TRAUMATIZED TRICKSTERS: HEALING HISTORICAL TRAUMA IN SHERMAN ALEXIE'S FLIGHT AND TONI MORRISON'S BELOVED

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.