On The Post-modern Nature Of Uncertainty In A Mercy

As the most eminent Afro-American black woman writer, Toni Morrison isknown to the world for her literary works with touching stories, unique narrativeskills and poetry-like language. Thanks to these characteristics of her works, she wasawarded the Nobel Prize for literature in1993. Although she is over sixty years old,Morrison’s passion for literary creation never wanes, for she just published anothernew novel, A Mercy, in2008. Shortly after its publication, the work receives a greatdeal of enduring attention both in the circle of intellectuals and the press. New YorkTimes even praises it as one of the ten best-sellers in2008. After perusing it, I find AMercy is tempting not only in its tears-provoking black stories, but more significantly,in its highly sophisticated narrative strategies. However, through literature review, Ifind most of the academic studies on A Mercy are accomplished either from the angleof theme-digging, or Feminism, or Colonialism. Although some of them are from theperspective of Narratology, they fail to analyze the post-modern nature of the novel.Therefore, my thesis is a humble attempt to analyze its nature of uncertainty based onNarratology and Figure-Ground theory.This thesis consists of four parts altogether. The first part is the introduction toMorrison and her works, to Narratology and Figure-Ground theory, and to theliterature review about A Mercy.The second part is to analyze the uncertainty of its structure from theperspectives of its narrative plot, narrative order, and blurry genres etc. Based onthese sophisticated post-modern narrative strategies, A Mercy introduces the readerinto a remote history with touching stories. And at the same time, these post-modernnarrative strategies automatically reveal the nature of uncertainty of the text.The third part is to study the uncertainty of its characters from the perspective ofits characters. Reading the novel, we will inevitably find that almost all thecharacters in the text are tinged with multi-faceted and conflicted personalities, all of which are tightly related to the then slavery system and racialism. Namely, theirconflicted personalities are the products of racialism and slavery system. Jacob, atthe beginning of the novel is a man of humanism: kind-hearted and compassionate.However, with the passage of time, he cannot withstand the lure of profits, and theavarices in his heart take over compassion, reducing him to a real slaver, crude andreckless. In the same way, Rebekka is also a kind woman before the impairment ofracialism. While when her husband Jacob dies, she loses her only reliance in theworld. Gradually, she turns against all the orphans on the farm, and totally cuts offfrom the outside. Furthermore, because of relatively less textual-based information,the nameless blacksmith is much more mysterious and conflicted to the reader.Although he is willing to help anyone he can, he does not help Florens completelyout of the abyss of racialism and slavery system.The fourth part is to interpret the uncertainty of discourses and focalizationsfrom the angles of discourse and focalization. The multiple discourses twine andclimb together, forming a “noisy world”. The author, through the multi-discourse andtransition of focalizations challenge the traditional concept of subjectivity andcertainty. Meanwhile, she also reveals the reader a much more real history of blackpeople.Finally the thesis comes to an end by the conclusion that A Mercy is a greatpostmodern novel with typical nature of uncertainty. And through the post-moderntechnique of uncertainty, Morrison in this novel challenges the traditional writingstrategies and shows deep concerns about the black’s future fate.