Toni Morrison Research Papers Samples For Students

Abstract

“Song of Solomon” is the third novel written by Toni Morrison and is a very remarkable and rich piece of fiction. Its power lies not only in the representation of African Americans century but also the author’s insistence on the necessity of healing the alienated and broken protagonist, Milkman Dead. His journey to the recognition of the cultural past can be viewed in the context of the mythic quest, as he follows it, first for gold, and then for knowledge about his ancestry. Significantly, in the novel, the writer employs classical myths, specifically that of Icarus and the ...

How does the Toni Morrison, in “The Bluest Eyes,” develop the character of Pecola so as to expose and attack “racial self-loathing” in the black community?

In the novel, “The Bluest Eye,” Toni Morrison exposes and attacks racial self-loathing in the black community through her main character, Pecola. Pecola is depicted as a black girl. However, she is white at her heart. Pecola has self-loathing that gets worsen as the novel goes on. When the clerk of a store completely ignores her, for the first time, she gets the knowledge of her blackness. She tries to wash it away as ...

English

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is a novel which delves into the serious issue of discrimination on the basis of appearance and race. Delving deeply into this novel raises serious issues with respect to cleanliness, order and beauty (Baillie, 21). The author attacks the fundamental western ideas and ideologies with respect to racism by quoting the philosopher Count Joseph de Gobineau. In order to display the manner in which globalised doctrine on race has been accepted by Elihue Micah Whitcomb and her family, the author quotes “all civilizations derive from the white race, that none can exist without its ...

Introduction

African American literature was born at the end of the 18th century, during the period when the African American people were still going through slavery. Slaves were seen to be less than human and not able to study sciences or arts. White Philosophers during this time viewed slaves as inferior including those that wrote The Norton Anthology of African American Literature (Nellie McKay and Henry Louis Gates Jr.) as well as Immanuel Kant and David Hume. The philosophers noted that the African American people, nicknamed as ‘Negroes’ by then were inferior to the white people, and they did not ...

Thesis Statement 1: Society has a way of punishing people they envy by emphasizing the latter’s weakness and making a ridicule out of that individual only to boost their personal worth.
- Claim: When the beautiful and poised Hester Prynne arrived at Boston, she came alone awaiting for the arrival of her husband Roger Chillingworth, however, to everyone’s knowledge. This made the women of Boston threatened by her.

Interpretation: That left the young, beautiful and poised Hester Prynne the interest of men. This grew the displeasure of the women of Boston.
- Claim: Many believed that Hester ...

English: What is the relationship between love and duty in Sula, and which one is ultimately privileged?

Sula is a novel by Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison. Morrison wrote the novel in 1973. The novel, set in Ohio, features two girls named Nel and Sula who live contrasting lives. Whereas Nel comes from a stable family that believes in social institutions, Sula comes from a dysfunctional family (Morrison). The social divide between the two girls as well as that of the white farmer and his former slave shows the intricate relationship that exists between love and duty. This novel prompts the question, “do people choose to love each other voluntarily, or does duty compel people to love or ...

Beloved is a novel written by Tony Morrison and is based on the American Civil War. The plot of the novel is based on the effects, consequences and the results of the Civil War. The author uses characters that would effectively bring out the Civil War theme in terms of social circles and occupations in the society. The novel is based on the characters regarded as slaves or have undergone capture, slavery and escaped from their masters (Haskins & Haskins 13). The main character in the novel, Sethe is a former slave and she underwent cruel times under her master. She manages ...

Literature is the perfect mirror of the world society as the creative artists take resort to their works of art to portray the society and culture. A close scrutiny of the literary works of various authors ranging across time in the history of literature would be helpful in bringing an introspective perspective about the state of women in the society. For the purpose of the scrutiny, one can take into reckoning the short story The Story of an Hour penned by Kate Chopin, the short story, The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck, the seminal article by feminist film critic, Laura ...

Introduction

Gender is one of the themes that Morrison explores in her novel Sula. Gender roles help to create unevenness in terms of the power balance between women and men. This unequal balance of power that is prevalent in the social environment of her characters in Sula ultimately becomes a part of them. The impact of this is that it becomes nestled in the psychological conflicts they encounter and experience. In this novel, these psychological conflicts play out on the sexuality platform. The sexuality of the characters results in the internalization of the unequal balance of power between women and ...