기독교적 관점에서 토니 모리슨의 『가장 푸른 눈』에 나타난 희생양 메커니즘에 대한 비판 연구 (A Critique of The Scapegoat Mechanism in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye Viewed from a Christian Perspective)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 현대영미어문학회
· 수록지 정보 : 현대영미어문학 / 39권 / 4호 / 43 ~ 70페이지
· 저자명 : 이현경

초록

Viewed from a Christian perspective, this paper draws on Girardian theory to examine the issue of scapegoating as the most prevalent form of social violence in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. The novel details the tragic life of a poor black girl named Pecola in a black town. She is marginalized and ostracized by the townspeople, who generally emulate the white middle-class model of an established nuclear family. They fear that they may be “contaminated” through contact with this poor and “ugly” black girl who, in their eyes, embodies the worst kind of socially codified blackness. As the most vulnerable member of this society, she is held responsible for the crime of her own rape, made worse by the fact that it was committed by her father Cholly—a marker of shame on the whole town—thereby making her the ultimate scapegoat. This cruel victimization is revealed through the Christian concept of the transference of human guilt onto an innocent lamb, whose archetype is Christ. Although Morrison is unlikely to have had Girard in mind while creating her fiction, a hermeneut’s critical reading from a Girardian perspective can be helpful toward illuminating Morrison’s religious and moral vision, which enabled her to develop a character like Claudia, who debunks the scapegoating mechanism in a manner reminiscent of Girard himself.

영어초록

Viewed from a Christian perspective, this paper draws on Girardian theory to examine the issue of scapegoating as the most prevalent form of social violence in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. The novel details the tragic life of a poor black girl named Pecola in a black town. She is marginalized and ostracized by the townspeople, who generally emulate the white middle-class model of an established nuclear family. They fear that they may be “contaminated” through contact with this poor and “ugly” black girl who, in their eyes, embodies the worst kind of socially codified blackness. As the most vulnerable member of this society, she is held responsible for the crime of her own rape, made worse by the fact that it was committed by her father Cholly—a marker of shame on the whole town—thereby making her the ultimate scapegoat. This cruel victimization is revealed through the Christian concept of the transference of human guilt onto an innocent lamb, whose archetype is Christ. Although Morrison is unlikely to have had Girard in mind while creating her fiction, a hermeneut’s critical reading from a Girardian perspective can be helpful toward illuminating Morrison’s religious and moral vision, which enabled her to develop a character like Claudia, who debunks the scapegoating mechanism in a manner reminiscent of Girard himself.

참고자료

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