| Paradise,published in the year 1998,is a masterpiece written by American famous black woman writer Toni Morison.This novel is not only the last one of her trilogy including Beloved,Jazz and Paradise,but also the first one finished after she was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1993.Aiming at describing black people's living conditions as well as spiritual world,this novel illustrated a story about two black communities Ruby town and Convent which were close to each other.In the novel,black people of Ruby desired to turn their town into an undisturbed and harmonious paradise.However,their dream was disillusioned,and Ruby town finally moved towards disintegration.On the contrary,in Convent,there formed a harmonious atmosphere,and women living in this place eventually succeeded in building their own female paradise.What,on earth,has caused the disillusion of Ruby people's dream? What has led to the decline and disintegration of Ruby town? Why does Convent finally turned into a wonderful homeland? In order to answer all those questions,this thesis attempts to interpret the novel from a new angle,that is ethical literary criticism which is put forward by Chinese famous scholar Nie Zhenzhao.Most of the previous researchers both at home and abroad have tried to interpret this novel from the aspects of trauma theory,feminism,theme,binary opposition,etc.Few people have adopted ethical literary criticism to analyze this novel,so it can be regarded as an innovative try.The present thesis mainly aims at exploring the reasons that lead to the decline of Ruby town and the key factors that black people need to identify if they want to build their“paradise” to live a happy life.At the same time,the thesis also discusses the enlightenment of the novel to our present society,especially to the construction of a harmonious society in China nowadays.The thesis is divided into seven chapters.The first chapter is an introduction which mainly introduces the author Toni Morrison,and her novel Paradise;the researches of the novel both at home and abroad,and the significance as well as the layout of the thesis.Chapter Two is the theory research related to the thesis,including an introduction of ethical literary criticism as well as its relevant terms.Chapter Three focuses on analyzing the serious impact exerted by ethical environments on Ruby town,such as the persecution of racial discrimination and patriarchy.Chapter Four pays attention to the main characters' violations of ethical identities and serious consequences that have been brought to Ruby town.Chapter Five makes a furtherstudy on how Ruby people's wrong ethical choices sharpened the contradictions among people and eventually caused the decline of Ruby town.Chapter Six discusses the process of Convent women's establishment of sisterhood and regaining of family ethics after the awakening of ethical consciousness,thus pointing out a fact that ethical consciousness is the key factor for black people to build their own paradise.Chapter seven is the conclusion of the thesis.Based on the above analysis,the research finds that the disillusion of Ruby people's utopia is the result of two factors.The first one is the persecution of ethical environment.And the other one is Ruby people's lack of ethical consciousness.Generally speaking,it is reasonable for black people to pursuit a happy and free life which is as splendid as a paradise.However,they need to strengthen their ethical consciousness intrinsically and firmly follow the ethical rules at the same time.Only in this way,can black people step towards a real paradise.In brief,this research provides readers with a fresh angle to interpret the novel.Meanwhile,the implication that ethical consciousness is of great importance not only nourishes black people very much but also provides a valuable guidance for our current society,especially for the construction of socialist core values in China nowadays.Therefore,the moral instruction of the novel has been fully realized. |
PDF Full Text Request