A Necessary Ethics: Bakhtin and Dialogic Identity Construction in Four Morrison Novels

Abstract

Reading Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Tar Baby, Paradise and A Mercy through the lens of Bakhtin reveals identity construction as a dialogic endeavour. While this method may be necessary for character development, it serves the further purpose of making an ethical case for the self’s responsibility to others. This paper considers key theoretical instruments, as enabled by Bakhtin, in relation to Morrison’s treatment of naming and other character constructing elements. It is ultimately Morrison’s construction of identity as dialogical which enables the argument that Morrison’s fiction offers an ethics in the interest of the other. Writing about the marginalised, the abused and the voiceless reveals Morrison’s oeuvre is unmistakably an ongoing engagement with the injustice of slavery and its political, economic, social and psychological aftermath. The relevance of this article lies in its analysis of Morrison’s fiction as an antidote which challenges the self’s “self-interest”, which is at the heart of injustice. This study’s primary contribution is in articulating Morrison’s portrayal of the self’s identity construction as an inescapable dialogism that forms the foundation to a philosophy that promotes greater humaneness, given the other is not separate from the self, but in fact, integral to the self.

Analyzing Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye in Terms of Bakhtin’s Notion of “Heteroglossia”

“…Unlike previous studies that studied the diversity of literary concepts and opinions in Toni Morrison's novels in general and The Bluest Eye in particular, this study is limited to analyzing the heteroglossia in Pecola Breedlove's interaction with others in terms of beauty and personal aspiration and how heteroglossia can develop in the interactions between characters of different races in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Simply, earlier studies investigated the basic ethics: Bakhtin and dialogic identity construction in four Morrison novels (De Voss & Kangira, 2019).…”

“…The value of this article is marked by its studying of Morrison's fiction as an alternative to inequality by testing the self's "self-interest". The main goal of this research is to articulate Morrison's depiction of self's identity creation as an inevitable dialogism that functions as the basic means for a theory that explains the notion of humaneness, arguing that the other is not distinct from, but rather central to the self (De Voss & Kangira, 2019).…”