An Analysis of Sisterhood in Toni Morrisons SulaWord格式文档下载.docx

1、 to begin with, sisterhood plays an essential role in surviving and combating racism and sexism imposed upon African American women; secondly, sisterhood can serve as a solace compensating for the lack of maternal and paternal love. Chapter Four analyzes the limitations of sisterhood encompassing th

2、e vulnerability before the intervention and coercion of patriarchy and the fragility in front of different values mainly caused by different upbringings. Chapter Five is the conclusion which argues that although sisterhood is fraught with complexities and conflicts, it is still significant to streng

3、then female solidarity in the patriarchal society, and that sisterhood should be regarded as equally important as other relationships including the man-woman relationship and parent-child relationship. Key Words: Sula, Toni Morrison, sisterhood 摘要 伴随着第二次女权主义运动浪潮的到来，来自发展中国家的有色人种女性开始寻求女性独立与女性团结，越来越多的作

4、家开始在作品中关注有色人种女性。例如，托妮莫里森就是一位致力于研究非裔美国女性的美国作家，她也是历史上第一位获得诺贝尔文学奖的黑人女性。在她的作品中，她还描写了非裔美国社会、文化和历史。在她发表于1973年的小说秀拉中，她主要讲述了两位黑人女性：秀拉和奈尔的漫长交往和姐妹情谊。在这本小说发表之前，姐妹情谊很少在文学作品中占主要地位。因此，本篇论文试图分析秀拉这部小说中姐妹情谊的特点、必要性以及局限性，并试图对其存在意义进行深入探索，从而进一步强调妇女团结的重要性。 本论文由五个章节构成。 第一章为引论部分，简述了托妮莫里森的生平、秀拉的故事情节，介绍了姐妹情谊这一概念，提供了文献综述并概括了论

5、文布局。其后，第二、三、四章为论文主体。第二章探讨秀拉中姐妹情谊的主要特点：主导性和复杂性。第三章探索姐妹情谊的必要性：首先，姐妹情谊在对抗种族压迫和性别压迫中起到了非常重要的作用；其次，姐妹情谊可以补偿非裔美国女性生命中父母之爱的缺乏。第四章分析姐妹情谊的局限性：第一，姐妹情谊容易受到男权主义社会的入侵和干预；第二，姐妹情谊往往容易受到不同价值观念的阻碍，女性们可能会因为彼此之间思想和价值观的差异而终止友谊。第五章为结论部分，简要总结了论文内容：虽然莫里森笔下的女性情谊存在局限性和脆弱性，但是她仍然对姐妹情谊持乐观态度，并强调在男权社会，姐妹情谊对于维护女性尤其是黑人女性之间的团结起到了至关

6、重要的作用。关键词：秀拉、托妮莫里森、姐妹情谊Chapter One Introduction1.1 An Introduction to Toni Morrison and SulaToni Morrison is an African American writer who has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She enrolled at the historically black Howard University in 1949 and graduated in 1953 with a B.A. in English. Later, she

7、 went on to earn a Master of Arts from Cornell University in 1955. It was during the 1970s that she had begun wring fictions as part of an informal group of poets and writers at Howard University. During her life, she has created numerous notable works including The Bluest Eye （1970）, Sula （1973）, S

8、ong of Solomon （1977）, Tar Baby （1981）, Beloved （1987）, Jazz （1992）, Paradise （1997）, Love （2003）, and Home （2010）. She won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award in 1988 for Beloved which was later adapted into a film of the same name. In 1993, Morrison became the first black woman of any n

9、ationality who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her citation reads: Toni Morrison, “who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.” In terms of the genre, Morrison exemplifies characteristics of “postmodern feminism”

10、 by altering Euro-American dichotomies by rewriting a history written by mainstream historians and by her usage of shifting narration in Beloved and Paradise. Sula is Morrisons second novel. It focused on the intimate and complex friendship between two African American girls, Sula and Nel, along wit

11、h a series of stories relating to life and death, love and hatred, in a mostly black neighborhood named the Bottom in Ohio. The story is chronologically divided, starting from 1910 to 1965 and covering the two world wars and the second wave of feminist movement. Sula and Nel, despite their differenc

12、es in upbringings, became fiercely attached to each other during their childhood and adolescence until Sulas accidentally drowning of Chicken Little made them grow apart. After high school, Nel chose to marry and settle into the traditional role of wife and mother, while Sula followed a wildly diver

13、gent path and lived an undisciplined life. Shortly after Nels wedding, Sula left the Bottom for a decade during which she received college education and had many affairs with white men. After returning to the Bottom, Sula sent her grandmother, Eva, to the asylum and even had an extra-marriage affair

14、 with Nels husband, Jude. Nel broke off her friendship with Sula. Just before Sula died in 1940, they achieved a half-hearted reconciliation. In 1965, after visiting the graveyard of Peace family, Nel cried out for Sula, admitting that she had blamed her misery on her friend instead of Jude. At that

15、 moment, she realized how important their girlhood friendship was. 1.2 Female Friendship and Sisterhood The concept of friendship has existed since ancient time. Carlin （as cited in Husband, 2015, p.17） has stated that Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle and French essayist Michel de Montaigne in th

16、e 16th century felt true friendship could exist only between virtuous men. However, womens longing for female friends has its ancient origin as well. During the period when men hunted and women nurtured, females developed special bonds to help them cope with hardships and difficulties of doing daily

17、 fieldwork and housework, fulfilling motherly and wifely responsibilities, even enduring sexual and physical violence and assaults. “As women faced oppression and marginalization, they found ways of creating their own coping mechanisms by developing close bonds with other women” （Husband, 2015, 18）.

18、 Moreover, the connection of African American women is more complex because they have a dual rebellion against both gender oppression and racial discrimination. Cott （as cited in Husband, 2015, p.18） claims that from the late 18th to the 19th century, women invented newly self-conscious and idealize

19、d concepts of female friendships in the form of sisterhoods. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary （2013）, sisterhood is the solidarity of women based on shared conditions, experiences, or concerns. Different scholars have formulated their own perspectives of sisterhood. In Africana Womanism,

20、Hudson Weems argues that sisterhood mainly refers to the bond among African women. “There has always been bonding among Africana women that cannot be brokengenuine sisterhood. The sisterly bond is a reciprocal one, one in which each gives and receives equally. In this community of women, all reach o

21、ut in support of each other, demonstrating a tremendous sense of responsibility for each other by looking out for one another. They are joined emotionally, as they embody emphatic understanding of each others shared experiences.” （Hudson, 1998, p.65）In addition to that, Hudson （1998, p.65-66） furthe

22、r defines that “sisterhood refers specifically to an asexual relationship between women who confide in each other and willingly share their true feelings, their fears, their hopes, and their dreams. Enjoying, understanding, and supporting each other, women friends of this sort are invaluable to each

23、 other.” Besides, D. McBryde （2010, p.39） states that the phenomenon of sisterhood is a cultural concept that is universal within the African American community, rooted in slavery and racism. This study regards sisterhood as both an emotional relationship between women and a cultural concept based o

24、n female solidarity to combat racial and sexual oppression. To some extent, “sisterhood” can be used synonymously with the term “close friendships of women”, but it also encompasses feminist implications of fighting for female liberation from racism and sexism. Because it is African American women w

25、ho feel the full impacts of marginalization, the tie that binds African American women unlike any other culture is this shared historical background and spiritual acknowledgement in the midst of sexual exploitation, emotional abandonment, the lack of education, systematic impoverishment, racial oppr

26、ession and discrimination. Bell and Nkomo （as cited in D. McBryde, 2010, p.40 ） mentions the reason African American women have a bond of sisterhood by stating that in the African American community strong social networks are keys to emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing. African American women

27、 need sisterhood to recognize their own value and define their self-worth. Being a beautiful woman is usually characterized as being tall, slim, with blond hair and blue eyes, which is not the image of the colored woman characterized as having coarse hair and over-shaped body. Therefore, African Ame

28、rican women need a bond of sisterhood to seek their own value and define their own worth. “Through these opposing views of beauty, it is suggested that another reason African American women have a shared bond of sisterhood is because there exists a constant need to define ones self-worth through beauty and Afr