The Theme Of Song Of Solomon二稿 65.docx

1、The Theme Of Song Of Solomon二稿 65学士学位论文题 目: The Theme Of Song Of Solomon姓 名： 汪佳霏 学 号： 2013061093 学 院： 西方语言学院 专业/届别： 英语/2013届 指导教师： 刘辉艳 职 称： 副教授 Contents Contents.错误！未定义书签。Abstract in Chinese.错误！未定义书签。Abstract in English.错误！未定义书签。1. Introduction.1 2. Background Information.12.1 Toni Morrison.22.2 Son

2、g of Solomon.33. Themes of Song of Solomon.,.43.1 Themes Of Flying.4 3.1.1 Understanding “Flying” from Reconstructing Historic Consciousness.4 3.1.2 Understanding “Flying” from Black Womens Tradition.53.2 Themes of Growing up.6 3.2.1 Introduction of Milkmans Growing up.6 3.2.2 Milkmans Growing up wi

3、th Flying.7 3.2.3 Milkmans Growing up with Understanding Tradition.8 4.Conclusion.10 References.12Acknowledgments.13 摘要 托妮莫里森的作品所罗门之歌是一个悲剧颂歌, 赞美非裔美国人。通过分析小说主人公奶娃的成长过程，从空无目的男孩逐渐成长为一个成熟的男人，并且找到了一种归属感和种族的自豪感。本文旨在阐述所罗门之歌“飞翔”和“成长”的主题。 飞翔是所罗门之歌的重要主题之一,很多学者对其做过研究。多数学者认为该小说中的飞翔主题就是美国黑人寻根的象征意义。文章试图从历史意义的重建与黑

4、人女人的传统来探讨所罗门之歌的飞翔主题。通过对主人公奶娃的成长与“飞翔”主题的关系和理解传统的关系，本文对“成长”主题的分析表明黑人只有回归大自然,了解自己的文化和根才能在激烈的文化冲突中生存与成熟。关键词：所罗门之歌；飞行；成长；奶娃Abstract Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison is an initiation story and a tragic song glorifying African-Americans. By analyzing Milkmans initiation process of growing from a purposeles

5、s and empty boy into a mature man with a sense of belonging, taking pride in his own race, this thesis aims to illustrate the themes of Song of Solomon.The theme of flying and growing up. “Flying” is one of the important themes of the Song of Solomon. Many scholars have did studies on it. Most schol

6、ars believe that the flying theme of the novel is the symbol of black Americans roots. This article attempts to explore the “Flying” theme of Song of Solomon from the reconstruction of the historical significance and black womens tradition. Through the analysis of the relationship between Milkmans g

7、rowing up with the flying theme and understanding traditional, this paper states that only by returning to the nature can black people understand their own culture and roots and survive in the intense cultural conflict.Key words：Song of Solomon; flying; growing up; Milkman The Theme of Song of Solom

8、onI. Introduction Toni Morrison is the first black woman writer in American literature who has won the Nobel Prize. Her works have attracted great attention from literary critics at home and abroad for a long time. In her life, she has produced eight famous works, including The Bluest Eye, Sula, Son

9、g of Solomon, Beloved and so on, thus receiving the National Book Critics Award, Pulitzer Prize and other prizes (Carmean, 1993). Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison s third novel, is the only one regarding a male as protagonist among her eight works. This novel has won highly evaluation from critics and

10、 is considered the best black American work after the publication of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. It is a typical initiation story of black people. The protagonist, Milkmans maturity and awakening of male consciousness make up the theme of this novel. There is no aim in Milkmans life. He does not

11、 know his own name, nor comprehends the cultural tradition. Being selfish, he never thinks over others ideas. With the guidance of his aunt and friend, he becomes an inheritor of African American culture, finally finding the root of his nation and going mature gradually. This paper aims to have a br

12、ief study on the two main themes of Song of Solomon, the themes of flying and growing up. This paper includes four parts. Part one is the introduction of the paper. Part two is the background information that introduces the writer Toni Morrison and the novel Song of Solomon. Part three is the main b

13、ody of the paper. It analyzes the theme of Flying from two aspects and Milkmans growing up with understanding flying and traditio2. Part four is the conclusion. 2. Background Information This part conducts a brief introduction on the writer Toni Morrison and the novel Song of Solomon. Toni Morrison

14、was the writer of Song of Solomn. The first part introduces Tini Morrisons life experiences and her major works. The second part introduces the main content of Song of Solomon. 2.1 Toni Morrison Toni Morrison was born in Chloe Anthony Wofford in 1931 and spent the first years of her life in Ohio. Sh

15、e received an undergraduate degree in English from Howard University and completed a masters program at Cornell. When many of her classmates had difficulty pronouncing her uncommon first name, she changed it to Toni (a derivative of her middle name). In 1958, she married Harold Morrison, an architec

16、t from Jamaica, and the couple had two sons. They divorced six years later. After pursuing an academic career teaching English at Howard, Morrison became an editor at Random House, where she specialized in Black fiction. At the same time, she began producing a creative work that would make her the f

17、irst African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Morrisons first novel, The Bluest Eye, was not an immediate success, but she continued to write. Sula, which appeared in 1973, was more successful, earning a nomination for the National Book Award. In 1977, Song of Solomo

18、n launched Morrisons national reputation, winning her the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her most well-known work, Beloved, appeared in 1987 and won the Pulitzer Prize. Her other novels include Tar Baby (1981), Jazz (1992), and Paradise (1998). Meanwhile, Morrison returned to teaching and was a

19、 professor at Yale and the State University of New York at Albany. Today, she is the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Council of Humanities at Princeton University, where she teaches creative writing. Morrison once said that she wanted to help create a canon of Black work, noting that Black writers

20、 too often have to pander to a white audience when they should be able to concentrate on the business of writing instead. Many readers believe Morrisons novels go a long way toward the establishment of her envisioned tradition. The poetic, elegant style of her writing in Beloved panders to no one. M

21、orrison challenges and requires the reader to accept her on her own terms. 2.2 Song of Solomon 介绍层次不清 Song of Solomon, a rich and empowering novel published in 1977 that focuses on black peoples life across America, following the path of Milkmans dead, a young black male in search for his identity.

22、Toni Morrisons gift of storytelling clearly shines through her poignant writing, as she presents Deads search for his culture and history, impeded by the society he lives in. Song of Solomon not only focuses on African American community life, it is also a stark depicter of white oppression. The nov

23、el earned Toni Morrison a National Book Critics Circle Award and an American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award. In contrast to her earlier works,Song of Solomon encompasses a wide variety of black communities across America, from the liberal Midwest to the old-fashioned and somewhat co

24、nservative South. It is a novel that arouses consciousness in the face of an African Americans struggle of confinement into a life of possibility. Song of Solomonis also Morrisons first novel to be written through a male protagonist view, and the narrators extraordinary manner of weaving in and out

25、creates an even more spellbound lure into the novels plot. This technique follows in part from the authors interest in folk storytelling traditions; Morrison patterns the novel after a Yoruba folktale about African-born slaves who could fly back to Africa whenever they wanted. Morrison alludes to ot

26、her ancient storytelling and folk art traditions as well. The title itself comes from the Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) in the Old Testament, a rhapsodic love poem consisting of addresses between a lover and a beloved. The lyrics of the Song of Solomon as presented in the novel are a variant of

27、 a Gullah folktale, further emphasizing the importance of oral tradition. Interestingly, Morrison may have taken this interest in roots and history even further with the name of Solomon, as that was the name of her own grandfather, a former slave.3. Themes of Song of Solomon Flying and Growing up are two main themes of Song of Solomon. The theme of Flying can be understood from the reconstructing of historical consciousness and the tradition