Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses May 2021 "They don't need men and they don't need God": The Liberatory Possibilities of Waywardness in Toni Morrison's Paradise Mary Frankovich Clemson University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Recommended Citation Frankovich, Mary, ""They don't need men and they don't need God": The Liberatory Possibilities of Waywardness in Toni Morrison's Paradise" (2021). All Theses. 3490. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/3490 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. “THEY DON’T NEED MEN AND THEY DON’T NEED GOD”: THE LIBERATORY POSSIBILITIES OF WAYWARDNESS IN TONI MORRISON’S PARADISE A Thesis Presented to the Graduate SChool of Clemson University In PArtiAl Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MAster of Arts English by MAry Rose FrankoviCh MAy 2021 ACCepted by: Dr. Rhondda ThomAs Dr. Erin Goss Dr. MAtthew Hooley ABSTRACT While Toni Morrison’s work is often a topiC of critiCAl conversAtions regarding raCe and gender in the United StAtes, less attention is paid to her 1997 novel Paradise. Morrison’s mAny-lAyered, multi-voiCed work explores the tensions between the rigidly patriArchal, all-blACk town of Ruby, OklAhomA, and the wAywArd women who live in a neArby mAnsion known as the Convent. The women creAte an unlikely community at the Convent, and Ruby’s patriArchs are so threAtened by them that they murder the women.