Deconstrution Of Dichotomies In Toni Morrison’s Paradise

Authors

  • Zeng Na China West Normal University, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol3.iss7.404

Keywords:

deconstruction, dichotomies, Toni Morrison, Paradise

Abstract

In her 1998 novel Paradise, Morrison plays with her reader’s desire in terms of gender, race and religion where binary oppositions can be easily constructed in the process of reading. However, as this paper seeks to prove, all these dichotomies are ostensible and false. It is not Morrison’s intention to construct a disparate paradise as opposed to all-black patriarchy Ruby with its rigid Christian religion. It is Morrison’s intention to invite the readers into the program of deconstructing the dangers of this utopian desire. As the present paper finds out what Morrison really endeavors to critique is dichotomy itself. In the progress of the novel, we can see that simple dichotomies of race, of gender, and of religion are undermined, and set interpretations are shattered.

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Author Biography

  • Zeng Na, China West Normal University, China

    School of Foreign Languages

References

Allen, Brooke. “The Promised Land.” Rev. of Paradise, by Toni Morrison. The New York Times Book Review 11 Jan. 1998: 6-7.

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Gates, David. “Trouble in ‘Paradise’.” Newsweek 12 Jan. 1998: 62.Higgins, Therese E. Religiosity, Cosmology, and Folklore: The African Influence in the Novels of Toni Morrison. New York and London: Taylor & Francis Books, Inc. 2001.

Kakutani, Michiko. “‘Paradise’: Worthy Women, Unredeemable Men.” Rev. of Paradise, by Toni Morrison. The New York Times 6 Jan 1998.

Kearly, Peter R. “Toni Morrison’s Paradise and the Politics of Community.” Journal of American & Comparative Culture 23.2 (2000): 9-16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1542-734X.2000.2302_9.x

Menand, Louis. “The War Between Men and Women.” The New Yorker 12 Jan. 1998: 78-82.

Morrison, Toni. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.

Morrison, Toni. Paradise. New York: Knopf, 1998.

Nicol, Kathryn. “Visible Differences: Viewing Racial Identity in Toni Morrison’s Paradise and ‘Recitatif’.” Literature and Racial Ambiguity. Eds. Teresa Hubel and Neil Brooks. Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi, 2002. 209-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004334229_011

“Toni Morrison.” Timehost Chat. Transcript from Jan. 21, 1998.

Winfrey, Oprah. “Book Club—Toni Morrison.” Oprah Winfrey Show. Harpo Productions, Inc. Chicago. Transcript. March 6 1998.

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Published

2015-07-01

How to Cite

Na, Z. (2015). Deconstrution Of Dichotomies In Toni Morrison’s Paradise. International Journal for Innovation Education and Research, 3(7), 145-149. https://doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol3.iss7.404