토니 모리슨(Toni Morrison)의 소설에 나타난 여신 신화의 재현에 관한 연구

Abstract

Toni Morrison, the first African-American Nobel Prize winner, and one of the most influential writers in American literature, has dealt with the issues of race and sex in American society since her first novel The Bluest Eye was published. In her works, Morrison mostly deals with the identity and historical consciousness of African -Americans, and also describes black women's double-damaged reality as a black and woman in the Black community.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the female problems appearing in Morrison's works from the mythical point of view. This approach has not been adopted so far. According to the mythologists' theory, there was a time when the Goddess belief was the principal part in all over the world, and the gender of God was considered as female or gamogenesis. Also, the woman's position was higher than man or at least equal. However, the invasion of the northern race, or the group of warlike Indo-European family, resulted in the disappearance of the Goddess belief and the worshipers of Goddesses. But every myth and religion retains the traces of this Goddess belief.

In this paper, I analyse Morrison's works, focusing particularly on Paradise from this mythical point of view. Paradise is mainly the story of women wounded by a patriarchal society. The men of Ruby, the village allowing Black people only, reject the women and even use of violence toward them for their distorted ideology. Their rejection of and violence against the women symbolize the historical and mythical event explained above. The attack on and critique of the matriarchal society are reconstructed by the men of Ruby.

Nevertheless, the women in Paradise got over their traumas and gained rebirth, as divinities. They accept their wounds, transform themselves, and tolerate the people who hurt them. Not just keeping silent under the rejection and violence of the patriarchical society. We can find the figure of liberal and tolerant Goddess who existed and were worshipped in the ancient time through the women in Paradise. Moreover, through these women, we can find how to settle one's identity and individuality as a woman in contemporary society.