Paper Titles in Periodical
International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences
Volume 53

Subscribe

Subscribe to our Newsletter and get informed about new publication regulary and special discounts for subscribers!

ILSHS > Volume 53 > Rebellious and Strong Black Women in Paradise
< Back to Volume

Rebellious and Strong Black Women in Paradise

Full Text PDF

Abstract:

The main aim of this paper is to apply black feminist tenets especially those of Bell Hooks and Alice Walker to demonstrate that unlike the passive black female characters of The Bluest Eye, and the resisting but finally victimized black women of Beloved, the wise and strong black women of Paradise who live in the Convent, are strong enough to recreate themselves as subjects, and to cultivate their own unique identity in a hegemonic environment which is replete with racial and gender discrimination. Black feminist actions and womanistic rituals help them accomplish this improvement. Consolata, and Mavis are two of such strong women of the Convent who not only succeed in healing themselves, but also in healing other black women as well. Black feminists claim in order to place black women at the center of stories about the American past, they must be depicted as subjects, that is, as creative change-agents, rather than as objects, or victims of hegemonic agency. In Paradise black women are depicted thus, have their own voices, and completely reject the patriarchal ideology.

Info:

Periodical:
International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences (Volume 53)
Pages:
122-132
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.53.122
Citation:
Z. Torabi and P. Ghasemi, "Rebellious and Strong Black Women in Paradise", International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, Vol. 53, pp. 122-132, 2015
Online since:
Jun 2015
Authors:
Zadmehr Torabi, Parvin Ghasemi
Keywords:
Alice Walker, Bell Hooks, Black Feminism, Paradise, Subalterns, Toni Morrison
Export:
RIS, BibTeX, Text
Distribution:
Open Access

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References:

[1] Beaulieu, Elizabeth, A. The Toni Morrison Encyclopedia. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, (2003).

[2] Collins, P. H. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. 2nd Edition. New York: Routledge, ( 2000). 100.

[3] Dalsgård, Katrine. 'The One All-Black Town Worth the Pain: (African) American Exceptionalism, Historical Narration, and the Critique of Nationhood in Toni Morrison's Paradise',. African American Review, Vol. 35, No. 2. Summer, (2001). 233.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2903255

[4] Elijah, Anderson. African American Class Structure, the Emerging Philadelphia., Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, (2000). 568 -76.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716200568001006

[5] Ghasemi, Parvin. and Hajizadeh, Rasool. 'Demystifying the Myth of Motherhood: Toni Morrison's Revision of African-American Mother Stereotypes',. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 2, No. 6. (November, 2012). 478.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7763/ijssh.2012.v2.151

[6] Hooks, Bell. Ain't I A Woman? Black Women and Feminism. London: Pluto, (1982).

[7] Hooks, Bell. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, (1992).

[8] Hooks, Bell. Feminism is for Everybody. Cambridge, MA: South End, (2000). 64 -5.

[9] Hooks, Bell. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Boston: South End Press, (2000).

[10] Hooks, Bell. The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators., Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End, (1992). 115.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-08886-4_12

[11] Hooks, Bell. Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston: South End Press, (1989).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1395217

[12] Hooks, Bell. Teaching community: a Pedagogy of Hope. New York: Routledge, (2003).

[13] Hooks, Bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. London: Routledge, (1994).

[14] Hooks, Bell. Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. Boston: South End Publication, (1990). 22.

[15] Jozwiak, Mermann, Elisabeth. 'Re‐membering the body: Body politics in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. ', Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory. Volume 12, Issue 2. London: Taylor and Francis, (2001). 189.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10436920108580287

[16] King, Jeannette. Women and the Word: Contemporary Women Novelists and the Bible. London: Macmillan, (2000).

[17] Kjelle, Marylou, Morano. African American Leaders, Henry Lois Gates, Jr. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, (2009).

[18] Krumholz, J., Linda. 'Reading and Insight in Toni Morrison's Paradise. ', African American Review. Vol. 36, No. 1. Spring, (2002). 21.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2903362

[19] Meade, A, Teresa. and Wiesner-Hanks, E. Marry. A Companion to Gender History. New Gersey: Blackwell Publishing, (2004).

[20] Michael, Cornier, Magali. 'Re-Imagining Agency: Toni Morrison's Paradise,. African American Review, Vol. 36, No. 4. (Winter, 2002). 643-661.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1512423

[21] Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Penguin, (1987).

[22] Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Washington Square Press, (1970).

[23] Morrison, Toni. Paradise. New York: Alfred A. Knopf Publication, (1997).

[24] Morrison, Toni. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. P. 34. (1992).

[25] Morrison, Toni. 'Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature. ', Michigan Quarterly Review 28, (1989). 1-34.

[26] Morrison, Toni, and Claudia, Brodsky, Lacour. eds. Birth of a Nation 'Hood: Gaze, Script and Spectacle in the O. J. Simpson Case. New York: Pantheon. (1997).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2654672

[27] Morrison, Toni. and McKay, Nellie. 'An Interview with Toni Morrison. ', Contemporary Literature, University of Wisconsin Press. 24: 4, (1983). 413-429.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1208128

[28] Raynor, Deidre J. and Butler, Johnnella E. Morrison and the Critical Community., The Cambridge Companion to Toni Morrison. Ed. Justine Tally. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. (2007). 177.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ccol052186111x.014

[29] Romero, Channette. Creating the Beloved Community: Religion, Race, and Nation in Toni Morrison's Paradise,. African American Review. Vol. 39, No. 3. (Fall, 2005). 420.

[30] Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge. (2006).

[31] Walker, Alice. In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose. New York: Harcourt. (1983).

[32] Widdowson, Peter. The American Dream Refashioned: History, Politics and Gender in Toni Morrison's Paradise,. Journal of American Studies. Vol. 35, No. 2, Part 2: Warring in America: Encounters of Gender and Race, (Aug., 2001). 313- 335.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021875801006636

[33] Womack, S. Craig. Studies in American Indian Literatures, Volume 21, Number 4. (Winter, 2009). 20- 52.

Show More Hide