Definers and Defined. A study of the portrayal of black masculinity in the characters and communities in Toni Morrison's Beloved and Paradise

Abstract

This thesis utilises the novels Beloved and Paradise by Toni Morrison with the purpose of examining her portrayal of black masculinity within a historical and social context, particularly in view of how and when race is complicated by gender and vice versa. It utilises a close reading of both individual characters and the communities that surround them based on Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity and Critical Race Theory – with a focus on individual gender performativity in relation to shifting ideas of masculinity within and outside African American communities, and issues such as institutional or systemic racism when examining the different communities. Given the span of history in which the novels are set, I give brief summaries on the issues of slavery, slave narratives and the civil rights movement. Finally, a brief comparison of characters, communities and their issues, looking at similarities across the novels.