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"Safe harbor and ship": The evolution of self in the novels of Toni Morrison
Abstract
In her keynote address to the 1981 American Writers Congress, Toni Morrison makes clear her belief that writers must have a central place in the criticism of their work. This study is unique in that it takes quite literally this belief, utilizing Morrison's non-fiction prose and more than twenty interviews now in print to illuminate and analyze what she herself has identified as the most important theme in her novels: the evolution of self in the black woman. What status does friendship with other women hold in black womens' lives? What role does the community play in the black woman's search for self and what role the past? What are the necessary requirements for surviving whole in a world where all are at some time made victims? What knowledge does the black woman need to be both "safe harbor and ship"? These are the questions Morrison explores in each of her five novels, and these the focus of this study. Chapter one addresses some of the trends in Morrison scholarship, while chapters two through five analyze each of Morrison's novels individually, revealing in turn the ingredients which Morrison suggests are necessary to be whole: love and knowledge of self, the support of the community, and an understanding and acceptance of one's past. Each chapter addresses what Morrison reveals as missing from her women characters' lives, as well as the ways in which she consistently provides an example of the possibilities for more. Relationships between mothers and daughters are a central focus of the study, as are the possibilities Morrison sees for fulfilling relationships between black women and black men. Chapter seven summarizes the most important points Morrison makes in her novels and presents the implications of the study itself.
Subject Area
American literature
Recommended Citation
Custer Schomburg, Constance Rae, ""Safe harbor and ship": The evolution of self in the novels of Toni Morrison" (1990). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9121916.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9121916