Motherhood in Toni Morrison’s Sula and A Mercy: Rethinking (M)Othering
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17851/2317-2096.25.3.67-84Keywords:
Motherhood, black mothers, Sula, A Mercy, Toni MorrisonAbstract
Motherhood tends to elicit strong feelings in women as well as a passionate rhetoric in our cultural discourse. Daughters have extensively been the focus of studies about mother-daughter bonds. Surprisingly, much less attention has been given to mother figures. By tracing the theme of motherhood in Sula (1973) and A Mercy (2009), I investigate how Toni Morrison rewrites the experiences of black mothers during slavery and its aftermath in the United States. Drawing mainly on feminist and black feminist theories, I explore, through literary analysis, how motherhood assumes various forms in both novels. The comparative analysis of Sula and A Mercy challenges distorted views commonly associated with the black mother and extends notions of mothering beyond biological determinants.
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Copyright (c) 2016 Natália Fontes de Oliveira (Autor)
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