Ironic Lynchings and Embodied Crucifixions in Morrison’s Paradise
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12445221 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brent Little (0000-0001-8201-3232, Sacred Heart University Fairfield, CT USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 467-487 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religion and the Arts (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1079-9265 • E-ISSN: 1568-5292 |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/15685292-02804004 |
| OpenAlex | W4403110494 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
This article explores how the womanist theology of M. Shawn Copeland illuminates the theological dimensions of Toni Morrison’s 1997 novel, Paradise . With reference to Copeland’s thought, I argue that Morrison re-imagines the crucifixion anew during the novel’s climax, in which five socially marginalized and racially diverse women are scapegoated and murdered by male leaders of the all-black town, Ruby. Drawing upon the thought of James Cone and observations by Morrison herself, I further describe these women’s murders as a kind of lynching. Morrison thus demonstrates how racism’s logic of domination becomes internalized and replicated by Ruby’s male-power structure. The lynching of the women thereby emerges as ironic, for the men’s intentions to create an all-black paradise unconsciously imitate the oppression and perverse theology of white supremacy. Morrison’s novel thus encourages readers to re-imagine the cross so as to reject exclusionary forms of Christianity
Art · Art history · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Literature · Paradise · American Sports and Literature · Latin American and Latino Studies · Philosophy · Race, History, and American Society
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |