童妮·摩里森《爵士樂》與《樂園》中黑白混血兒人物與種族歧視

Abstract

本論文檢視童妮·摩里森的《爵士樂》與《樂園》中，美國淺皮膚黑白混血兒的種族身份與歧視間的關係。小說中的黑白混血兒遊走於美國白人與深皮膚非裔美國人間，並時常遭受來自兩方的種族歧視。面臨此困境，部分黑白混血兒有意識或無意間偽裝(passing)為白人，生活條件較具優勢。在《爵士樂》中，戈登·格雷在白人家庭中成長，而無意間偽裝為白人。在他尋父以弒父的路程中，他所遇見的深皮膚非裔美國人促使他正視自己的非裔美籍血統。在《樂園》裡，派翠西雅·貝斯特與她女兒並未偽裝成白人。維持淺皮膚黑白混血兒的身份使她擁有情感疏離感，以完成Ruby──一個實施性別、種族排擠的城鎮──的族譜。然而，此身份同時強化與複雜化其母女關係。儘管這些淺皮膚黑白混血兒飽受歧視，他們逐漸發展出對自我身份更成熟、全面的認知。 我主張，《爵士樂》與《樂園》藉描繪美國淺皮膚黑白混血兒逐步發展的自我意識及跨世代母親、小孩間衝突，點出他們在社會處境的不尋常之處。在緒論裡，我提供關於兩本小說的文獻回顧及文學典型中黑白混血兒角色(tragic mulatto trope)的解釋。我也說明將如何運用拉岡的慾望的對象(object of desire)、克莉絲蒂娃的賤斥體(abject)、厄勒的族裔展演(racial performativity) 、與家的相關論述，以更加了解兩書中黑白混血兒的內心衝突與不斷改變的種族認知。在第一章中，我藉由精神分析與族裔展演概念，追尋並探究格雷的心理發展及遭受的待遇。我認為，格雷在不同空間裡深化自我認知，並漸漸正視自己的非裔美國血統。縱使他在小說尾聲裡消失了，他不再無意識偽裝成白人，並認同自己的淺皮膚黑白混血兒身份。第二章節裏，我討論《樂園》裡黑白混血兒身處逆種族歧視(reversed racism)的城鎮中，對其社會、性別角色所造成的危機。我主張，《樂園》探索美國黑白混血兒造成逆種族歧視的過程與其結果，及此身份導致母女關係衝突。我提供了學者對小說裡種族歧視與非裔美國人大遷徙的分析，再詮釋小說中的「不承認」事件(Disallowing)、探究種族歧視在鎮裡的散佈方式。我也檢視派翠西雅與其母親、女兒的母女關係，並點出黑白混血兒母親為依循主流文化規範而面臨的困境。在這篇論文中，我藉由放大檢視兩書中美國淺皮膚黑白混血兒的自我懷疑、種族歧視與跨世代衝突，企圖提供另一種文學中想像黑白混血兒的方式。

This thesis examines the racial identity of American light-skinned mulatto characters in relation to racism in Toni Morrison’s Jazz(1992) and Paradise(1998). These mulattos straddle white Americans and dark-skinned African Americans, and they thus constantly face racial discrimination from both communities. Under such harsh circumstances, some mulattos pass for white, whether consciously or not, and lead a comparatively privileged life. In Jazz, Golden Gray is raised in a white household and therefore unintentionally passes for white. It is the dark-skinned African Americans whom he encounters on his way to perform patricide that prepare him to recognize his African American ancestry. In comparison, Patricia Best and her daughter do not pass for white in Paradise. Maintaining a light-skinned mulatto identity provides Patricia Best the emotional distance to write the genealogy of Ruby, a town which practices gender and racial exclusion. The light-skinned mulatto identity, nevertheless, also intensifies and complicates Patricia’s mother-daughter relationships. As much as these light-skinned mulatto characters are discriminated against, they gradually develop a more sophisticated understanding of their identity. I maintain that Jazz and Paradise problematize American light skinned-mulattos’ situations in the society by depicting their developing awareness of the self and trans-generational mother-child conflicts. In the introduction, I offer a literature review section on the two novels, and the conventional tragic mulatto trope to provide a social, historical perspective. I also explain how Jacques Lacan’s object of desire, Julia Kristeva’s abject, Nadine Ehler’s racial performativity, and discourses on home facilitate an understanding of mulattos’ mental turbulence and constantly changing racial awareness in the novels. In the first chapter, I trace Golden Gray’s inner change and his treatment from others in Jazz in light of psychoanalysis and racial performativity. I contend that when Gray negotiates his own sense of self in different locations, he increasingly acknowledges the fact that he shares blood with dark-skinned African Americans. Although Gray disappears in the end of the novel, he no longer passes for white unwittingly and accepts himself as a light-skinned mulatto. The second chapter addresses the precarious social, sexual position mulattos occupy in a town where reversed racism prevails in Paradise. I argue that the novel explores mulattos’ participation in the formation of reversed racism and its impacts, and that the light-skinned mulatto identity creates tension in their mother-child relationships. This chapter begins with scholars’ investigation on racism in relation to African American migration, to my analysis of the Disallowing and the ways racism circulates in the town. Then, I interrogate the mulatto mother-daughter relationships among Delia Best, Patricia Best, and Billie Delia Cato to point out mulatto mothers’ difficulties when parenting involves the pressure to conform to the mainstream behavior codes. By magnifying the self-doubts and racial discriminations mulattos face as well as the trans-generational conflicts in the two novels, I hope to provide an alternative way to conceptualize American mulattos in literary works.