earticle

영어

This paper aims at analyzing the significances of the decolonizing process that the orature of the flying Africans represents, based on Toni Morrison’s use of African values, characteristics, and community as an alternative to mainstream assimilation or radical separatism. It centers on Milkman’s fateful relationship with Pilate’s storytelling that transforms his search for gold into an acknowledgement of his heritage, uncovering the legend of the flying Africans. Through her storytelling role as educator of Milkman about his ancestors, Milkman’s awareness of the black community, the black culture, and the Southern natural world around him leads him to remind his narrow-minded thinking as well as his own material selfishness. Being sympathetic to both his father’s distorted ambition and his mother’s pathetic helplessness, he sees his heritage with a proud look. In the reincarnation of his great grandfather, Milkman flies as his ancestors flew, leaving a legacy for women’s tales and children’s folk songs. Accordingly, Morrison’s use of African modes of orature is connected to the African American’s dream for freedom, being related with a way of mediating gaps between the Africa’s tradition and the African American’s culture.