American Studies (미국학)

Seoul National University American Studies Institute (서울대학교 미국학연구소)
권호 표지

Naturalized Women: Ecofeminism in Toni Morrison's A Mercy

  • Received : 2021.11.30
  • Accepted : 2021.12.21
  • Published : 2021.12.31

⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Toni Morrison's A Mercy (2008) describes Jacob Vaark, an early settler from England, and his grand house that symbolizes the American Dream in the 1680s. The source of his success is colonialism and slavery, as revealed by four female characters-a white Englishwoman Rebekka and three non-white women Florens, Sorrow, and Lina. Analyzing how the novel compares the women's experiences with nature and natural objects, this paper draws on ecofeminism as a theoretical frame of analysis to examine the novel's hitherto overlooked representations of naturalized women and feminized nature. The paper analyzes how the novel represents oppressions and exploitations of the four women in relation to nature that is similarly appropriated and developed by European men. The paper maintains that the novel does not represent these "naturalized" women as powerless and passive but portrays them as growing characters who resist patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the BK21 four (Fostering Outstanding Universities for Research) funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE, Korea) and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).

References

  1. Carlacio, Jami. "Narrative Epistemology: Storytelling as Agency in A Mercy." Fultz, pp. 129-46.
  2. Fultz, Lucille P. Toni Morrison: Paradise, Love, a Mercy. Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.
  3. Gallego-Duran, Mar. "Nobody Teaches You to Be a Woman: Female Identity, Community and Motherhood in Toni Morrison's A Mercy." Stave and Tally, pp. 103-18.
  4. Hazard, Samuel, editor. Colonial Records of Pennsylvania. Theo Fenn. & Co., 1858. archive.org/details/colonialrecords09hazagoog. Accessed 10 Oct. 2021.
  5. Herbert C. Bell. "The West India Trade Before the American Revolution." The American Historical Review, vol. 22, no. 2, 1917, pp. 272-87. https://doi.org/10.2307/1834961
  6. Kwon, Hyuck Mi. "Thoughts about Home in Toni Morrison's A Mercy." American Fiction Studies, vol. 19, no. 2, 2012, pp. 5-23.
  7. Mayberry, Susan Neal. "Visions and Revisions of American Masculinity in A Mercy." Fultz, pp. 166-84.
  8. Mies, Maria. "Feminist Research: Science, Violence and Responsibility." Ecofeminism, edited by Maria Mies, Vandana Shiva, and Ariel Salleh, Zed Books, 2014, pp. 36-54.
  9. Morrison, Toni. A Mercy. Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
  10. Nardi, Paola. "'You Are Nothing but Wilderness. No Constraint. No Mind': Toni Morrison's A Mercy." The US and the World We Inhabit, edited by Silvia Guslandi Paola Loreto, Adele Tiengo, and Anastasia Cardonem, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019, pp. 119-30.
  11. Neary, Lynn. "Toni Morrison Discusses A Mercy." National Public Radio, 30 Oct. 2008, https://www.coudz.com/video/197182/toni-morrison-discussesa-mercy. Accessed 21 Sept. 2021.
  12. Peterson, James Braxton. "Eco-critical Focal Points: Narrative Structure and Environmentalist Perspectives in Morrison's A Mercy." Stave and Tally, pp. 9-22.
  13. Roye, Susmita. "Toni Morrison's Disturbed Girls and Their Disturbed Girlhoods: The Bluest Eye and A Mercy." Callaloo, vol. 35, no. 1, 2012, pp. 212-27. https://doi.org/10.1353/cal.2012.0013
  14. Shiva, Vandana. "Development, Ecology, and Women." Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development, Zed Books, 1989, pp. 1-13.
  15. Stave, Shirley A., and Justine Tally, editors. Toni Morrison's A Mercy: Critical Approaches. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011.
  16. Updike, John. "Dreamy Wilderness." The New Yorker, vol. 84, no. 35, 2008, p. 112.
  17. Wardi, Anissa Janine. "The Politics of 'Home' in A Mercy." Stave and Tally, pp. 23-41.
  18. Warren, Karen J. "Feminism and Ecology: Making Connections." Environmental Ethics, vol. 9, 1987, pp. 3-20. https://doi.org/10.5840/enviroethics19879113
  19. Warren, Karen J. "Toward an Ecofeminist Peace Politics." Ecological Feminism, edited by Karen J. Warren, Routledge, 1994, pp. 179-99.
  20. Witek, Darby. "Overflowing Power in Self-Ownership: Finding Freedom in Toni Morrison's A Mercy." The Corinthian, vol. 16, no. 4, 2015, pp. 44-71.