The present project is an attempt to give a model of African-American subjectivity by applying different theories of subjectivity to Toni Morrison's representation of African-American people in Beloved. Since Beloved represents a group of ex-slaves, who remember harsh memories of slavery, their subjectivities can be analyzed from a post-colonial perspective within the framework of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. As slaves, black people’s sense of selfhood is drastically destroyed by white people’s inhuman treatment of them. However, they show signs of self-awareness and agency by resisting slavery’s subjugating mechanisms and discourses. By the use of subjectivity theories of post-colonial critics such as Edward Said, Frantz Fanon and Homi Bhabha, as well as theories of the Chicana feminist, Gloria Anzald?a, we explain how black people are capable of preserving a sense of selfhood and to what extent they are active agents in their actions. We also investigate their subjectivities after freedom and explore the importance of community relationships and unity among black people in casting aside their commodified subjectivities and developing strong, dynamic consciousnesses.
Rezai, A., & Marandi, S. M. (2010). African-American Subjectivity in Toni Morrison's Beloved. Research in Contemporary World Literature, 15(59), 21-40.
MLA
Azam Rezai; Seyed Mohammad Marandi. "African-American Subjectivity in Toni Morrison's Beloved". Research in Contemporary World Literature, 15, 59, 2010, 21-40.
HARVARD
Rezai, A., Marandi, S. M. (2010). 'African-American Subjectivity in Toni Morrison's Beloved', Research in Contemporary World Literature, 15(59), pp. 21-40.
VANCOUVER
Rezai, A., Marandi, S. M. African-American Subjectivity in Toni Morrison's Beloved. Research in Contemporary World Literature, 2010; 15(59): 21-40.
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