Family, violence and Toni Morrison

by Lee, Sau-yu

(Uncorrected OCR) Abstract of dissertation entitled Family, Violence and Toni Morrison Submitted by Lee Sau-yu, Phean for the degree of Master of Arts at The University of Hong Kong in August 2004 Generally speaking, a family is healthy and supportive with loving parents and lovely children. It is definitely a place full of love. For some people, unexpectedly, a family is never full of love or support. On the contrary, it is full of danger. It is a breeding ground for violence. Who are they? They are blacks. While looking at the history of blacks, it is found that they are a group of people who have suffered a lot. Before the emancipation, they were forced to be slaves. After the abolition of slavery, they are still suppressed by racism and sexism (in the case of black women). And violence becomes the only method for them to resist both evil forces. In the following dissertation, two types of family violence will be looked at: male-initiated violence and female-initiated aggression in Chapter II and Chapter III, with reference to Toni Morrison? The Bluest Eye and Sula respectively. What are the purposes of these two types of violence? Is the male-initiated violence used as a means of preserving the patriarchal rule? Is the female-initiated violence employed as a means of destroying the patriarchy? What are the consequences of these two types of violence? Who is /are the victim(s)? These questions are going to be discussed in the present dissertation.