TRAUMATIZED TRICKSTERS: HEALING HISTORICAL TRAUMA IN SHERMAN ALEXIE'S FLIGHT AND TONI MORRISON'S BELOVED
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Date
2013-01
Department
Hood College Arts and Humanities
Program
Humanities
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Abstract
This paper explores the use of the trickster archetype by contemporary American
authors Sherman Alexie and Toni Morrison in the novels Flight and Beloved,
respectively. In addition to their employment of the trickster figure, both authors share a
concern over historical trauma: for Alexie, this -trauma is associated with the Native
American diaspora, for Morrison, this trauma stems from the American institution of
slavery. In these pages, I will explore the nature of these authors' tricksters and develop
a possible rationale for each author's use of the trickster figure as an attempt to process
the largely unacknowledged historical trauma of two contemporary American minority
groups: Native Americans and African Americans.