Abstract Toni Morrison, the author of Beloved, is one of the greatest contemporary writers in the world. This paper interprets the redemption of Sethe, the main character in Beloved, from the perspective of Freudian psychoanalysis, focusing on her trauma and healing. Sethe’s traumatic memory of the body, her traumatic memory of her mother in her childhood, her traumatic experiences in Sweet Home, and her ultimate trauma from the killing of Beloved led to her hysteria while Paul D, Beloved, Denver helped her as the healing elements to her redemption. This paper attempts to reveal Toni Morrison’s purpose of writing Beloved: It is extremely important for the black to reconstruct, confront and recover their past traumatic history. Only in this way can those enslaved souls be liberated and seek for their lost selves.53819
Keywords:Beloved; trauma; healing; redemption
摘要《宠儿》的作者托妮 • 莫里森是当今文坛上的佼佼者。本论文从佛洛依德精神分析视角对《宠儿》的女主角赛斯的救赎之路进行解读,着眼于赛斯的精神创伤和治愈过程:赛斯对身体的创伤性记忆、童年时期对母亲的创伤性记忆、在甜蜜之家的伤痛经历、以及最后的弑婴行为导致其出现癔症症状。在保罗D、宠儿和丹佛的帮助下赛斯完成了自我救赎。本文试图揭示莫里森坚持写作《宠儿》的原因:对黑人而言,重建、直面、还原过去的伤痛历史是极其重要的,只有这样,这些被奴役的心灵才能得以解放,才能得以追寻失去的自我。
毕业论文关键词:《宠儿》;创伤;治愈;救赎
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Literature Review 1
3. A Brief Introduction to Freudian Psychoanalysis 2
4. A Psychoanalytic Analysis of Sethe’s Redemption 3
4.1 The Origin of Sethe’s Trauma 3
4.2 The Healing Process of Sethe 9
5. Conclusion 12
Works Cited 13
1. Introduction
Toni Morrison, the author of Beloved, is the first black woman to receive Nobel Prize in Literature. She is proud of the black people’s heritage, which is prominently important in her novels. “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) She has published The Bluest Eye(1970), Sula(1973), Song of Solomon(1977), Tar Baby(1981), Beloved(1987), Jazz(1993), Paradise(1998), Love(2003), A Mercy(2008) and her latest novel Home(2012). In all her novels she pays much attention to the life of ordinary black people, especially caring about African American women.
Beloved, published in 1987 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, is her fifth novel, and is viewed as one of her best novels. Beloved is based on a true event in 1856. A slave woman named Margret Carner killed her two-year old daughter when she was confronted with her slave owners. She was thrown into hell for her killing. Though it is too painful to tell, Morrison chooses to write it despite its cruelty. In Beloved Morrison touches the original trauma of the black people and tries to find a way for healing. With Sethe as Margret Carner and Beloved the girl Margret killed Morrison creates Beloved on the basis of the event, trying to bring back and heal the mother’s trauma.
This paper focuses on the analysis of Sethe’s traumatic experiences, including her traumatic memory of body, childhood memory about her mother’s slave mark, her horrible experiences in Sweet Home and her ultimate act of killing Beloved, which all planted traumatic seeds for her hysteria. With the help of Paul D, Beloved and Denver, Sethe’s healing process began. At last, with the exorcism held by the whole black community, Beloved got away and Sethe finally achieved her redemption.源/自:751:;论-文'网www.751com.cn