Survival Of The Performer:The Performativity Of Bride’s Identity In God Help The Child

Toni Morrison(1931-2019)is one of the most significant novelists in the field of contemporary American literature.She was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in1993 and became the first African American female author who had won the Nobel Prize.God Help the Child published in 2015 is set in post-racial era,which depicts African American female Bride who lives a seemingly successful life as a black female through identity performativity in the fields of race,gender and class.In the so-called post-racial society,United States claims they have realized color blindness,but actually Americans just strengthen the stereotyped blackness and even consume blackness.This thesis uses Judith Butler’s theory of identity performativity to analyze how Bride catered to the mainstream social values in the post-racial era of the United States,and achieved a secular success by performing her marginalized identity of race,gender and class.This thesis is mainly composed of three parts.The first part introduces Toni Morrison and her works,and literature review from domestic and foreign scholars on this novel.In addition,Judith Butler’s gender performativity theory is also included in this part.The second part is the main part,including three chapters.The first chapter analyzes the performativity of racial identity conducted by Bride in the white-oriented society.As a black,only if Bride highlights her blackness through the performativity of racial identity that meets the requirements of white people can she be accepted by the mainstream values.The second chapter analyzes the performativity of gender identity conducted by Bride in the patriarchal society.As a woman,only if Bride forms her gendered stylization through the performativity of female identity that meets the requirements of men can she be accepted by the patriarchal society.The third chapter analyzes the performativity of class identity conducted by Bride in the consumerist society.As a member of the lower class,only if Bride forms her class stylization through the performativity of class identity that meets the requirements of the middle class can she be accepted by the middle class.The third part is the conclusion.This thesis focuses on the performativity of identity of the protagonist in the post-racial society,and disclosed the persistence of racism in contemporary society.As an African-American woman,Bride undoubtedly achieved certain freedom and career success in the post-racial society through her identity performativity.However,the essence of identity performativity is to strengthen the mainstream values,and the marginalized African-American women cannot construct equal identity.The performativity of identity reveals that African American female in twenty-first century are still in a weak position and expresses the hope that African American female should build their self-identity instead of imitating and following mainstream value blindly.