"No funk" - shame, violence and the black body: An investigation of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and God Help the Child

Abstract

This thesis will provide an analysis of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye (1970) and God Help the Child (2015) in light of historical context and gothic literary tropes, with the main focus on shame and the black body, violence and the inheritance of shame in families. I will show how an intertextual gothic reading of characters highlights the structural problems of racism in the shadow of slavery and racist violence. My methodical approach is close reading of passages and characters in the two novels, and I will also draw some parallels to other works by Morrison. My theoretical framework is current gothic and African American literary theory and Morrison’s own academic writing. First, I take a close look at the two narratives separately in light of gothic tropes and internalized shame. Secondly, I analyze inherited shame, representations of violence and the doubling of characters from the two novels. Finally, I look at Morrison’s narrative resistance to systemic racism.