history of American literature.The novel,taking the post Civil War America as historical background and resorting to excellent writing techniques,reveals a bloody history of the blacks under the oppression of slavery.The fundamental principles of Cubism,represented by Picasso and Braque,include decomposition and reconstruction.The former is mainly achieved through multiple perspectives and fragmentation,while the latter is realized through juxtaposition and collage.These painting techniques are in consonance with Beloved‘s writing techniques,such as,non-linear narration,fragmentation,collage,juxtaposition.On the base of Cubism,this paper is attempting to analyze the writing techniques in the novel.This thesis is divided into five chapters.Chapter one mainly gives a brief introduction to Toni Morrison and her works,as well as the literature review at home and abroad.A brief introduction to Cubism and significance of the thesis are also given in this part.The second chapter mainly analyses the use of geometries and colors in Beloved according to the techniques of Proto-Cubism which pursues geometric elements and prefers gray-white tones.Through analyzing geometries in the portrayal of characters and environment as well as the colors of the characters‘ food,clothes and living environment,this part reveals that the persecution of slavery causes the black‘s spiritual traumas.In the third chapter,the techniques of Analytical Cubism in Beloved are fully analyzed: fragmentation and multiple perspectives.The fragments of identity,body and memory reflect the double trauma of the black‘s body and spirit.Meanwhile,the multi-perspective narrative comprehensively and objectively presents the real aspects of slavery life.Chapter four mainly focuses on the techniques of Synthetic Cubism including collage and juxtaposition.Through the juxtaposition of narrative clues,symbolic images,as well as time and space,Morrison has made the fragmented plots in order.Moreover,the collage of literary forms,text and language have enriched the expression forms of the novel,also improved the readability of it.These techniques have made the black‘s tragedy in the novel more lively and moving.Chapter Five is the conclusion part,which makes a comprehensive summary of this topic and draws a natural conclusion about Morrison‘s perfect fusion of literature and art.