论《所罗门之歌》中奶娃的自我身份寻找之旅

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Abstract In Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison gives us a vivid description of the progress of the protagonist-- Milkman’s journey to find his self-identity by his journey to the south. This paper consists of five parts. Milkman’s journey to find his self-identity will be analyzed mainly from two aspects: his confusion of his self-identity and his finding of his self-identity from the perspectives of cultural identity and love ability. The main reason for Milkman’s confusion of his self-identity is his loss of cultural identity, thus leading to his deficiency of love ability. Faced with the feelings of confusion and loss, Milkman finally set foot on his journey to find his true self. With many natives’ help, his journey ended with his establishment of black cultural identity and his gain of love ability. 53817

Keywords: Milkman; cultural identity; love ability

摘要托妮·莫里森的《所罗门之歌》生动的描述了主人公奶娃通过南方之旅寻找自我身份的过程。本文包括五个部分,将主要从文化身份和爱的能力这两个方面分析奶娃的自我困惑及其寻找自我身份之旅。奶娃的困惑主要来源于他对自我文化身份的迷失，而这一点也导致了他爱的能力的缺失。在困惑和迷失的情绪影响下，奶娃踏上了寻找自我身份之旅。通过南方之行以及在家乡人的帮助下，奶娃最终重建了自己的黑人文化身份并获得了爱的能力。

毕业论文关键词：奶娃；文化身份；爱的能力

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. A Brief Introduction to Cultural Identity and Love Ability 3

4. Milkman’s Journey to Find His Self-identity 4

4.1 Milkman’s Confusion of His Self-identity 5

4.2 Milkman’s Finding of His Self-identity 8

5. Conclusion 11

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

Until now racial discrimination still exits in American society though many laws claim that both white and black are equal. Many black writers have been focusing their attention on the conflicts between the black and the white and many great works appear. Gradually Afro-American literature plays an important part in American literature and many distinguished writers have made great contributions to it. Among them, there are many excellent black women writers. Clearly, black women writers have dominated the literary scene in Afro-American literature since 1970s. Toni Morrison is one of these outstanding black women writers who can’t be ignored. “To Morrison, it is her deep rootedness in black culture and her ability to present what is vital to her people that contribute to her success as a writer.” (Hu Jun, 2007: 3) In 1993, Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize and this has made her the first black woman writer in American literature. The problem of cultural identity is usually a major concern in Toni Morrison’s novels. 源/自:751:;论-文'网www.751com.cn

As the third one among her nine novels, Song of Solomon is the first one that takes a male as the protagonist. Song of Solomon has been highly praised since it was published in 1977 and won National Book Critics Circle Award at the same year. In Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison ponders over the problem of the identity of Afro-Americans. In this novel, she expresses the idea that the blacks can find their cultural identities only in the way that the blacks return to their traditional culture. The black cultural identity will help the black find their positions in a culture dominated by the white and build up their culture confidence which also will accelerate the preservation of black traditional culture. The leading character—Milkman was born in a family of middle class and was taken good care of by his families, living a comfortable material life. But Milkman took it for granted and showed no respect and responsibility for his beloved families. What is most important is that he didn’t have the ability to love and didn’t know how to care for others, especially for his families and lover. As he grew older, he stepped into the society, but failed to find his true cultural identity as a black man in a culture dominated by the white. Confused by the feeling of aimlessness, Milkman set foot on his journey to look for gold. Unexpectedly, on his journey he knew more about his ancestors and the family tradition.