本論文主要是在探討美國黑人女作家童妮．摩里森所著之小說《天堂》當中的女性角色。和其他早期的作品一樣，摩里森在《天堂》當中展現她獨到的鋪陳角色的美學。繼《摯愛》之後，摩里森再度以身心受創的女子來呈現女性角色的獨特性；在《天堂》當中讀者可以發現不同種類的女性角色：例如身體承受極大痛苦的女子或是富有知識卻也同時承受心靈折磨的女人，以及具有治癒他人身心創傷能力的女子。
本論文共分五個章節，第一章介紹童妮．摩里森的生平及其早期作品當中所創造的女性角色，例如：在《至藍之眼》中極度渴望擁有藍色雙眼的黑人小女孩皮寇拉，或是在《蘇拉》中違反社會規範的女子蘇拉，以及在《摯愛》當中苦受折磨的母親莎特。第二章剖析在《天堂》這部作品中兩個飽受身體上苦的母親—瑪維絲及絲維娣。摩里森將瑪維絲描繪成為了獲得自我而逃脫社會規範的女子，同時也創造了絲維娣，一個為了照顧四個患有殘疾的孩子而放棄追求自我的母親。第三章討論富有知識的女子派翠西亞及其身處在深信血統純正的露比鎮，心理上所承受的苦痛。身為露比鎮的教師及歷史記錄者，派翠西亞原本計畫完成露比鎮各家族的家譜，但最後她親手摧毀了她努力多年的記錄，象徵她挑戰露比鎮根深蒂固的種族制度及父權體系。第四章探討兩位具有超自然力量的女人—蘿妮和康索拉塔，他們代表了摩里森筆下典型的偉大母親角色，引領著身心受創的女子獲得重生的力量。在第五章結論當中，分析黑人女性在追求獨立自主的過程中必須經歷的困難，以及摩里森在《天堂》這部小說中刻畫女性角色時所展現出的獨特美學。

This thesis focuses on the female characters that Toni Morrison depicts in her first post-Nobel novel, Paradise. It shows how Morrison develops her aesthetics of characterization from novel to novel and how the characterizations in Paradise are similar to characterizations in her earlier novels. I hold that Morrison is continuing to develop an interrelated aesthetic of characterization which contrasts impoverished women, who are bodily tortured and torturing, with educated women, who face intellectual dilemmas, and spiritual women, who heal others.
The thesis consists of five chapters. In the introduction, Toni Morrison’s life history and the kinds of female characters she has developed in her earlier works, such as Pecola, a black girl who longs for blue eyes in The Bluest Eye, or Sula, a woman who acts out of the social norms in Sula, and the tortured mother, Sethe in Beloved, are sketched. Chapter Two handles Mavis and Sweetie, whose suffering is related to the body, in the novel Paradise. Morrison creates Mavis, a mother who escapes from the social norms of being a good mother to get her own subjectivity, and Sweetie, a mother who submits to the socially constructed values and sacrifices her own subjectivity for her physically disadvantaged children. Chapter Three deals with the educated woman, Patricia, who is tortured in mind under the blood rule in Ruby. As the town’s teacher and historian in Ruby, Patricia desires to write the town’s history. I analyze her agonized decision to destroy the genealogy she has worked on for years as a symbolic act of defiance against the town’s intra-racism and patriarchy. Chapter Four centers on Lone and Consolata, women who have supernatural powers. Both Lone and Consolata represent Morrison’s great mother figures that serve to guide and instruct tortured women to get strength and grow in spirit. In the conclusion, I discuss the difficulties that black women face in the process of pursuing individuality, as well as Morrison’s artistic accomplishment in creating and drawing significant contrasts between her female characters in Paradise.

Contents

Chinese Abstract……………………………………………………….i
English Abstract………………………………………………………ii
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………iv


Chapter 1. Introduction: Toni Morrison and Her Focus on Female Differences 1
Chapter 2. Morrison’s Tortured Mothers 16
Chapter 3. Patricia Best－The Woman Who Writes History 31
Chapter 4. Lone DuPres and Consolata Sosa－Women With Supernatural Power 49
Chapter 5. Conclusion: Searching for Female Power 64
Works Cited 76
Appendix: Chart－Female Characters in Toni Morrison’s Works 82

Works Cited


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