The African Culture In Toni Morrison’s Novel

燕頔

Abstract：Toni Morrison has made an extraordinary achievement in the field of literature.Her works originated from the African culture，and at the same time，she also promotedit all over the world.She showed and explored the Blacks history，the Blacks fate and also the Blacks culture identity throughout her works. In the paper，it is discussed the African Culture in Toni Morrisons work in the following five aspects，they are the African religion，the African Philosophy and Value，the African folk tales，the African figures and the traditional African life styles individually.

Key words：Toni MorrisonAfrican CultureⅠToni Morrison and her works

Toni Morrison （1931-）is the first African-American who won the Noble Prize in literature.She is a prolific female writer，and the theme of her work mainly concentrated on the life of African American，which was affected by her growth experience. From 1970s，Morrison published ten novels：The Bluest Eye （1970），Sula （1973），Song of Solomon （1977），Tar Baby （1981），Beloved （1987），Jazz （1992），Paradise（1999），Love （2003），A Mercy（2008），and Home（2012）.The Blacks livesare the main content of the novels. She made great contribution to the African-American Literature and even to the World literature.

ⅡThe African Culture In Toni Morrisons Novel

1.The African religion

In African，it is not exaggerate to say that where there are people，there is the religion. In Song of Solomon，the alive people can talk with the dead one.The soul of the dead one can help them to solve the problems in the real world. In Sula，Morrison used Gods giving a full show the American Blacksself-consciousness and cultural identities.In Paradise，it is clearly showed the love and understanding and tolerance of the Africa religion.

2.The African Philosophy and Value

In African philosophy，people believe that the dead will be back to the real human world，which obviously showed in Tar Babyand Beloved.The African also believed that there is no boundary between the dead and the real world，they can contact to each other，and even further，the dead can help their descendants to settle down problems.In the novels，Morrison expressed the human， dead or alive，are the center of the world in the viewpoint of African Philosophy.

3.The African folk tales

Toni Morrison was adept in using the traditional Blacks culture in her novels.The novel Tar Babycreated from an old African folk tales.In the story，a rabbit is a thief who frequently steal the products in a Blacks farmland.The landlord put a tar baby in the middle of the farmland，the rabbit will stick to it if the rabbit touch it.In the Song of Solomon， Morrison absorbed the Flying Myth indicating that the Blacks are eager to freedom andequality.endprint

4.The African figures

Toni Morrison created a lot of classical figures in her novels，which affected by her growth experience，such as Africans， the black women，the black slavers etc.Most of names in The Song of Solomonare real from the Bible andthe past Christian to show the feelings of several worlds interwoven together.Her second novel Suladepicted an image of a black woman who has rebellious spirit.

5.The traditional African life styles

The traditional African life is an indispensible part in Morrisons novels，which is also the spirit of her works. The factor also make the reader personally on the scene.For instance， the Blacks diet and music.When it comes to music， we naturally think of Jazz. Jazz was created by the black slavers in South American. The music style is deeply influenced American culture.

ⅢConclusion

The traditional African culture is African American ethnic history，it inherited a great treasure from the blackcultureand their living wisdom.She absorbed the traditional African cultures essence in her works and modernized it to adapt to the modern society，she improved the contemporary African-American literature.Toni Morrison promotedAfrican culture in her novels，she reminded that the blacks should create and develop a more excellent culture. And only do the black people stick to the roots of their own culture they can establish their own identity.

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[3]毛信德.美国黑人文学的巨星托尼·莫里森小说创作论[M].浙江大学出版社，2006.endprint