RACE, IDENTITY AND PERSPECTIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE SELECTED WORKS OF TONI MORRISON AND RITA DOVE BY JOSEPH CHRISTOPHER MA/ARTS/5043/2010-2011 BEING A RESEARCH SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS (M.A) IN ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, FACULTY OF ARTS AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA 2014 i DECLARATION I hereby declare that the work in the thesis titled “Race, Identity and Perspectives of African American Women in the Selected Works of Toni Morrison and Rita Dove” has been written by me in the Department of English and Literary Studies under the supervision of Dr. Edward Abah Ochigbo and Dr. Suleiman Jaji. The information derived from the literature has been duly acknowledged in the text and a list of references provided. No part of this thesis was previously presented for another degree or diploma at any university. …………………………… …………………………. …………………………. Name of student Signature Date ii CERTIFICATION This thesis entitled “Race Identity and Perspectives of African American Women in the Selected Works of Toni Morrison and Rita Dove” by Joseph Christopher meets the regulations governing the award of Masters of Arts Degree in Literature of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, is approved for its contribution to knowledge and Literary Presentation. ………………………………………………………… ………………… Chairman, Supervisory Committee Date ……………………………………………………….. ……………………. Member, Supervisory Committee Date ……………………………………………………… ………………….. Head of Department Date ……………………………………………………... …………………… Dean, Postgraduate School Date iii DEDICATION This work is deservedly dedicated to the memory of my father, Late Mr. Amobi C. Christopher (Igwe), the one who kick-started this dream. Thank you father for all your efforts and hope in me! Owa Ne Te Ora Ana – The moon that beats at night has long departed…Nna Je Bezia Nudo – Father Rest in Peace… It is also dedicated to the loving memory of my baby sister, Late Peace A. Christopher, who planted a seed of smile in the thick of this research from the onset. Thank you Sweet Sis! iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am so grateful to Almighty God for giving me the strength, wisdom and patience that saw me through to the end of this research. I appreciate the unending love, the unmerited mercy and grace and the abundant kindness of Jesus Christ in the course of this research. I wish to thank these witnesses to the budding intellectual dream, my supervisors, Dr. Edward Abah Ochigbo and Dr. Suleiman Jaji who continuously provided me with the materials books and support relevant for the progress of this research. Not only that, Dr. Edward Abah Ochigbo availed me the necessary push, advice, guidance and courage needed for the success of this study. May God in his infinite mercy bless you, reward you beyond your expectation and pay you this debt I can never refund. This work would not have been possible without the contribution and assistance of the following people: Dr. Abel Joseph for suggesting the research area in Women Writing class (Litt 814) with his Socratic insight. I am also indebted to Mr. Joseph Stephen whose fatherly advice taught me that this research was only but a phase, and truly a phase indeed! To Late Professor Yakubu Nasidi of blessed memory, I give you gratitude for calling my attention to my being too verbose and wordy in critical analysis. So I learnt to fire words like bullets from an AK 47 with a specific direction. Also, to Professor M.I. Umar-Buratai for the constant push that served as a reminder of the need to finish on time and finish well. Thank you sir, you really helped in this light. Importantly, I wish to thank my family, my mother for believing in me greatly and believing what I love to do. For the hopes you have in me, thank you! For all your support; v financially, physically, spiritually to name a few, thank you! To my brother, Christopher Christopher, my sisters, Vivian Christopher, Mary-Jane Christopher, Charity Christopher, Emmanuela Christopher and Josephine Christopher, thank you for your enormous supports, prayers, and motivation for me and this work. I am so grateful to Sharret Bakle for being so sweet even in the heat of this research. For reading and typing this work, thank you! For picking fast interest in literature and me, thank you! Thank you dear! Na you and me get this work oh! So I go write your name on top am too! You are a darling… I am grateful to Samuel Bitrus for sharing in my dreams. And to all my course mates in Zaria, Veronica Agbo, Manta Yadok, Debora Ateh, Victor Shiru Babatete, Mallam Danlamin Zumunta, you all lit the candle of love in my heart and enlightened my ignorance. You are all as sweet as a honeyed-dream. vi ABSTRACT This study is concerned with an appraisal of Race, Identity and Perspectives of African American Women in the Selected Works of Toni Morrison and Rita Dove about the African American community, within the context of the United States of America. Over the years African American women writing has not been accorded due relevance within the American literary space. As such, black male writers have dominated the literary scene for long, being literarily the spoke persons on the specific and general dimensions of black people‟s existence and experience in America. This position is now being contested by black women writers such as Toni Morrison and Rita Dove. In other words, the claim of a homogenous black experience is now being debated and challenged by these African American women writers through different literary platforms. Thus, these black women writers foreground women characters who are now subjects of their own narrations. This research apprehends the various views of African American women about themselves, about the African American community and how their perspectives have contributed significantly to shaping the concerns bordering on history, existence, experience and the community of black people in America via different literary platforms. Significantly therefore, this research employs various genres of literature, specifically the novelistic art form and the poetic genre, as parameters for the exploration of the complex dynamics of African American community in America. To this extent, the study contends that the poetic genre of literature is also a distinctive genre that similarly apprehends the African American reality and should be emphasized alongside the novel form which has gained popular acceptance in the literary circle. This thesis employs the postcolonial praxis as a rewarding paradigm for investigating the works of Morrison and Dove, especially as it facilitates the foregrounding of such critical parameters as hegemony, hybridity, mimicry, conflict, power dynamics, identity, gender to name a few and how these concerns are implicated in the existence and experience of black people in America. This research work is presented in six chapters. Chapter one is the introduction, which provides a background on the conceptual framework of the research. It comments on the origin and development of African American writing as well as the emergence of African American women writing. Chapter two delineates the dynamics of slavery in Morrison‟s A Mercy. Chapter three locates the place and position of African American identity in Morrison‟s Paradise. Chapter four interrogates the concept of race in the globalized American society in Rita Dove‟s American Smooth. Chapter five appraises the dilemma of mothering in Dove‟s Mother Love. Chapter six, the concluding chapter brings to bear the central arguments and findings of the study and its contributions to knowledge in the field. vii TABLE OF CONTENT TITLE PAGE i DECLARATION ii CERTIFICATION iii DEDICATION iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v-vi ABSTRACT vii TABLE OF CONTENT viii-ix CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 African American History and the Development of African American writing 1-4 1.2 African American Women Writing 4-7 1.3 Statement of the Problem 7-9 1.4 Research Aim and Objectives 9 1.5 Justification of Study 10 1.6 Scope and Limitation 11 1.7 Methodology 12 1.8 Theoretical Frame 12-19 1.9 Literature Review 19-26 CHAPTER TWO 2.0 Delineating the Dynamics of Slavery in Toni Morrison‟s A Mercy 27 2.1 Slavery and the African American Experience in Morrison‟s A Mercy 27-37 2.2 Interrogating the Hegemony of Religion in Morrison‟s A Mercy 37-45 2.3 Interrogating the Hegemony of Language in Morrison‟s A Mercy 45-50 viii CHAPTER THREE 3.0 Locating the Place of the African American Identity through the Perspectives of African American Women in Toni Morrison‟s Paradise 51 3.1 The Portrait of the Individual African American Identity in Morrison‟s Paradise 51-58 3.2 The Communal African American Identity in Morrison‟s Paradise 58-66 3.3 The Place of Women in Morrison‟s Paradise 66-78 CHAPTER FOUR 4.0 Underpinning the Dynamics of Race in the Globalized America via African American Women Perspectives in Rita Dove‟s American Smooth 79 4.1 Race, Racism and the Globalized American Society in Dove‟s American Smooth 79- 90 4.2 Globalization, Change and the Integration of African American values into the Mainstream in Dove‟s American Smooth 90-101 CHAPTER FIVE 5.0 Interrogating the Dilemma of Mothering in Rita Dove‟s Mother Love 102 5.1 Family and the Dilemma of Mothering in Dove‟s Mother Love 102-116 CHAPTER SIX 6.0 CONCLUSION 117-122 BIBLOGRAPHY 123-130 ix CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 African American History and the Development of African American Writing African American literature acts as a creative umpire that offers possibilities for blacks in the United States to mediate their general aspirations and desires.