| Beloved is a microcosm of the African American slaves’ life under the rule of colonization and slavery in 1800 s in Kentucky and Ohio.This paper disrupts and reorganizes Beloved from the perspective of close reading and contrastive theoretical research,and tests the applicability of the criticism of Beloved and post-colonial literary criticism in the process,which is helpful to sort out and reproduce the experience and changing process of the African American individuals and groups in the novel.The introduction part mainly introduces Toni Morrison and her works,collates and analyzes the relevant research status at home and abroad,analyzes the research results and deficiencies,introduces the post-colonial theoretical framework,and expounds the main content structure and significance of this study.Chapter One: Colonial Traumas---This part is based on the theoretical framework of post-colonialism,the text is disrupted and reorganized at different levels,collating and reproducing the irreparable wounds of ethnic minority individuals and groups from the three levels of family,body and memory.Family fragmentation mainly comes from the family separation of Sethe’s mother,Sethe and grandmother Baby Suggs.The aspect of physical disability mainly starts from the dehumanized treatment suffered by Baby Suggs,Sethe and other African American slaves and the separation of physical and mental integrity caused by the sale of the body by “Saturday Girls”.Memory is analyzed from the aspects of memory loss and selective amnesia of Sethe,Denver,Baby Suggs and Paul D.Chapter Two: Reconstruction under the Rupture---This part highlights the process of reconstruction of ethnic minority individuals and groups after fragmentation and trauma,as well as personal healing and racial revitalization.It is divided into two parts.The first part: the fragmentation and reconstruction of self-worth under colonial rule,including the self-worth of Baby Suggs and Denver.The second part: the fragmentation and reconstruction of social relations under slavery,including the social relations of the African American women and that of African American Community.Through the analysis of the relationship between characters,the relationship between characters and communities,the social relations between African American slave groups and the whites,and the social relations between pro-slavery colonists,landlords and abolitionist supporters,to explore the possibility of African American slave groups integrating into society and becoming subjects.Chapter Three: Integration into Society as a Subject---This part focuses on the process of resistance and changing process of ethnic minority individuals and groups,and analyzing Morrison’s content arrangement and decolonization creation intention.It is divided into two parts.Part one: Fights for decolonization.The second part:Integration of Alienated Groups into Society.By analyzing the bloody struggle of Sethe and Sixo against slavery and their tragic fate as well as Denver as the third generation of African American women to seek change and actively seek help,integrate into the society,so as to explore Morrison’s decolonization intentions and expectations.Following conclusions are drawn:Because Beloved is re-edited based on real events,it is feasible to analyze the colonial trauma suffered by the characters from the perspective of post-colonialism.It is accurate to combine the colonial background and historical events at that time with the text of Beloved so as to read and analyze the literary text,it can accurately locate and highlight the colonial trauma suffered by the protagonists in the text,which is of practical significance.Sorting out the tragic experiences of the protagonists when they were taken as slaves during the colonial period will help to analyze the text and enable readers to understand more clearly and intuitively the incurable wounds of African American slaves during the colonial period.At the same time,it will increase the applicability and practicability of postcolonial theory and text analysis.The healing process of the protagonists in Beloved from the awakening thoughts of resistance consciousness to struggle and self-healing,as well as the successful resistance and reintegration into society matches the process of decolonization.The reconstruction of self-worth and meaning in colonial trauma and their reintegration into society as a subject of the protagonists in Beloved illustrates the possibility and practicality of post-colonialism and decolonization.At the same time,it increases the adaptability of postcolonial theory in literary analysis.Many of Toni Morrison’s works show the evolution of social status of African Americans in the past hundred years with exquisite techniques,simple and deep compassion and strong national cultural consciousness.This process of change not only exists in the circumstances of individual African Americans or literary characters in the novel,but also represents the struggle process of the African-American race moving towards freedom as a whole.By recreating the process of African American slaves resisting slavery,Morrison presents the process of slaves’ resistance to slavery as well as expresses the possibility and inevitability of de-colonization and removal of subalternity placed on African Americans;She also shows her intention of hoping the black community to face up to the history of colonization and slavery,accepting the trauma they are suffering,and to have the courage to fight against their fate,moving towards self-healing and having new expectations of the future. |
