Blackness in the novels of Toni Morrison

Abstract

This study sets out to explore the distinctive features of Toni Morrison's writings. It employs a socio stylistic theoretical framework which allows us to view Morrison sociological material from a stylistic perspective as well. This theory conflates the central aspects of the African-American literary theory and feminists literary theory in order to explore the various perspectives and writing traditions which come together in Toni morrisons works to create distinctive style. The thesis begins by Looking at the general background to the work of Toni Morrison and the context in which depiction places the experiences of the black person in irrelevant context in which the past and the present serve to outline a future for the often uprooted black individual in America. In this respect , her choice of situation is totally African-American three, we explore this experience further to look specifically a t the African-American woman. We use the text of beloved to conceptualize that the African- American female experience encapsulates yet moves beyond the experiences of white and black males as well as white women. In Morrison's view the black woman's experiences should be seen as something beyond and different from all these experiences because black women experience life in America both as black people and as women - an experience which is unique in America and which has provided its own unique representation in African-American literature. To Morrison, the Black woman's experience is all this and more if one goes beyond the depiction of stereotypes. In chapter 4, we define 'blackness' as an art form and demonstrate this by examining the language used in the text of $qJ,9~" We show the 1ink that Morrison draws between language and the values of a people by identifying varieties of language use in the text of Sula and examining their sociological implications for Morrison's vision. Finally, in the concluding chapter we comment on Morrison's contribution to African-American Literature as viewed through her vision and perspective of the black experience and the language.