| Toni Morrison is the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Since then she has written nine critically acclaimed novels. Paradise is the third one of Toni Morrison's history trilogy. It continues the time and content from Beloved and Jazz. In Paradise, Morrison continues to pay much attention to the destiny of blacks. She attempts to investigate whether a paradise exists for blacks, which will be far away and keep the isolation from the American society, yet the result is disappointing. The isolated environment, the blind respect for the black history, and the fascination for the blood purity result in the destruction of the black paradise. In contrast to the black paradise, the Convent is also destroyed by its weakness and the attack of the Ruby men.This thesis is divided into five parts as the following(s): Introduction gives the life of Toni Morrison, the brief introduction to Paradise and the critical reviews on Paradise both abroad and at home. Chapter One analyses the reasons that Ruby and Convent become the single-gendered paradises for men and women respectively. Ruby is a typical patriarchal society, so it actually becomes the male paradise. Five castaway women coming to the Convent and the changes they have since their coming, enable the Covent to become a female paradise. Chapter Two mainly discusses the reasons that the two single-gender paradises are destroyed. Because of the separation within Ruby and the challenge of the Convent, the male paradise is ruined. Due to the isolation of the female group and the attack of the men, the female paradise is destroyed. Chapter Three tries to conclude the features of Morrison's ideal paradise while examining men's self-examination and women's returning to society. Conclusion insists on the possibility of reconstructing an ideal paradise. |
