Abstract The efforts made by black females to struggle against the gender and racial discrimination used to be the topic of plenty of novels and A Mercy was exactly such a novel to reveal the tragic experiences of the black girl, Florens。 In this thesis, the growth of Florens will be analyzed from three aspects: the change of her self-identification, the development of her understanding of gender relationship, and the change of her comprehension of mother-child relationship。 And the reasons for her growth can be concluded as these three factors: her mother’s rejection, the inequality between males and females, and racial discrimination。94664

Keywords: Toni Morrison; A Mercy; Florens; growth 

摘要黑人女性为抗争性别歧视和种族歧视所作出的努力是很多小说的主题，小说《慈悲》就是这样的一部反映黑人女性弗洛伦斯的悲惨境遇的作品。本文将从三方面对弗洛伦斯的成长进行分析，包括她的自我认同变化，对两性关系的理解的发展以及她对母子关系的理解的变化；并将其成长变化的原因归纳为母亲的抛弃，男女性别的不平等以及种族歧视这三个要素。

毕业论文关键词：托尼·莫里森；《慈悲》；弗洛伦斯；成长 

Contents

1。 Introduction 1

2。 Literature Review 2

3。 Growth of Florens in A Mercy 3

3。1 Development of her self-identification 3

3。2 Her understanding of gender relationships 5

3。3 Her understanding of mother-child relationship 7

4。 Reasons for the Growth of Florens 9

4。1 Her mother’s rejection 9

4。2 Inequality between males and females 9

4。2 Racial discrimination 10

5。 Conclusion 10

Works Cited 12

1。 Introduction

          Toni Morrison was a black American who was born in Ohio State in United States in 1931。 His father was merely a blue-collar and his mother was a servant working in the houses of white people。 Such a personal background led to much pains and sufferings in her childhood since the white Americans were discriminating against the black at that period of time。 Despite that she could only get access to schools open to the black only, she still made much progress in her study。 To be specific, in 1949, she was admitted into Howard University which is also open to black people only and her major was English and classical literature。 There is no doubt that her major in literature lay solid foundation for her success in novel writing。 After she graduated from the Howard University, she continued her study and achieved the degree of postgraduate from Cornell University to learn about the novels of Faulkner and Wolf。 Such study helped Toni to make much progress in writing and then she became a teacher in Howard University。 Then she worked for Random House in New York as a senior editor and the most important contribution she had made is that she helped much with the publication of many works written by black people。 Besides the contributions to novel writing, Toni also contributes to the development of theories about literature and writing so that she enjoys great reputation in America and all over the world。

       The novel, A Mercy, reveals the tragic experiences of a black girl who suffered much from the loss of her identity as a black people。 The protagonist of the novel was a girl named Florens, who was unfortunately abandoned by her mother because her mother was merely the property of an evil slave-owner and she hoped that her daughter could escape from the tragic life of working for such an evil man (Myers 93)。 Florens’s mother sold Florens to a merciful white man named Jacob who was rich enough to own many slaves and provide them a comparatively comfortable life。 To live in Jacob’s house enables Florens to escape from being raped like her mother but she had problems in establishing her proper identity as a black girl。 In order to avoid being abandoned, Florens tried her best to satisfy all the people at the house of Jacob。 One day, Jacob asked a black smith to help construct his new house and the black smith attracted Florens at the first sight。 Then, Jacob passed away and the female owner Rebekka fell sick and Florens had to go out to find the black smith to help with Rebekka’s disease but she was raped on her way。 Such experiences shattered her dream about future and Florens started to depend on the black smith completely, which was the result of the lack of proper family education about morality。  However, she had problems in getting along with her step-son。 In danger, Florens slashed the son and such behavior irritated the black smith who scolded that Florens had become a slave physically and mentally。 In fact, without proper family education, Florens did not know how to get along with children。 When the son of the black smith reached out his arms toward herself, Florens even felt terrified。 Those problems finally lead to the result that Florens was chased out of his house。 The novel presents the tragic experiences of black people without proper self-identification and her efforts to find a way to establish normal social relationship。