Object Relations and Racism: Toni Morrison's Beloved as a Case in Point

客體關係與種族歧視：以童妮．摩里森的《摯愛》為例

陳宥廷(You-ting Chen)

《慈濟大學人文社會科學學刊》 19期 (2015/08) Pp. 218-250

https://doi.org/10.29650/TCUJHSS.201508_(19).0008

摘要

From the mid-1980s on, Melanie Klein's work on object relations theory has been borrowed by sociologists to account for issues of social injustice, among which racism is the main focus. Klein contends that major psychic crises in infancy continue into adulthood and unresolved crises reemerge when interactions with others become agitated. Toni Morrison's Beloved offers a racial context where these interactions become the most agitated. By way of a Kleinian explication of the novel, this paper aims to achieve a dual purpose. On the one hand, it explores to what extent Klein's formulation of psychic development is rendered difficult in racial encounters like slavery, especially for the disadvantaged racial others. On the other hand, it applies Klein's insights to further investigate how the novel exposes the psychic activities of the white racists and reveals the interior life of the traumatized slaves. The paper is divided into four parts. In part one, I introduce major concepts of Klein's theory, such as splitting of the self and projective identification. In Klein's view, the psychic development of the infant is fraught with inner fears and anxieties; to cope with them, the infant employs different mechanisms of defense and engages in complex object relations. In part two, I reexamine racism within this Kleinian framework and elucidate why black people are psychically constructed and stigmatized as the racial Other-especially how they are stereotypically targeted for a negative projection. Kleinian theory helps us gain a better understanding of how white racism contains a fundamental human hostility toward black people and how this hostility could take a toll on both the white racists and the black slaves. In part three, I focus attention on the psychic development of the slaves and investigate to what extent the psyche of slaves are tortured and traumatized by racist practices. Specifically, I analyze how the slaves internalize racist thoughts and how this internalization inhibits their ability to love and to be loved. In the final part, I reconsider the depressive mood which lingers at the end of the novel and argue that the possibility of working over racial grief hinges on the idea of love.

關鍵字

Toni Morrison ； racism ； Melanie Klein ； object relations ； racial trauma

並列摘要

八0年代中期以來，梅蘭妮．克萊茵的客體關係理論被社會學者用來說明許多社會不公的議題，其中也包括種族歧視。克萊茵主張嬰兒時期的心靈危機會持續到成年，且未解的危機在與他人互動關係激化時會再次出現。童妮．摩里森的小說《摯愛》提供了一個種族互動的脈絡，有助於理解克萊茵理論中心靈危機的形成與演變。本文援引客體關係理論閱讀此本小說，一方面希望探討種族的衝突和對立是否使這些心靈危機變得更加難解；另一方面，也希望透過理論深入發掘小說所描繪的白人種族歧視背後的心理機制，以及黑奴們的心理歷程如何因奴隸制度而備受煎熬。本文共分四部分：第一部分介紹克萊茵理論中諸如自我分裂和投射認同等主要概念；第二部分利用這些概念重新檢視種族歧視；第三部分分析奴隸制度如何阻礙黑奴的心理發展，尤其是他們愛人與被愛的能力；第四部分則探討小說結尾暗示種族創傷的療癒起點在於愛。

並列關鍵字

童妮．摩里森 ； 種族歧視 ； 梅蘭妮．克萊茵 ； 客體關係 ； 種族創傷

參考文獻

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Bouson, J. B.(2000).Quiet as It's Kept: Shame, Trauma, and Race in the Novels of Toni Morrison.Albany:State University of New York Press.

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Clarke, S.(2000).Psychoanalysis, Psychoexistentialism and Racism.Psychoanalytic Studies.2(4),343-355.

Clarke, S.(2001).The Kleinian Position: Phantasy, Splitting and the Language of Psychic Violence.Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society.6(2),289-297.