Female Quest For Self: An Interpretation Of Textual Signifyin(g) Of Sula To Mrs.dalloway

Sula, the second novel of Morrison’ s, echoes with Mrs. Dalloway written by Virginia Woolf in term s of them e and s ubplot setting. Although living in dif ferent periods, countries and cultures, both Morris on and Woolf persevere in exploring the theme of female quest for self. In other words, Sula inherits from and develops the same theme in Mrs. Dalloway. Morrison, however, has a rational attitude towards the western literary classic. She integrates her ethnic characteristics into her works where she delivers her own perspective, thus pushing forward the development of the theme. Based on the sim ilarities and differences between the two nove ls, this thesis tries to reveal what kind of intertextual relation between them.On the basis of western contem porary linguistics and black folklores, the theory of Signifyin(g) is built by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to differ from the western traditional critical theory. This thesis carries out an intertextual study on the two novels by employing the theory of Signifyin(g), with the aim to analyze how Sula realizes its textual Signifyin(g) to Mrs. Dalloway. The two aspects of textual Signifyin(g) are innovatively discussed in the thesis, namely, the inherited textual Signifyin(g) and the revised textual Signifyin(g). Through analyses of the inheri ted textual Signifyin(g), it can be concluded that Morrison acknowledge s the role fem ale friendship and m ale psychic doubles play in fe male self-quest, which is a continuation of the fe male self-quest theme after Woolf. Through analys es of the revised textual Signifyin(g), Morrison’s different perception is revealed on the issue of suicide, isola tion and attachment mode of fe male friendship. In the novel, suf fering from hardship, her characters seldom commit suicide. They know how to accept and m ove on. Morrison also expresses her appreciation for co mmunal connection am ong black people and complementary mode of female friendship. Hopefully, the researches on Morrison’ s textual Signifyin(g) to Woolf in this thesis would contribute to a better understanding of her attitude towards the western canoni zed texts and the black people’ s views on death and life.