From emotional orphanhood to cultural orphanhood: spiritual death and re-birth in two novels by Toni Morrison

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the process of spiritual death and sometimes ensuing re-birth Morrison's characters undergo in two of her novels: Sula and Tar Baby. Special attention will be paid to the female protagonists, Sula and Jadine, and their emotional and cultural "orphanhood" caused by their detachment from the ancestors and the community. Neither a total detachment nor an unquestioning submission to the establishment within the community is convenient; Morrison's eclectic position in this sense will be explained through this analysis.