IDENTIFY METAPHORS AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEANINGS IN TONI MORRISON'S FICTION

Abstract

In the article, I draw an imagined community (Hall, 2001) of African Americans in the difference. In it, I examine identity mobility (Hall, 2001) and a politics of conversion (West, 1994) from the perspective of metaphors Shakespeare, 1999; Rodó, 2006; Retamar, 2005; Gates, 1988) and textual signification (Gates, 1988). I relate assimilationist, nationalist and catalyst identities to Pecola Breedlove’s, Milkman Dead’s and Jadine Childs’s political conversions. I also link the identities and the characters with the metaphors Ariel, Calibán and Esu. Finally, I develop a conversation among Morrison’s novels The Bluest Eye (1994), Song of Solomon (2004) and Tar Baby (1987), emphasizing dialogue among the metaphors, identities, conversions and characters. Key-Words: metaphor, identity, conversion.