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A Study on the Theme of Love in Toni Morrison’s >God Help the Child< [托尼•莫里森小说《天佑孩童》中爱的主题研究], Master thesis, English Language and Literature, Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, China 2018 [application of Fromm's theories to art].

  • 托尼•莫里森是美国20世纪最著名的黑人女作家之一,于1993年荣获得诺贝尔文学奖。她的小说中以其丰富的想象力和富有诗意的表达吸引了诸多评论家和读者的关注。从国内外研究现状来看,莫里森的研究硕果累累。然而基于>爱<这一视角的研究尚且不足,针对莫里森15年的新作《天佑孩童》中爱的主题的研究更是屈指可数。纵观莫里森的《秀拉》(1973)、《所罗门之歌》(1987)、《宠儿》(1997)等经典著作,黑人群体在种族歧视、性别歧视以及父权制文化等重重压迫下伤痕累累,陷入各种精神的困境而无法自拔。在莫里森的现代小说《天佑孩童》中,消费文化这一新兴因素的入侵更是加剧了美国黑人的精神困惑及对其生存意义的质疑。美国德裔社会心理学家、精神分析学家和人本主义哲学家埃里希•弗罗姆一直着力于研究人类与社会的冲突以及人类的精神困境。他认为特别是在高度发展的现代社会中,爱是一剂解决人类生存问题的良药。本论文基于弗洛姆爱的理论对莫里森的《天佑孩童》中爱这一主题所进行的多维度的探究。除去引言和结语部分,本论文由三章组成。引言部分包括托尼•莫里森及其作品《天佑孩童》的简介、文献综述、理论框架及研究意义。论文第一章首先对《天佑孩童》这一文本中人物之间扭曲的爱作出微观但全面的探究。论文第二章着重依据弗洛姆爱的理论深入探析在性别歧视和种族歧视尚未消融的大背景下以及在美国现代消费文化的影响下小说中人物的各种扭曲的爱的原因所在。论文第三章主要探究主人公布莱德如何重建爱,弗洛姆将爱主要分为母爱,同胞之爱,异性之爱,自爱以及神爱。基于弗洛姆关于母爱、同胞之爱、及异性之爱的观点,笔者将深入分析布莱德自身如何尝试重建其异性之爱及其处理与母亲和朋友布鲁克林关系中不妥之处,并尝试为主人公构建爱的正确理念提供可行性建议。结语部分论文指出莫里森在写作过程中不断地探求更深邃的人生哲理,而其作品也常关注人物如何努力追寻更好的生活。莫里森的新作《天佑孩童》较为全面地展现了当代美国黑人对于其生存的困惑及其如何试图追寻更好的生活。本论文通过分析文本中三种不同类型的扭曲的爱及其原因,试图追寻布莱德如何尝试改善其与男友布克之间的关系,此外笔者将结合弗洛姆爱的理论尝试探索主人公如何才能重建母女之情、朋友之情以及异性之爱等。因此本文不仅揭示了作家本人对当代美国黑人女性如何处理其情感困境并追寻更好的生活的深刻思考,而且为读者提供欣赏莫里森作品《天佑孩童》的另一视角。
  • Toni Morrison a winner of Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, is undoubtedly one of the greatest black woman writers in the 20th century in America. Her works have been gradually drawing the attention of a wider critics and audience for her epic power and expressive depictions of African American. Based on the research statuses at home and abroad, it is proved that few researches on the theme of love in Toni Morrison’s classical works has been done, especially on God Help the Child, her new publication in 2015. When taking a panoramic view of her classic novels such as Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1987) and Beloved (1997), readers can easily notice that the black people have suffered so much and also have been in a mental dilemma in their life due to racial and gender discrimination, patriarchal culture and other reasons. Apart from this, the temptation and invasion of consumerism on the black people in >God Help the Child<, another new element in modern America, makes them feel more confused and tortured about the meaning of their life. While love is regarded as the answer to the problem of human existence by Erich Fromm, a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst and humanistic philosopher who focuses on the contradiction between human beings and society, and the spiritual predicament of human beings especially in highly developed era. Therefore, based on the theory of love in Fromm’s >The Art of Loving< this thesis aims at conducting a dimensional study on the love in >God Help the Child<. This thesis consists of three chapters besides its introduction and conclusion. The introduction provides a brief introduction to Toni Morrison and her >God Help the Child<, a literature review, the theory concerned and the significance of the research.– Chapter One is a microcosmic yet comprehensive study on kinds of distorted love between the characters in Toni Morrison’s >God Help the Child< and then probes further into the way how they pursue love.– Chapter Two focuses on analyzing their causes under the background of racial discrimination, gender discrimination and modern consumerism in America based on Erich Fromm’s theory of love, which provides readers with a better understanding of Bride’s difficulties in seeking love from people around her.– Chapter Three aims to provide effective methods on Bride’s reconstruction of her love. According to the theory of Erich Fromm, love is supposed to be divided mainly into motherly love, brotherly love, exotic love, self-love and love of God. Based on Fromm’s theory of love, this thesis will probe into how the protagonist attempts to improve her relationships with her boyfriend Booker, her friend Brooklyn as well as her mother. All this above to some extent provides the protagonist with a way to build an appropriate philosophy of love from such three aspects as brotherly love, erotic love and self-love. In concluding remarks, this thesis points out that Toni Morrison’s works always focus on how the protagonist struggles for a good life just as she has mentioned in her interview that writers should pursue a more profound philosophy of life. While >God Help the Child< gives a panoramic view of the modern African American confusion about their existence and then tries to offer some effective ways to deal with it. Then the Conclusion briefly summarizes the three sorts of distorted love as well as their causes and then tries to figure out how the protagonist Bride attempts to reconstruct her relationship with her boyfriend Booker. Besides, the author of this thesis also makes an effort to find out possible ways to help the protagonist deal with her relations with her mother, her friend, her beloved as well as herself, which can not only provide another new point of view for readers to appreciate Toni Morrison’s works, but also reveal Morrison’s efforts in exploring how the black people in modern American society reconstruct their subjectivity and fully develop themselves and then learn to live a good life. [Author’s translation]

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Metadaten
Author:Fan Luo
Document Type:Dissertations
Language:Chinese
Year of first Publication:2018
Release Date:2020/11/03
Format:no copy existent / keine Kopie vorhanden
IdNo:Luo_Fan_2018
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Dissertations / Dissertationen
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Dissertations / Dissertationen
Licence (German):
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