| dc.description.abstract | This study analyses Toni Morrison's Feminist project in Beloved. It explores feminist
consciousness in the social content of the novel and the mode through which the writer
expresses her message. In order to do this, the study embarks on a critical review of
Morrison's artistic works, including, Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1977), Beloved
(1988) and Paradise (1997). A review of critical works on Morrison has also been done
and this highlights Beloved as the richest of all Morrison's novels in terms of social
concerns and style, for a feminist review This has been proved in our analysis of how she
expresses the emergence of the modem African-American woman. Beloved won the
Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1988, while Morrison as a writer won the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1993, and this enhanced the interest in choosing this novel for the research.
A review of other critical material detailing African American history and the experience
of slavery has enabled the contextualization of Beloved within the historical epoch it
belongs to. The liberal feminist framework has been utilized to advance the gender
analysis of the social relations in the texts. In addition, the sociological framework has
been identified as central to the analysis due to its focus on society. Thus a socio-feminist
perspective has been taken as the orientation of the study.
Our research realizes that Morrison has a feminist agenda for her society, as revealed
through her SOCialand stylistic concerns. Through her thematic concerns, she points out
the era of slavery as a key point in time when the lives of black women were interrupted
and patriarchy subjugated them. The study notes with interest the foregrounding of the
female characters as principal actors in the liberation process. They have taken up the
important role of being her mouthpieces. At the same time, she has utilized her stylistic
strength, where through the process of active 'rememory', the characters recreate their
past through dialogue. This has offered the female characters, and by extension African-
American women, a discursive space, where they are able to express their view on the
past and present.
The study concludes that Morrison consciously revisits the position of the African-
American woman and gives her voice and leadership in the liberation struggle, thus
lifting her from the second-class position where her society has placed her. In Beloved.
she outlines the socio-historical past of the African-American society, clearly
highlighting the role of women in the struggle, and in the actual emancipation process.
She thus encourages a re-reading of the novel of the slavery era. The study also realizes
that the discursive literary space provided by Morrison to her female characters, as they
reconstruct their experiences during slavery, is crucial for the emerging image of the
black woman in America.
One crucial realization ansmg out of the text analyses is the lack of resolution in
Morrison's works that gives room for multiple interpretations. In addition to this, the
complexity of her narrative and plot structure provides a fertile area for further research. | en |
