Role and significance of male characters in Toni Morrison’s fiction

Abstract

Toni Morrison, a Nobel Laureate, is one of the foremost of twentieth century African American women novelists whose award-winning novels have captivated the hearts of the common readers as well as the scholars of literature. Her novels, grounded in African American realities and concerns, offer a fresh perspective on the blacks lives, their history and genealogy. She explores such complex social, political and philosophical concerns in her novels as black victimization, the emotional and social effects of racial and sexual oppression, and the difficulties African Americans face in trying to achieve a sense of identity in a society dominated by white cultural values. Morrison s commitment to her people, their lives and their art is evidenced in all she has written. The artistic excellence of Morrison s fiction, however, lies in achieving a balance between writing a truly black literature and writing what is truly universal literature. Her success as an internationally acclaimed writer transcends both her racial identity and her gender. Toni Morrison s novels have inspired a wide range of literary criticism over the last three decades. The variegated critical approaches to Morrison s fiction reveal that most critics have either neglected the role and significance of male characters in her novels or have dealt with only marginally and that too with a distorted perspective. Consequently, Morrison s criticism is left bereft of an in-depth analysis of the role and significance of male characters in her novels. The present thesis aims to fill this gap by making an in-depth study of the role and significance of male characters in Toni Morrison s fiction, thereby gaining fresh insights into her fictional art. newlineA careful study of Morrison s fictional writings shows that male characters are central to the novelist s vision and thematic design in her fiction. Morrison exhibits a profound grasp of male psychology, drawing her male characters in all their varieties and complexities.