Abstract:

Inspired by Toni Morrison’s admission in 1989’s “Unspeakable Things Unspoken” that “trees have always seemed feminine to me,” I argue that the profusion of tree imagery in Morrison’s Beloved does indeed exhibit a feminine character—but one infused with a presence unique to the wounded and neglected past of African Americans. Tracing a pattern through Morrison’s earlier novels, and drawing on scholars from a range of disciplines, I suggest Morrison’s use of trees and their imagery advances a larger project to reclaim symbolic territory previously off-limits to African Americans, identifying an encumbered, complex, and distinctly African American femininity.

摘要：

受托尼·莫里森（Toni Morrison）在1989年发表的“无法言说的东西”所承认的启发，“树木对我而言似乎总是女性化的”，我认为，莫里森的《心爱的人》中树木的图像确实表现出女性化的特征-但其中注入了一种独特的存在受伤和被忽视的非裔美国人过去。我想通过莫里森的早期小说寻找一种模式，并借鉴各种学科的学者，我建议莫里森使用树木和它们的图像来推进一个更大的项目，以收回以前禁止非裔美国人使用的象征性领土，从而确定一个累赘，复杂而复杂的地方。非裔美国人的女性气质。