ON THE TRAGEDY OF AMERICAN BlacK WOMEN FroM BELOVED
摘 要
《宠儿》是托尼·莫里森，这位唯一一位获得诺贝尔文学奖的美国黑人女性作家的一部巨作。它重点描写了黑人女性在奴隶制度下痛苦的内心活动。本文首先通过对小说文本的分析，解读女主人公塞丝与子女，丈夫，奴隶主的关系，通过分析塞丝的经历以及所受的伤痛，探讨奴隶制是如何影响并扭曲黑人女性。塞丝是一个生活在悲剧中但始终不放弃信念的黑人女奴。作为黑人女性，她处于社会的最底层；作为黑人母亲，她无法拥有自己的孩子；作为黑人妻子，她无法主宰自己的爱情。本文第一部分主要研究塞丝的悲剧，即身份，亲情，爱情的悲剧；第二部分主要分析悲剧产生的原因，即社会、个人和家庭因素。本文从这两方面入手，特别是研究悲剧产生的原因，来揭露美国黑人女性所受的肉体和精神上的双重伤害，从而更好地帮助理解和体会奴隶制度下美国黑人女性的地位与悲剧。
关键词：黑人女性；地位；悲剧；原因
ABSTRACT
Beloved is written by Toni Morrison who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1994 as the first American black woman. It mainly depicts the miserable psychic world of the black women under slavery. This paper first analyzes the protagonist—Sethe’s relationship with her children, husband and slave owners. Through Sethe’s experience and her trauma, it explores how black women are affected and distorted by slavery. Sethe is a woman who has a tragic life but never gives up her faith. As a black woman, she stays at the bottom of the society; as a black mother, she is deprived of her children; as a black wife, she can’t have her beloved. The first part mainly analyzes Sethe’s tragedy, that is her tragedy of status, motherhood and love; the second part analyzes the social, personal and family factors of Sethe’s tragedy. This paper concentrates on these two aspects especially the reasons of the tragedy to explore the physical and mental trauma that American black women endured and to help readers have a better understanding of American black women’s status and tragedy under slavery.
Key words：black women; status; tragedy; reasons
Contents
1．Introduction 1
2. The tragic life of Sethe 2
2.1 Sethe’s tragedy of status 2
2.2 Sethe’s tragedy of motherhood 4
2.3 Sethe’s tragedy of love 6
3. Reasons for Sethe’s tragedy 7
3.1 Social factors 7
3.1.1 Class oppression 7
3.1.2 Gender discrimination 9
3.1.3 The influence of community 9
3.2 Personal factor 10
3.3 Family factor 11
4．Conclusion 12
Acknowledgements 13
References 14
