（英语语言文学专业论文）托尼·莫里森三部小说中的空间意象研究.pdf

vi 摘 要 摘 要 托尼莫里森是非裔美国文坛最为卓越和高产的作家之一。她还是一九九三年诺贝 尔文学奖的获得者。作为一名黑人女作家，她深刻关注黑人的命运，尤其关注遭受白人 和男人双重压迫的女性黑人的命运。 在莫里森的小说中,不管是生活在丈夫屋檐下的 “天 使”还是反抗父权神话建构女性空间的“恶魔” ，都曾建构女性空间并成为那个空间的 主人。 本文试图从女性主义理论角度探讨莫里森小说 所罗门之歌 、 苏拉 以及 天堂 中的空间意象。除引言及结论部分外，论文共分三部分。 第一章主要分析了受压抑女性（亦或父权意识形态下的“天使” ）的生存状况。生 活在丈夫的屋檐底下， 此类女性在家庭中被剥夺了话语权并被置于边缘位置且最终成为 丈夫的他者 。显而易见，这些乖顺的女性没有属于她们自己的生存空间只能是束缚 在丈夫的牢笼里。 第二章主要阐述了女性空间的建构。通过挑战父权制准则解构男性空间和男性权 力，反叛女性建构了母权制家庭模式。不同于第一章所论述的温顺女性的选择，反叛女 性不仅建构了属于女性自己的空间且成为空间的主宰者。 第三章重点关注女性空间的夭折命运。表面上看来，反叛的女性似乎是建构了一个 纯女性的乌托邦； 事实上随着母权制家庭模式中女性成员的相继死亡女性空间最终走向 崩溃。女性空间遭遇过早的夭折的命运。 最后本文得出如下结论，不管是男性空间中的天使还是女性空间里的勇敢的反叛 者，她们都不能够彻底地挑战父权意识形态：温顺的女性没有能力去解构男性空间；而 那些刚强反叛的女性虽然可以建构属于她们自己的空间却不能阻止它过早夭折的宿命。 关键词: 温顺 反叛 女性空间 房间 解构 iv abstract toni morrison is one of the most prominent and prolific writers in african american literature who won the nobel prize for literature in the year of 1993. as a black woman writer, her works are deeply concerned with the destiny of black people, especially with those black women who undergo double oppression from the white world and the male power. in her works, both the angels living in their husbands house and the monsters rebelling against patriarchal mechanism are depicted to construct their own space and become the leader of it. this thesis is a tentative endeavor to examine the space imageries in song of solomon, sula and paradise basing on feminist theory. in addition to the introduction and conclusion parts, this thesis is composed of three chapters. the introduction part introduces toni morrison and her novels song of solomon, sula and paradise as well as the current research of these novels from both domestic and overseas academic spheres. it also briefly introduces the relevant theories and the significance of this thesis. chapter one explores the submissive heroines living conditions (or angels life in patriarchy ideology). living under their husbands roof, these women are deprived of power to speak and are placed on marginal position in family. they eventually become the other of their husband. it is clear that these submissive women have to be confined to their husbands prison-like house. chapter two mainly deals with the construction of female world. the rebellious female figures construct matriarchal kingdom eventually through challenging the traditional patriarchal principle and deconstructing the male power. different from those submissive angels, women figures in this chapter build a woman space of their own and become the leader of it. chapter three focuses on the failure of the woman space. on the surface level, rebellious women seem to construct a utopian women-centered place to enjoy the equity with men. at a deep level all the female spaces collapse in the end with the death of the key member of the matriarchy family. it is not surprising to say that such female space is v short-lived. through the analysis, this thesis reaches the conclusion that no matter passive or active, women can not challenge the authority of men thoroughly: the submissive dont have the ability to construct a woman space; the rebellious figures can not prevent its short-lived destiny, although they can construct a female space. thus it is fair to argue that there is a long way to go for women to construct their own space where they can enjoy real equality. key words: submissive rebellious woman space house de-construction iii 学位论文原创性声明 学位论文原创性声明 本人所提交的学位论文 托尼 莫里森三部小说中的空间意象研究 ( (space imagery in three of toni morrisons novels) )，是在导师的指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的 原创性成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发 表或撰写过的研究成果。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中标明。 本声明的法律后果由本人承担。 论文作者（签名） ： 指导教师确认（签名） ： 年 月 日 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书 学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解河北师范大学有权保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交学 位论文的复印件和磁盘，允许论文被查阅和借阅。本人授权河北师范大学可以将学位论 文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或其它复制手段保 存、汇编学位论文。 （保密的学位论文在 年解密后适用本授权书） 论文作者（签名） ： 指导教师（签名） ： 年 月 日 年 月 日 1 introduction a. a brief introduction of toni morrison on february 18th 1931, toni morrison was born chloe anthony wofford in the windy little steel-mill town of lorain, ohio. she was the second of four children in a black working-class family (she had an older sister and two younger brothers). when she was a child, she liked reading the masterpieces from european literature, the great russian novelists as well as the english writer jane austen. in 1949, morrison entered howard university to study english, it was at howard that she changed her name to toni. after graduating from howard, morrison went to cornell university for her masters degree in english. her masters thesis was on the theme of suicide in the novels of william faulkner and virginia woolf. in 1957, as an english teacher, morrison returned to howard university where she met and fell in love with harold morrison, a young architect from jamaica. in 1964, pregnant with her second child, toni morrison left her position in the english department of howard university. later she took a trip to europe with her husband and son. but by the time she returned from europe, her marriage had “dissolved in smoke”. there are so many cultural differences and clashes between her american self and her jamaican husband. the marriage went to its end at last. at the age of 34, toni morrison has turned into a single mother with one child, and another on the way. furthermore, she has lost her job at this very difficult time in her life. being depressed and confused, she returned to her parents home in lorain, ohio. one year later after her divorce, toni morrison left ohio to take a job as an editor with a textbook subsidiary of random house in syracuse, new york, and began her writing career. up to now, she has written nine novels in all, the bluest eye (1969), sula (1973), song of solomon (1977), tar baby (1981), beloved (1987), jazz (1992), paradise (1997), love (2003), mercy (2008). the novel beloved won her the nobel prize for literature in the year of 1993. all of morrisons novels leave the reader profound impression and inspire critics to interpret issues of women in different ways. this thesis is about to discuss the space 2 imageries in three of her novels, song of solomon, sula and paradise. b. a brief introduction of novels under discussion song of solomon was published in 1977. this book presents the reader a vivid picture of how different female characters live a different way in patriarchal mechanism. the author also makes great effort to exhibit the process of dead womens searching for female space in this novel. macons little sister pilate dead is a motherless black girl with no navel. after the death of her father and the conflict with her brother about the gold in the cave, she starts her way to construct a matriarchal family mode in black community. without the benefit or burden of male input, she raises her daughter reba alone. she and reba raise rebas daughter hagar again without any supports and influences from male world. in pilates matriarchal kingdom, she and her children achieve a level of financial and social security. on the other hand, morrison in this novel presents the reader a traditional patriarchal family model. macon dead is the master of this patriarchal family, has absolute power to dominant the life of those lived in his roof. in this sense, ruth dead (macons wife) and her daughters lose their identity to macon. after getting married with macon, what ruth can do is to bear all housework and to take good care of macon and the children. although ruth performs her role as submissive wife faithfully, she couldnt get out of her husbands beating and scolding. not only is ruth dead a victim in this patriarchal family, but also her daughters who get into the same miserable condition. when they are old enough to be a mother even to be a grandmother, they still live in macons big house to support their mother in housework. their fathers house is their whole space to live in. sula, morrisons second novel, was published in 1973. it tells a story of peace womans constructing of female space. in this novel, morrison presents the reader a mother-centered family constructed by eva peace then by her granddaughter sula peace. although eva peace is depicted as a black single mother with only one leg in this novel, she is much more recognized as a brave and dependent mother image by the reader and critics. having been abandoned by her husband, eva takes all the burden of life. she constructs a matriarchal family in bottom and brings her children up by herself. moreover, she turns her matriarchal kingdom into a kind of extended family when she takes on the matriarchal role. she demands 3 the young married women rooming there prepare timely suppers for their husbands. she is also generous to take in homeless waifs and new couples. furthermore, evas house is a kind of social center for men, who leave intellectually and emotionally refreshed. in this way, eva becomes a connective force in the community. living in her own space, she “sat in a wagon on the third floor directing the lives of her children, friends, strays, and a constant stream of boarders”.1 residing with her mother hannah, living in the house of her grandmother, sula peace initially draws her world view from both women. she refuses to play the prescribed domestic roles of the women of the bottom. sula, with a snake birthmark on her forehead, has awareness of identity and power when she is a little girl. she has scared away the white boys who chase her by chopping off the end of her fingers. she has let chicken little “slipped from her hands and sailed away out over the water” to his death. (sl60) compare with the child sula who has done, the adult sula is much more evil. after ten years voyage to the outside world, sula returns to the bottom. in order to possess her own space to live her desirable life, the first thing she does is to lock eva away and grab the mother-centered place eva has constructed. then she starts to fight against patriarchal ideology and social conventionality in her own way. morrison continues to explore the problem of female space in her seventh novel paradise. morrison presents the reader two critical places in this fiction. one is ruby, a black community far away from the white world and controlled by male figures; the other one is convent, a utopian female space can satisfy female figures desire of freedom. in this sense, it can be said that ruby is a symbol of patriarchal mechanism and convent is a symbol of matriarchal realm. story is developed around the conflict between ruby and convent in this fiction. convent originally is a community of nuns running a school for native american girls. gradually, it turns into a shelter for various lost and hunted women who struggle to heal their wounds and nurture each other in an entirely female environment. it is a home inhabited solely by women. in this way, convent can be seen as a place which represents the femaleness of the novel. and like so many female spaces in morrisons oeuvre, the convent is an unconventional household that proves to be a threatening force to the patriarchs of ruby. 4 so nine men of ruby raid this matriarchal home space. c. literature review toni morrison is a very famous african american novelist and has won the nobel prize for literature in the year of 1993. each of her novels is very popular and has gained a large readership and attracted many critics. texts have no fixed meanings: interpretations depend on the situation and ideology of the reader. it means that meaning can never be finally fixed. different reader has different point of view to analyze the theme of the novel. in this paper, i choose space imagery as my perspective to interpret morrisons novels for the following reasons: firstly, the space imagery theme is displayed repeatedly in song of solomon, sula and paradise. first of all, morrison gives her readers a picture of male space where women figures lose their identity to their husband and father. for example, in song of solomon, macon deads big house is a symbol of patriarchal space to dominant the life of women members in family. in sula, the room jude rents from her aunt after the marriage brings nel endless suffering and helplessness. in paradise, ruby is a town far away from the white community where men from eight stone family lead the life of people. then, in order to challenge this traditional patriarchal family mode in these three novels, morrison also makes effort to depict some female space imageries in her fictions. in song of solomon, morrison presents the reader a matriarchal kingdom constructed by pilate dead and her children in marginal position of the community. in sula, peace women construct their own house to satisfy their desire of women space. in paradise, rebellious women figures gather in convent to build a female space to live on. at last, morrison presents her readers a picture of ruined female space imagery in these three novels. the death of female figures, especially death of leader figures in matriarchal realm can be seen as a symbol of failure of female space. toni morrisons works have always been the interest of critics since her first novel the bluest eye was published in 1969. in 1993, her fifth novel beloved won her the nobel prize for literature which also brings her great fame and also brings her tremendous attention. for example, the voices of toni morrison written by barbara hill rigney defines a black 5 feminine aesthetic point of view. it also discusses morrisons radical use of language reformulations of female identity and images of female desire. the artist as the outsider in the novels of toni morrison and virginia woolf written by lisa williams discusses the theme of being a female artist. toni morrison and motherhood: a politics of the heart written by andrea os reilly analyzes the motherhood theme from the perspective of sociology. toni morrison and womanist discourse written by aoi mori, which examines the cultural and political aspects of morrisons fiction by means of alice walkers womanist theory. subversive voices eroticzing the other in william faulkner and toni morrison written by evelyn jafle shreiber tells the reader how family mode is formed and operates in patriarchal ideology basing on culture study perspective. not only do critics abroad pay attention to morrisons work, but also some books published in china can help reader interpret toni morrisons works. for example, a great author of black american literaturetoni morrisons creation theory about novel written by professor mao dexin, a study on toni morrison by professor zhang luwen, both of the books give the reader an integrated point of view to understand toni morrison and her fictions sexualraceculture by wang shouren and wu xinyun is also an intelligent work to depict the intricate relationship between white and black culture. other than books, research articles on toni morrison and her fictions also come into publication in academic journals, among which the following are worth mentioning: articles about the theme of fly: analyze the theme of fly in song of solomon by zhang xiujian and liu li (2007). how high can milkman fly: a reading of motif in morrisons song of solomon by li honghong(2008). articles about the theme of song in morrisons work: on the folk song of solomon by tang hongmei (2004). on the musical rhythm in toni morrisons novel writings by wang hongkun and guo hong (2006). a postmodernist perspective to understand morrisons work: the magic realistic elements in song of solomon by mao li (2006). an article from the perspective of family: the black families in toni morrison s works by qiao xueying (2007). in addition, wang liyan publishes her article to interpret traditional black culture: root-seekinganalysis of song of solomon written by toni morrison (2005). 6 however, there are fewer articles on sula: rebellious woman and discourse power by wang xiaoling(2000). sulaan outlet of woman by hong manyi (2006). there is only one article to interpret morrisons paradise: paradise or hellon the biblical motif by shi min(2007). beyond academic papers, there are many ph.d. dissertations and m.a. theses on toni morrison and her novels in china. for example, xu yingguos thesis “a feminist approach to afro-americans identity: an analysis of toin morrisons paradise” studies identity problems of black woman. guo minghuis thesis “the narrator and the color in toni morrisons novel” makes great effort to read it from the aspect of female narration. zhan minnas “the theme of death in toni morrisons novels” is an excellent work to dig the conflict between white ideology and black myth by presenting the death of the black people in morrisons fictions. zhang liyans “toni morrisons paradise: a text of querying pure blackness reflects the racial problem”, it also questions whether a pure black community can be built. yuan xias “fragmented memory of slave history” makes a research on postmodern techniques in toni morrisons novel. zhang sunas “the black families in paradise” understands morrisons work from the perspective of sociology of the family. jiang lianjies “reading toni morrisons novel in the light of intertextuality” attempts to read and interpret morisons novel in the light of intertextuality. all of morrisons novels consist the story of bible, the technic of postmodernism and the song from black myth. “loves salvation sisterhood in toni morrisons five novels “by lin wenjing explores the friendship between women members and also makes a detailed research on the differences between sisterhood and lesbianism. seen from the status quo of th