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The IUP Journal of English Studies

Application of Black American "Aesthetics" and "New Consciousness" to Toni Morrison's Beloved and Beyond: A Comparative Critical Discourse

Article Details

Pub. Date	: June, 2023
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJES070623
Author Name	: Shuvendu Ghosh, Rajiv Bhushan and Maninder Kapoor
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: Arts & Humanities
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 13

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Abstract

Undoubtedly, Toni Morrison's novel Beloved is a work of fiction whose main function is not only to depict a story of slavery and emancipation, but also to produce a universal insight, a possible philosophical overview, and promote an aesthetic taste for receiving culture, language, and history from a different point of view, perhaps a "New Consciousness." While analyzing the text Beloved, we understand how the language game itself is responsible for creating a decoded sense of "Signification" based on its usage of "rhetorical tropes"- an idea that has been minutely illustrated by Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his theory of "Signifyin(g) Monkey"-a theory of "Signification" indigenous to Black American literature. This paper demonstrates an intersectional application of Black American "Aesthetics" and "New Consciousness" to Toni Morrison's Beloved. At the same time, the paper also demonstrates the possible application of Black American "Aesthetics'' and the idea of "New Consciousness" beyond the Black American canon, taking several references from postcolonial literary criticism, theory, and the very concept of "Third World Consciousness." With the help of the "Compare and Contrast" research technique, the paper explores the possible applications of Black American "Aesthetics'' and "New Consciousness" as reflected in Toni Morrison's Beloved.

Introduction

Before engaging with the idea of Black American "Aesthetics" and "New Consciousness," we shall attempt to trace the mythical historical and cultural backdrop of African-American culture to show how their oral culture, myths, folklore, and history helped them to develop