On The Construction Of The Black Community In Toni Morrison’s Novels

Toni Morrison(1931-2019),African American,is an eminent woman writer who has wrtitten11 novels and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.Owing to her ethnic identity and various life experiences,Morrison’s works mainly shed light on the blacks’ historical fate and living situation,such as Sula(1973),Paradise(1998)and Home(2012).These three novels written in Morrison’s early,middle and later writing stages.At present,scholars mainly delve into these three novels from the perspectives of narratology,feminism,identity,trauma and space.Several scholars study the topics of the community in a novel.Yet,few scholars select Morrison’s novels of different stages to probe into the black community systematically.After intensive reading of these three novels,the author finds that the black community shown in these three novels reflects a construction process which is from the absence of black community in the early stage to the quest in the middle stage,and the construction in the later stage.To be specific,a disharmonious black community is shown in the early work Sula,a traditional and isolated black community is presented in the medium-term work Paradise and an ideal black community is shown in the later work Home,which reveal Morrison’s progressive thinking on the construction of black community.Accordingly,this paper takes Bauman and Tonni(?)s’ s opinions of“community” as the basic theory to discuss this topic from three chapters.The first chapter analyzes the loss of a united black community in Sula from two aspects: the broken interpersonal relationships and loss of communal values.The broken interpersonal relationships can be analyzed from the lost friendship,disharmonious kinship,and estranged neighborhood,while the loss of communal values is reflected in the townspeople’s lack of tolerance and cooperation.The second chapter illustrates the blacks’ quest for a conventional black community in Paradise from the political aspect and cultural aspect.On the political side,the leaders of Ruby strengthen the hegemony of the Morgan family and weaken the threat of women by consolidating the patriarchal system.On the cultural side,leaders protect the Oven and stick to the consanguineous marriage without any changes.They even show disrespect for Christianity.Finally,the leader’s ego and rigidness lead to the exclusion and isolation of the black town.The third chapter discusses the blacks construct an ideal black community in Home from the physical aspect and spiritual aspect.Physically,with the help of neighbours,Frank builds a warm house,and with the mutual efforts of the townspeople,the charming natural scenery is shown.Spiritually,with the assistance of neighbours,Frank and Cee not only heal their traumas but also accept the traditional culture,and finally,they gain a sense of identity and belonging.Ultimately,this paper concludes that Morrison delineates the black community in Sula,Paradise and Home,which reflects the black residents’ process of constructing an ideal black community.The academic value of this paper lies in it starts from the construction of the black community to reveal Morrison’s progressive thinking on the black community,which has barely been discussed at home and abroad.Meanwhile,this thesis has its realistic significance as it responds to the global calling for the construction of a Community of Shared Future for Mankind,which can arouse people’s thinking on the construction of a harmonious community.