Transgression and reprisal in Toni Morrison's fiction: Breaking the codes of race and gender as a way to autonomy.
Item
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Title
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Transgression and reprisal in Toni Morrison's fiction: Breaking the codes of race and gender as a way to autonomy.
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Identifier
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AAI9830721
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identifier
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9830721
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Creator
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Hendrick, Veronica Catherine.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Neal Tolchin
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Date
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1998
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, American | Women's Studies | Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies | Black Studies
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Abstract
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In my reading of Toni Morrison's novels I focus upon instances of transgression and the ensuing reprisal suffered by characters searching for autonomy. In creating a frame with which to analyze characters who rupture cultural codes, I have divided my investigation into two areas of thematic significance: images of race and gender. Utilizing feminist criticism, theories of psychoanalytical development, research in social and cultural thought, as well as historical evidence, I provide a close reading of Morrison's first five novels to explore the definitions of race, femininity, and masculinity. It is my belief that Morrison's characters strive to break from the restrictive nature of such labels in order to attain a more developed, autonomous self.;Since Morrison's novels represent America in its many imperfect states, her characters are also imperfect, and their offenses are sometimes evilly motivated or, worse, performed unconsciously. These characters elicit severe, often deadly, retribution for rupturing cultural codes of behavior and sometimes gain none of the benefits of self-development. I, however, concentrate upon the acts that are not mindless moments of rage or selfishness, but are instead moves toward greater self-awareness and control. Characters who fight known expectations obtain a degree of personal self-sufficiency. Significantly, the most serious moments of transgression yield equally profound reprisals in the forms of isolation, madness, conscription into a mystical/magical world, or death.;Ultimately, what I hope to prove is that for Morrison's characters, despite genuine torment and sometimes continual suffering, their acts of transgression are necessary paths to self-development and self-knowledge, and the risk of isolation, madness, and death is worth the possibility of living autonomously. Autonomy, control of oneself and one's future, is an impossibility in Morrison's fiction because of the oppressive structures I discuss, which dictate codes of behavior according to images of race and gender; however, I am utilizing the term autonomy to investigate the agency that the characters develop within and against these structures. The successful characters in Morrison's fiction are those individuals who distance themselves from the control of external definitions and attempt to break from limitations.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
