FURY OR MADNESS! BURSTING THE SILENCE IN GAYL JONES AND TONI MORRISON’S SELECTED FICTION

Abstract

This thesis strives to illuminate specifically the issue of women’s fury and madness. There will be an investigation of the reason behind their fury or madness throughout the analysis of a number of African American fictional texts. There is a focus on African American and African fiction, which shows the pain of black women and the double oppression of their communities. In African American literature, tracing the memories of slavery, racial problems and their negative impacts on female and their psyche, can be helpful to comprehend well the journey of fury, madness and trauma of these women. Indeed, studying fury, madness, and trauma may seem like an odd choice when studying African American literature. Nevertheless, the motives of fury, madness, and trauma will be discussed in detail in selected fictional texts of two African American writers, Toni Morrison, and Gayl Jones. Morrison's Beloved and The Bluest Eye; Gayl Jones's Corregidora, Eva's Man and a short story from her collection The White Rat, will be the main texts to investigate these motives. Throughout the analysis of the chosen texts, there is a focus on some notions like voice, memory, and sexual interact to stimulate processes of healing and self-definition. There will be an exploration of trauma, silence, daughter-parents’ relationships and resistance in order to reveal the protagonists’ psyche. Throughout the psychological development of these female characters, there is an argument on how they can burst their silence and burst their fury. However, this thesis is dealing with women anger, fury and madness in African American fiction; therefore, it is necessary to have a background of the African American female problems. These black women struggle to survive as human beings rather than animals. It also follows a phenomenological approach when it comes to investigating the ways in which each one of the protagonists deal with and respond to their individual and collective traumatic memories and stories. Finally, this thesis, in evaluating the different approaches used by each protagonist, brings into focus many of the ideas attached to Black Feminism, especially those related to the subject of voice, healing and self-definition. This thesis is not about man, it is about woman herself; She is the one who can say no even through castrating or killing. She is the one who can empower herself by using her power of fury. Fury is their way of accessing power. This thesis shows that these women are not going mad but furious. Sometimes they hurt themselves, sometimes they hurt others out of their monstrously anger. These women may turn to be furious, dangerous and monsters if they would not give the chance to breath.