The persistence of memory : slavery and trauma in Tony Morrison's Beloved

Authors

Helena Austine, Florida International University

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Major/Program

English

First Advisor's Name

Heather Andrade

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Maneck Daruwala

Third Advisor's Name

Ana Luszczynska

Date of Defense

9-26-2007

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the personal narrative in the sub-genre of African-American literature known as the enslavement narrative. To do this, a deep reading of Toni Morrison's novel of slavery, Beloved (1987), will employ a psychological reading of slavery as trauma to reveal the tropes common to both the enslavement narrative and therapeutic discourses about trauma and its after effects. The personal narrative is the basis upon which the nineteenth century narrative of enslavement draws power and authority and is also of primary importance in understanding the phenomenon of psychological trauma. It is the aim of this study to examine where these two discourses overlap. By employing a deep reading of Beloved in context of psychological trauma, the African American autobiography as a literary project is found to be a means of resistance and reclamation of a whole, African American subjectivity.

Identifier

FI14032372

Comments

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Recommended Citation

Austine, Helena, "The persistence of memory : slavery and trauma in Tony Morrison's Beloved" (2007). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1338.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1338