RACE MOTIF AND SOCIAL VISION IN TONI MORRISON’S SULA AND THE BLUEST EYES

Koledade, Bolanle Funmilayo

Abstract

There is no doubt that racial issues at one pint or the other occupied a central position in African-American Literature. To be precise, the blacks are at the center of discrimination, brutality, oppression and complete servitude. The objective of the research work is to examine an environment of racism and its attendant effects. In a bid to achieve this, attention was focused specifically on two novels namely Sula and The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morison. New historicism has been adopted as the theoretical guide on the analysis of the historical and aesthetic features of the selected novels. The application of the theory for the study is to look: (a) into the social, political, economic structure of the environment, (b) into the cultural formation of the author; (c) into the historicity of the author as a reflection of her immediate environment. From the findings of the study; it is observed that the blacks especially the females are able to survive inspite of the fact that they live in perpetual fear and molestation arising from horrible social trends of their immediate environment. The study concludes that literature has undergone a metamorphosis from a vehicle of Art for act sake to social mediation in terms of awareness. Toni Morison therefore, succeeds in contributing to the crusade against racial discrimination, oppression and subjugation in the creative work.