【作者】 陈琛；

【导师】 戚涛；

【作者基本信息】 安徽大学 ， 英语语言文学， 2007， 硕士

【摘要】 托妮·莫里森是首位荣获诺贝尔文学奖的黑人女作家，她的作品在世界范围内广受关注。关于她的小说，评论家往往多着眼于从文化批评的视角分析黑人文化与白人主流文化之间的关系，包括种族政治、性别歧视等问题，以及作者独特的语言风格。而对于莫里森作品中表现的黑人群体内部关系，则关注较少，尤其是男性和女性之间的错综复杂的社会关系，鲜有评论涉及。本文将尝试探索这一领域。性别互动问题在莫里森所有作品中都有体现，以《秀拉》、《天堂》中最为集中。本文着重探讨了这两部小说中美国黑人男性与女性、女性与女性之间的复杂互动关系。《秀拉》和《天堂》中的黑人男性并不具备白人文化模式常赋予男性的勇敢、坚强、睿智等特质，相反，往往表现得不可信赖、幼稚、肤浅。通过《秀拉》中的夏德拉克等男性形象，莫里森意在揭示，由于种族歧视的影响，常常遭受挫折的黑人男子已逐渐弱化。在白人文化统治下，黑人男子被视为异类和下等公民被剥夺了男子气概和自我意识。由白人男性控制的工作环境，常常带给黑人男子沉重的经济和社会压力，致使他们接近崩溃。这些原因致使黑人男性失去了对生活的控制权和对女人的驾驭能力，因此他们往往承担不起在家庭或两性关系中本应承担的传统责任。相反，许多男性希望从那些独立的黑人女性身上得到庇护和安慰。无论是《秀拉》中的亚甲斯，还是《天堂》中鲁比镇上的黑人男子们，都从物质和精神上依赖着身旁的女人。更为糟糕的是，黑人男性还把黑人女性作为替罪羊，将其在白人统治社会中遭受的压迫和歧视转变成对她们的暴力。在《天堂》中，莫里森通过鲁比镇男人对女修道院的杀戮，揭示出黑人男性由于自身的无能和对白人社会的不满，最终导致了他们对黑人女性的恐惧和敌对。反观女性。由于男性力量的消减，女性对整个黑人社会的影响力逐步扩大。莫里森笔下的女性常常具有坚强、权威等原本男子才具有的气概。秀拉是其中的一个典型，她超越了以往社会中关于种族和性别的界定，是一个具备很强自我意识的独立黑人女性。此外，由于黑人女性无法从弱化的黑人男子身上获取多少支持和帮助，所以更多地依靠姐妹情谊，通过互相帮助来抗击性别和种族压迫。《秀拉》中性格迥异的秀拉和奈尔，被对方的个性所吸引，两者之间紧密的友谊帮助她们形成一个完整的自我。此外，莫里森还从历史角度和文化角度，再塑了美国黑人母性的形象。《秀拉》中的女家长伊娃是典型的莫里森笔下的母亲形象，她打破了旧有的制度、规则，重新建立起属于自己的王国。对莫里森而言，黑人母亲由于男性的软弱和堕落，不得不自强自立，最终成为丈夫，儿子乃至整个黑人群体赖以依靠的中坚力量。通过以上分析，本文得出结论：莫里森在两部作品中揭示了美国社会的种族歧视造成的黑人男性弱化现象。其结果是，一方面黑人女性往往比男性更自强、自立，常常成为黑人男性依附的对象；另一方面，在黑人社区中，以女性为核心的关系代替男女关系成为主要的支撑力量。更多还原

【Abstract】 Toni Morrison, the first Afro-American woman having been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, establishes her fame on a global scale. On the whole, most Morrison studies focus on racial politics, black culture, black roots, and black identity. They place Morrison’s works into the whole American historical background, examining the cultural conflicts between the black and the white, or Afro-Americans’ unique culture in comparison with the white culture. Few researches pay attention to the gender and cultural issues within the black community.The present thesis attempts to study gender, dynamics within the black community presented in Morrison’s works in the context of racial and gender discrimination. Although gender dynamics permeates all of Morrison’s works, it is most precisely examined by Morrison in Paradise and Sula.Through analysis of these two novels, the thesis reveals that unlike heroes of the white culture who are usually described as intelligent and strong-minded, male characters in Sula and Paradise are usually untrustworthy, superficial, immature, and anonymous. Through male characters such as Shadrack in Sula, Morrison demonstrates that the impotence of black males results from their lack of an integral self, manhood, independence, and economic power as results of white discrimination. Overwhelmed by heavy economic and social burdens, many of them have no control over either their destiny or women, thus fail to perform the traditional male roles as providers and protectors within families and cross-gender relationships. On the contrary, many Afro-American men choose to seek protection from stronger women. Both Ajax in Sula and Ruby’s men in Paradise rely heavily on women around them economically and emotionally. Worse still, some even transform the oppression imposed on them by white culture into the violence on the black women. In Paradise, the hostility and massacre toward the Convent by the men of Ruby, clearly reveals this point. The women at the Convent become scapegoats because their acceptance of different new ideas and economic autonomy challeng the necessity of Ruby’s rigid system of community. So they choose to destroy them. This is definitely a sign of weakness rather than potency.Having nothing to rely on, black women show great autonomy and play more and more important roles in the Afro-American community. Many of Morrison’s female characters display features of masculinity—showing great confidence and willfulness in actualizing themselves despite social discriminations. Sula is one of these typical characters who chooses to seek her individual identity and learns to define herself positively instead of just reacting against others’ stereotypes. Because Afro-American women can hardly win any support from the emasculated males, they rely much on sisterhood in fighting against sexual and racial discriminations. Sula and Nel in Sula make a perfect example. Though different in personality, the two complement each other and help each other become complete persons.Besides, Morrison also redefined Afro-American motherhood. Eva in Sula is a typical image of mother in the Morrison’s works who takes on omnipotent power to lead the family and the black community. The way Eva is treated by her husband forces her to become aggressive and strong. As a result, she stands at the top of the family rank. For Morrison, elevated from female autonomy as a result of male emasculation, motherhood has become the chief prop for Afro-American sons, husbands, and even the black community.From the above analysis, the thesis concludes that, in the two novels, Morrison reveals wide-spread emasculation of Afro-American males because of white racial discrimination. This leads to two major consequences. On the one hand, Afro-American women turn out to be more independent and strong-minded than males and become supporters for many males; on the other hand, female-centered relationships—sisterhood and motherhood—have become the mainstream in the Afro-American life instead of cross-gender relationships.更多还原