On African Americans’ Growth In Tar Baby From The Perspective Of Spatial Theory

Toni Morrison(1931-)is the first Afro-American female writer to be rewarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.Her fourth novel Tar Baby displays the life of African Americans,presents their tough growth in white-dominated society and expresses her concerns about their development.Based on Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theory,through discussing characters’ bewilderment and exploration,this thesis attempts to explore the oppression on African Americans in multiple spaces and the struggles and efforts which they take to achieve growth.The thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter One introduces Toni Morrison and Tar Baby,summarizes the researches on Morrison and her work at home and abroad,illustrates the spatial theory,and states the thesis statement.Chapter Two,Three,Four are the body parts,and each chapter explores spatial subjects’ growth in a particular space.Chapter Two analyzes the damage to living environment and the spatial segregation of living space in the restricted physical space and points out the importance of returning to nature and connecting with ancestors for the blacks to break restrictions and obtain bodily liberation.Chapter Three interprets African Americans’ emotional estrangement in the alienated mental space and points out that only to emancipate mental space and embrace diverse cultures can African Americans obtain spiritual maturity.Chapter Four discusses the racial relationship and marginalization in the conflicting social space,and points out that the traditional black community can only shelter them temporarily,but it fails to help them realize social presence.African Americans can only gain individual fulfillment and eventually achieve growth by integrating into society and constructing harmonious social relationship.Chapter Five is concerned with the conclusion and significance of this thesis.Space plays an important role in Morrison’s novels.By employing multiple spaces in Tar Baby,Morrison shows the unceasing struggles and efforts of African Americans to expand their survival space and obtain growth.Meanwhile,Morrison also calls for mutual understanding and mutual tolerance among different races and cultures in building a society with equal development and no racial discrimination.