Abstract

Toni Morrison is one of the most outstanding African American writer in contemporary American literature, who has became the first Afro-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for her great creation. Traditional black cultural is combined closely with the content of her maiden work The Bluest Eye, which takes the bluest eye as a thread and focuses on a common social phenomenon in the 20th century that a group of black people tend to lose their subjectivity because of the influence of white culture, self discrimination and the lack of group spirit between the black.

This thesis is divided into three main parts. Through the detailed depiction of tragedy of the Breedlove’s life, the first part reflects the loss of black subjectivity in this family. The second part analyzes the roots of the tragedy in the Bluest Eye in three aspects. Meanwhile, the thesis attempts to present three ways to reconstruct the black subjectivity, hoping to release black people’s sadness existed for a long time and develop a sound personality.

Keywords: Toni Morrison; black subjectivity; loss; reconstruction

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-2

3. Loss of Black Subjectivity-3

3.1 Pecola’s madness-3

3.2 Loss of subjectivity as husband and father-5

3.3 Loss of subjectivity as wife and mother-6

4. The Roots of the Tragedy of the Breedloves-7

4.1 Discrimination from both the white and black-8

4.2 The influence of beauty standard-9

4.3 The lack of group spirit between the blacks-9

5. Solution to the Loss of Black Subjectivity-10

5.1 Constructing independent black cultural identity-10

5.2 Constructing healthy group spirit-10

6. Conclusion-11

Works Cited-13