A Comparative Study Of Two Communities In Paradise From Ecological Perspective

As the first African American woman writer who won the Nobel Prize Literature in 1993,Toni Morrison(1931-)is one of the most influential and outstanding writers in the contemporary American literary world.Morrison pays close attention to the marginalized minority,the black group,especially the black female group in her works.She applies a unique perspective,rich imagination and poetic language in her novels to depict the humiliation and depression African Americans suffered against historical background,which reflects black people's pursuit for their self-identity.Paradise is the last book of Morrison's “Black Trilogy”,which is her reflection on various ecological crisis suffered by black people under multiple social and historical reasons.Paradise narrates the story of the establishment of a black community outside the mainstream white society.In the process of building their own ideals of “earthly paradise”,the black people's pursuit of anthropocentrism,extreme racism,and phallocentrism results in the doomed decline and the final collapse of newly-built Ruby.This thesis intends to make a comparative analysis of two communities,Ruby residents and Convent women,with emphasis on their different attitudes toward the relationships between man and nature,man and man,man and self and then its consequences accordingly.In terms of the man-nature relationship,under the dual influences of mechanical civilization and slavery,residents in Ruby have lost their respect for nature.They regard nature as their private property,plunder natural resources and destroy the natural environment,which greatly undermines the harmonious man-nature relationship.However,out of similarities in situation and function with nature,Convent women develop a harmonious and intimate relationship with nature and learn to accept themselves willingly.Consequently,their individual consciousness is gradually awakened.Meanwhile,the relationship between man and nature also affects the relationship between people within a community.During the process of plundering natural resource in Ruby,Ruby residents' belief in and practice of gender discrimination,hierarchical discrimination and reverse racism distort their harmonious relationship,which causes great harm to their body and soul.In contrast,the harmonious woman-nature relationship helps Convent women to establish mutually respectful,open and equal social relations and finally construct ideal and amicable social space.In addition,Ruby residents' sense of self-denial brought by their alienation from nature and strong inferiority is in stark contrast with Convent women's self-affirmation and self-recognition owing to their closeness to nature and their acceptance of the past,which is one of the most fundamental reasons that accounts for the two communities' different living conditions.Through a comparative analysis of Ruby residents and Convent women,this thesis explores the ways that Convent women overcome the natural,social,and spiritual ecological dilemmas,the root causes for the decline of Ruby,and excavates Morrison's ecological ideas embodied in Paradise.This thesis argues that the depiction of the maledominated Ruby and the female-dominated Convent in Paradise reflects Morrison's initial exploration of the establishment of a healthy and harmonious society for black people and expresses her ardent expectations that the black community can develop a correct self-recognition,achieve self-identification and finally get rid of the trauma.