Whiteness in Toni Morrison`s A Mercy = Whiteness in Toni Morrison`s A Mercy

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Since the rise of critical whiteness studies in the 1990s, scholars from different disciplines have examined how whiteness has been defined, how whites view their white identity, how the ideology and power of whiteness have been supported, and so on. Scholars in American literature have contributed to critical whiteness studies as well. For instance, in Playing in the Dark (1992), Morrison demonstrates how 19th- and early 20th-century white writers constructed whiteness in their works. In addition, she offers a critical perspective on whiteness in A Mercy. In this paper, I examine how the novel challenges whiteness applying critical whiteness theories. To be more specific, I show that Morrison deconstructs the American foundational myth by offering counter-narratives; By presenting pre-racialized slavery, Morrison historizes how racial slavery was legalized for white dominance; Through the portrayal of white double consciousness of Jacob Vaark, Morrison examines the ways in which whites join the oppressive racial system; Regarding Rebekka, she describes the performance of white femininity in maintaining the racial hierarchy. The novel reveals whiteness through black slaves, Florens and her mother as well. By picturing black racial consciousness and their oppressed life, the novel shows the ways in which whiteness construes blackness.