insights on pursuit for meaningful life in selected works of toni morrison (sum)

CANDIDATE: VU THI QUYNH DUNG DZUNG INSIGHTS ON PURSUIT FOR MEANINGFUL LIFE IN SELECTED WORKS OF TONI MORRISON Specialty: English Language and Litera ture DISSERTATION SUMMARY OF ENGLIS

Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines

Ph.D CANDIDATE: VU THI QUYNH DUNG (DZUNG)

INSIGHTS ON PURSUIT FOR MEANINGFUL LIFE

IN SELECTED WORKS OF TONI MORRISON

Specialty: English Language and Litera ture

DISSERTATION SUMMARY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

AND LITERATURE

THAI NGUYEN, 2014

INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE STUDY PROGRAMS,

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Scientific supervisor: Dr Maria Luisa A Valdez

The peer review Í: {c2 The peer reVi€W 2: cà se cẰ The peer review Ổ: cà se cằ

The dissertation is defended to the Panel of Experts at:

Dissertation can be found at:

- National Library

- Learning Resource Center, Thai Nguyen University

- Library of International Training and Development Center

- Library of Batangas State University, Philippines

1.Vu Thi Quynh Dung, Maternal Love of Black Mothers in

“Beloved” of Toni Morrison — Journal of Scientific and Technology.No 27, 10/2003- 57-61 (ISSN 1859-3968)

Pursuing a meaningful life is a fundamentally important goal for anyone who lives on earth Whether the meaning of life is formulaic and what should we do to gain the significance of life are really complicated questions The answers are different from cultural and ideological backgrounds

Different people hold different views about meaningful life In general, if an average person possesses these five things, their life will

be significant: a faith in God, a meaningful family life, a meaningful career, bosom friendship, and the positive contribution to the society Those five important components foster one another to strengthen the life of the being

For women, a part of a meaningful life derives from the liberation of their own Throughout the world, governments have committed to achieve the equality between men and women However, their status in many countries remains considerably inferior of men in many aspects of life In developed countries, women are still suffering from unequal wage in the workplace, from sexual harassment; the prevalence of men in political, economic field, and others

Similarly, the status of Vietnamese women has been greatly improved since the foundation of the country in 1945 Women are more respected in families and in society Nevertheless, in many parts

of Vietnam, women are victims of discriminations, violence, obstacles and gender disparities That 1s the reason why the search for a meaningful life of Vietnamese women is an endless struggle

Among the writers who writes about women’s life, Toni Morrison is one of the outstanding ones with novels about the diverse

and complex lives of black women within the black community as well as holding that community responsible for its own The wisdom embodied in the selected works of Toni Morrison could be one of the motivating factors that could help the Vietnamese students re-examine their lives and values when they become aware of her genuine philosophical dimension

With this thought in mind, the theme “Insights on pursuit for meaningful life in selected works of Toni Morrison” is chosen to study

The structure of dissertation includes 5 chapters

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM 1.1 Statements of Problem

The study seeks answers to the following questions:

1 How do the selected works of Toni Morrison manifest the

sufferings of Black women in terms of:

1.2 Scope, Delimitation and Limitations of the Study

This study analyzes the insights on pursuit for meaningful life

in selected works of Toni Morrison namely Song of Solomon and Tar Baby, pointing out the events and situations which show honest implications of the themes pursued in the novels to the study of meaningful family life among Vietnamese students Likewise, this paper tries to present how the selected works manifest the sufferings

of black women in terms of racial oppression, gender inequality, emotional abandonment, and women’s sufferings; the sources of strengths and motive of women’s resistance as shown in the love between mother and children, husband and wife relationship, freedom and equality, and self-identity; and the manner how the women in the world portrayed in the novels express resistance to the different forms

of violence

The representative literary works of Toni Morrison entitled Song of Solomon and Tar Baby were constituted the primary and twining sources of the study to analyze The said selections were chosen because of including the themes in the statements of problem Likewise, these works have been taken up in critical analysis far less frequently than Morrison’s other popular novels entitled “Beloved, The Bluest Eyes, Sula, A Mercy, Peeny Butter Fudge, and many more 1.3 Significance of the Study

Academic Managers Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training, the educational institutions ensure that the insights on the pursuit of meaningful family life are integrated in the academic This will also inspire them to spawn activities in the curricula that will educate the

academic community of the beneficial outcomes of contemplating and aiming for a meaningful family life to all people regardless of gender, race, nationality and religious backgrounds

Working Professionals the analysis may showcase how they could to explore their journey into a meaningful family life and lifestyle and the positive implications of eschewing excess stuff in favor of focusing on life’s more important aspects: health, relationships, passion, growth, and contribution

Media Practitioners This study may inspire them to introduce an intervention strategy known as entertainment education on the media

to change cultural attitudes, norms and behaviors that would benefit audiences

College Instructors of Literature This analysis will be helpful in the instructor’s methodology in teaching literature as an inquiry into using the appropriate literary theories and approaches in literary analysis In addition, this will provide them with opportunities to touch the concept of meaningful family life in their literature classes and open their students’ mind and hearts to the meaning of life as a philosophical and spiritual question concerning the significance of life

or existence in general that maybe drawn from the selections

Students of Literature Not only will this analysis give them an extensive and profound outlook in life with reference to a person’s pursuit of meaningful life through the lives and experiences of the writers and the characters in the selected literary pieces, it will also make them realize the real essence of human existence

Members of the Community This paper will make them understand that life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack

of meaning and purpose For most people in the community, feeling happy and finding life meaningful are both important and related goals

Other Researchers This paper may inspire them to conduct more researches on different ways Each issue of the dissertation is recommended to be a more intensive and extensive research of the theme On the basis of study, a further in-depth research on a meaningful life for Vietnamese youth is also recommended

CHAPTERH REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter 1s presented with the end view of identifying the constructs of the study

2.1 Conceptual Literature

The review of the conceptual literature yields four types of constructs, which are used in the analysis and interpretation of the literary pieces dissected These constructs include: Literature and Philosophy, Toni Morrison and her Significant Works, Meaningful Family Life in Vietnam, and Sociological and Philosophical Approaches in Literary Criticism

2.2 Research Literature

This section presents the published and unpublished researches that are related to the present study

2.3 Synthesis of Literature Reviewed

This section justifies the direct bearing of the conceptual literature to the present study followed by the presentation of the similarities and differences of the cited research literature to the present study

2.4 Conceptual/T heoretical Framework

This section presents the central theme or the main thrust of the study It serves as a guide in conducting the investigation It is followed by a paradigm which is a diagrammatic representation of the conceptual framework

This section presents the terms defined conceptually and operationally for a better understanding and appreciation of concepts

as they are used in the study The terms defined are as follows: emotional abandonment, gender inequality, meaningful family life, racial oppression, self-identity, women in the world, and women’s suffering

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design

This study employed the qualitative method of research in analyzing the tenets of black women’s pursuit for meaningful life in the representative literary works chosen

Likewise, this study involved content analysis, which is a systematic technique in analyzing message content and message handling The data analysis in this research centered on pattern seeking and the extraction of meaning from Toni Morrison’s selected linguistic or visual data Much effort was directed toward task of recording data through different methods like coding and categorizing; attaching concepts to the categories, linking and combining abstract concepts; creating theory from emerging themes, and writing an understanding

Textual criticism was employed in this research to examine in the texts the idea that literature can be a writer’s channel for conveying his philosophical dimension of searching for a meaningful life Likewise, philosophical approach, and sociological approach were applied in this study

3.2 Treatment of Materials

The criteria are adopted to the process of analysis: linguistic accessibility, literary accessibility, cultural accessibility and story- telling quality

In subjecting the materials to internal and external criticism and analysis, the meaning and trustworthiness of the statements in the aforecited primary sources were carefully chartered and analyzed

To attain congruency between the theories used in explaining the black women’s’ insights on pursuit for the meaning of life, coding and categorization were conducted In this study, the categories which served as coding units include the following: manifestations of black women’s sufferings; sources of strengths and motive of women’s resistance; manner in which the “women in the world” express resistance to the different forms of violence; and the implications of the themes to the study of meaningful family life among Vietnamese students

Direct lines were lifted from the selections served as the primary texts and juxtaposed with the theoretical statements discussed These passages from the chosen prose substantiated the theoretical basis of the study

CHAPTER IV INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

1 The manifestation of the sufferings of Black women in the selected works of Toni Morrison

1.1 Racial oppression

The novels reflect the hard life that Black women experienced

as being colored The oppressive forms derive from externalized force such as violence, maltreated behavior, mistreatment by the white or even by the black ones They also suffer from the internalized force such as hatred of the physical appearance of the black, the desire to become white-like women

1.2 Gender inequality

The analysis shows that black women were oppressed by the conventions of the patriarchal society about the role of women at home, in marriage and in relationships with men The society put on their shoulders the burden of responsibility for the bulk of child bearing and rearing, of housework.Their world was restricted within the family These conventions considered black women as submissive, passive group They wounded black women physically and emotionally

1.3 Emotional abandonment

Emotional abandonment is a very significant aspect of the sufferings of black women in Morrison’s novels She explained the different forms of abandoning act experienced by the female

characters 1n her novel that led these characters to became oppressed

In the world of the works, men took control in relationships When they no longer felt those interesting, they tried to give up their partner Then women became the victims of the abandonment They suffered from both physical and emotional abandonment

1.4 Women’s sufferings

Black women in the selected works suffered from hundreds of humiliation in life, from domestic violence to suspicion, alienation of their closest people and the community They were bruise wounded or even killed by their husbands Their spouses mistrusted their faithfulness Their effort to satisfy the husbands were not properly appreciated What they said or did were always made fun of or decried They could not have a normal life because they were black and they were women in the male-dominance society

2 The sources of strengths and motive of women’s resistance 2.1 Love between mother and children

Mothers in the novels showed their unconditional love in different ways They suffered from the violence of the husband, from the prejudice of the community since the child was inside their womb They sacrificed their life to be enslaved provided that their beloved had respectable education Their love for their own child was obvious, but nobody else was able to show disaffection to theirs If they did so, they would hurt the mothers Their unfailing love was the source of strength to protect their off springs from troubles

2.2 Husband and wife relationship