A Feminist Reading Of Toni Morrison’S Paradise

1. A Feminist Reading of
Toni Morrison’s Paradise
By
Mehdi Hassanian esfahani (GS 22456)
September 2008
Critical Appreciation (BBL 5202)
Mr. Rohimmi Noor
University Putra Malaysia

2. Abstract
Paradise (1998) is the first novel by Toni Morrison after winning the Nobel Prize in
Literature (1997). It is a part of the trilogy (including Beloved and Jazz) about love, which
sets in the history of African-Americans. It is sharply about racism, and other troubles that
African-Americans had to face. It talks about the love of God, and the followers. It is also
about extreme patriarchy. It includes people of two communities: an all-black town called
Ruby and the women in Convent.
This article observes the feminist concepts and patriarchy in Paradise, in search of a
reason for the attack, which the novel is about. It claims that in Ruby, patriarchy and feminist
awareness are in contrast that eventually lead to the massacre. Although the racist issues are
outstanding too, but feminist issues and the related struggles among two opposed groups of
people provide adequate explanation for the massacre. I am to start by exploring and
explaining the novel and important char actors, in the ‘introduction’ which tends to point out
patriarchal / feminist beliefs or behaviors as well. After that, I would discuss some general,
but fundamental issues in Feminism, such as power, dependency or the notion of freedom, to
analyze Paradise. I would stick to social issues of Feminism, and root these concepts in the
lifestyle of both communities presented by Morrison.
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3. Introduction
Toni Morrison’s Paradise (1998) is a multi-layered novel which involves many
characters in the historical background of African American black people, who once decided
to build their own community (or town, if we can call it) and did their best to prevent it from
any harm. Their idea was primary rooted on a reversed racism, and hatred of white people.
The novel narrates a story of a community in 1990s in Oklahoma, who built and lived in a
town called Ruby. The town was near a convent, in which some women lived together; free
and playfully. Paradise narrates the story of a quarrel between these two communities;
people of Ruby and women in the convent. It starts with a shocking opening: “they shoot the
white girl first. With the rest, they can take their time. No need to hurry out here” (3).Then
goes back, more than eight years ago, and starts from the beginning of the story; the story of
Ruby and its people, as well as the story of the convent and its residents. It is almost the last
two chapters, which comes back again to the shooting men of Ruby in the convent.
Before reading the novel in a feminist point of view, an explanation is necessary to
introduce the situation. I would start with a general setting and characters, and then move to
my feminist analysis of the novel at the end.
In 1890, black people from Mississippi and Louisiana gathered together to found a
new town, called Haven. Some of them were poor and slaves, while others were not. But they
had all suffered from racism. They tried to build this all-black town to have a better life and
future. In 1950, a group of them, many have recently returned from World War II, moved
from Haven to build another town, to start again and overcome their hardship. This is new
town called Ruby. There is no direct detail of their hardship, which is probably an
economical one, but I want to mention that even from here, men of Haven cannot deal this
their problems. They see some difficulties, which were not there before. What do they do?
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4. They changed the town! It is exactly the same method they took against the convent women.
They see some people, and they face the difficulties; they would not try to understand or deal
with the obstacle, but massacre women, to abolish the problem and start their lives again.
Another important figure in the story is a building called convent. Convent is a
mansion seventeen miles away from Ruby. It was once a convent for Catholics, with schools
and nuns, but turned to a mere house. Convent women live free and peaceful together; they
are away from anything, and from patriarchal and racist ideologies. Connie is the one who
has lived there from the time it was a convent, and other women join there after that, in a
period of eight years. It is true if one declares that story moves around the convent, as it is the
protagonist of the novel! Paradise seems to be about Ruby, but turn to be more about the
convent. During the story and at the end, one can point out the similarities between
“paradise” and the convent.
Paradise is a like a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, and includes about seventy names
and characters! But the main characters are convent women, and a couple of Ruby men who
rule the town. They are sons of the founders of Ruby, who have the leadership of Ruby men.
I would introduce each separately.
Convent Women
Connie is the central character and the longtime resident of the convent. She was nine
years old when she was rescued by a nun, and brought to the Catholic school in the convent.
“For thirty years she offered her body and her soul to God’s Son and His Mother” (225). It
was before meeting Deacon Morgan. Once they saw each other, they fell in love. Secretly and
openly, they were together till when in a love-making scene, Connie bites Deacon’s lips and
licks the blood. Deacon knows the sexually unrestricted woman, and he loves her passionate
action, but points out this incident and breaks off their relationship, as he cannot face the
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5. underlying rules of Ruby. He was warned even before that about this relationship and its
future. Connie lives in the mansion, where the doors are open to all men and women,
regardless of their race or color. She takes care of others and has a maternal figure. She
knows how to mix herbs to make medicine, and has also a kind of super-natural power.
Although Ruby town may consider her a witch, he is just helpful and maybe lucky enough to
rescue others from death.
Mavis is a negligent twenty-seven-year-old woman with a patriarchal abusive
husband, Frank. There is no friend in her life because of him. She suffocates her twin babies
in their car, and escapes from the house. Thinking that her husband and the other three
children are planning to kill her, she escapes. She drives to her mother’s house. After
overhearing her mother calling Frank, she drives away again. She runs out of gas and finds
the convent.
Gigi is a sensual liberated woman. Her mother is missed and her father is near death.
Her boyfriend, Mickey, is in jail but they have arranged a date in a town called Wish, where
there is a rock that looks like “a black man and woman fucking forever” (63). Her search to
find the place is fruitless, and she ends up at the convent. She is a sexually enchanting
woman, the one who stepped in Ruby, “in pants so tight, heels so high, [and] earrings so
large” (53).
Seneca is a twenty years old woman. She was left alone by her mother when she was
five and has no house or family. She is passive and “is raised with the idea that her purpose in
life is simply to please other people” (Miyamoto, 115). Before joining the convent women,
she was picked up by a wealthy woman, and lived as a prostitute for three months. In her
childhood, and after the abusive, sexual intercourses with her foster brother (of the family she
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6. lived with), she got the habit of hurting herself, to seek other’s pity. She still has this
masochistic habit.
Pallas Truelove is sixteen years old. Her father is a wealthy lawyer, and always busy
of his job. Her mother, who left them when she was 3 years old, is a painter. Pallas lacks a
kind of parental care in her life. Her relationship with her father in so weak, that she decides
to run way with his boyfriend Carlos, in order to live somewhere in peace together. They plan
to visit her after so many years. They enjoy the trip and the company, until Pallas finds her
mother and Carlos making love. She leaves shocked and drives away. Her car wrecks,
assaulted by men who chase her into a lake and rape her, she ends up in a clinic, and then
comes to the convent.
Ruby Men
Zechariah Morgan (Big Papa) was one of the founders of Haven. No one remembers
him, but a few racist and patriarchal ideas about him.
Rector Morgan (Big Daddy) is Zechariah’s son. He is just in memories of people, but
we know of his words. He helped his father in foundation of the town, Haven. Many
flashbacks in story refer to him and his father, to support the absolute and non-conformist
ideas that underlie Ruby.
Deacon Morgan & Steward Morgan are the twins of Rector Morgan. They are of the
leaders of Ruby who like to live in and re-member their past. They cannot bear any change to
their life-styles and ideas. “They are deeply engaged in preserving their idea of what Ruby
should be” (Davidson, 1). They are dogmatic and may die, or kill for this.
Arnold Fleetwood is one of the leaders of Ruby, too. Fleetwood family along with
Morgan family play an important role in Ruby. They have the most strategic positions and
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7. jobs, they belong to the founders of Ruby, and they have the right to decide or control the
town, or its people.
Reverend Richard Misner is one of the reverends in Ruby. He tries to advise people in
his sermons. He is not bounded by Ruby’s isolating traditional ideologies, and always tries to
awaken people. But he is considered an outsider in Ruby’s men point of view. People of
Ruby believe that an outsider potentially means an enemy, too. He speaks of God and God’s
love, which should be spread among people, and it is in contrast with Ruby’s hatred, envy
and violence. He is an educated man who tries to survive the town from its isolation, but
faces the insistence of people of Ruby and its leaders.
The day Ruby men attacked and shot the convent women, Reverend Misner was away
with his girlfriend Anna Flood. After that he refuses to have any further hope for the future of
the town, and decides to move somewhere else, but at the end, he changes his mind, when he
sees the regretful Deacon who comes to talk. He thinks that the town would need him, even if
the people are not aware of it. He stays to preach more, and help to survive more people from
their dogmatism.
A Feminist Reading of the Novel, Paradise
Patriarchal Ruby
From the very first day of building the town, the foundation is based on reversed
racism and patriarchal ideologies. Their history and their personal experiences of racism, lead
them to an all-black town, and caused their hatred of white people. It is much common and
severe that they even differ between dark black and light black skins. Ruling families in Ruby
would not consider light black people as pure as themselves. This willingness to exclude
others, whether they are light black, or they are women, prevents Ruby from becoming a
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8. paradise. At the end, we, as the readers, may think that the convent seems more to be like the
mentioned paradise, which accepts and cares whoever comes forth, even if they are “crying
women, staring women, scowling, lip-biting women, or women just plain lost” (270).
Their viewpoint of women and feminine issue is even worse that racism in Ruby.
Whether within families of in society, the object / subject relation is dominant. According to
Hekman, it is the notion that masculinity is considered subject, and femininity is defined as
the object; wickedness, irrationality and dependence. She also quotes from Kristeva, that she
admits the concept of subject and object, but believes that they are products of a particular
culture or society, “they are products of discourse, they do not exist in a pre-given sense, and
they are not producers, but produced” (85). Being an object is being inferior. In Paradise, we
have two contrasts, the Convent women who have passed these phase, and the women in
Ruby, who are going to be aware of their social role and their personal life. Men of Ruby are
afraid of their awareness.
They try to ignore women’s freedom, sexuality and social roles. Their minds are
preoccupied with these concepts, but they are in fear of them at the same time. It is true if one
concludes that “everything that worries them must come from women” (217). Patriarchal
society and the ruling men of Ruby who preserve this situation is just a half of the problem.
The other half is Ruby women’s mind, which is preoccupied with men’s superiority and
patriarchal ideologies. Kristeva believes that women are responsible and guilty for their
passiveness. According to McAfee, she accredits the fact that women suppress themselves,
and are sometimes willing to be addressed patriarchally. In Ruby, women are as patriarchal as
men! They are passive and never think of their situation. They see the contrast at the convent,
but never try to ask for their rights in Ruby or change their lives. They accept, whatever
comes from their husbands or their fathers. It is obvious that they will be ignored if they ask
any questions, but they never even try to insist. They are passive and would not think of a
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9. change in their actions, they know the convent women who have acted differently, and now
live differently, but they cannot imagine it for themselves. They are doomed, and they have
passively accepted it.
Feminist reading of Paradise would indicate that Ruby is founded on some anti-
feminist issues, and it brings about their sharp contrast with the convent women. The contrast
is clear, but Ruby residents cannot realize it at first. Being unable to understand the issue,
when time passes, they just feel the strange differences between themselves and the convent
women. They can see some doubts in the eyes of Ruby people, mostly the new generation of
Ruby teenagers, but still feel unable to solve the problem. Ruling men of Ruby decide to
eliminate everything, to hide their weakness, and the weakness of their traditional beliefs.
They do such a massacre to keep their power, as well as their pride and happiness.
In this article, I would point out some social feminist issues, such as inferiority and
superiority, the question of power, dependency and freedom, and the role of religion, and
discuss them in both communities of Ruby and the convent women. This may show the
differences, and the standing point of each community toward women, and social
phenomenon related to women.
Inferiority and “The Otherness”
In Ruby, women are inferior. Their responsibility is to cook and please their husbands
in bed (82). This is an innate duty or a social responsibility that each woman should take.
And they do, with no complaint about it. The society has made them passive and they are
submission. In Ruby everything is related to the past, back to the foundation of Ruby and
Haven. Tradition roots in an opinionated ideology, which is patriarchal and avoids, as well,
any change or conformation. If anything is to be introduced, it should be (or should change to
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10. be) fitted to their past ideology. They would never give up their past, as Ruby rulers know
well that it means the power, and if they lose it, they would lose their statue, the leadership.
The convent women have suffered from the same patriarchy as well. They are mostly
escaped or dismissed from their past lives, and started a new life at the convent. Mavis’ past
life is filled with fear of pleasing a husband who is so ignorant that he is never pleased. The
most private moment of their relationship, which should be mutually enjoyable and
pleasurable, would only bring this question to her mind that, whether their sex would “be
quick like most always or long, wandering, collapsing in wordless fatigue?” (26) And she
finds that “it was neither. [As] he didn’t penetrate – just rubbed himself to climax while
chewing a clump of her hair through the nightgown that covered her face” (26). This happens
in reality, while Mavis feels worse and thinks that her husband mumbles to their children to
plan to kill her. In the patriarchal relationship, even between a husband and wife, there is no
emotion, no caring or loving. Sex is a duty, which she should offer, even if she is not
involved in it.
Mavis and other women escape to the convent, in seek of freedom, love, peace,
parental care and attention. They escape from a traditional patriarchal society to find
themselves, their haven. In the convent, they are all free. They accept anyone, black or white,
man or woman, and would help each other to live in peace. They are even free to leave. The
convent women decide to live their lives there, they are not in jail. And as long as they are in
the convent, they are not responsible of their husbands’ or boyfriends’ pleasure, neither for
patriarchal morality of the whole male-dominated society.
In Ruby, women are repressed. They are considered what Simone De Beauvoir
famously calls “the other”. In relation to men, and regarding the “sociological status or
classification” (Tymieniecka, 573), De Beauvoir depicts a woman in a male sex dominant
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11. world as “the other”, which “is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He
[the man] is subject, he is the absolute – she is the other” (16). It is what Hekman calls “the
object”, when society considers women as objects; inessential, and not important.
We see many times in Paradise, in the community of Ruby, this notion of inferiority.
No one talks about women rights and their opinion, but about Ruby, men of Ruby, their past
and patriarchy. Even when Deacon Morgan talks to his wife about the town and its problems,
it is not in a consulting or even informing manner. He just says something, for his own sake.
If she says “I don’t understand,” his reaction is repressive and patriarchal: “‘I do’. He
smile[s] up at her ‘You don’t need to [understand]’” (107). Thinking about speaking or
discussing their point of view, the women in Ruby knew for sure, that even if they dare to do
so, no one listens, as their history shows that, whenever “they were just women … what they
said was easily ignored by good brave men [of Ruby]” (201).
Gigi, like other women in the convent, remembers that her past life, before coming to
the convent, was the same. “Neither a high school, nor a college student, no one, not even the
other girls took her seriousness seriously.” (257). It seems that the women in convent escaped
from their past lives, in search of their paradise, their haven. And when they come to the
convent, they feel something promising there. Pallas thought that, “The whole house felt
permeated with a blessed malelessness, like a protected domain, free of hunters but exciting
too. As though she might meet herself here; an unbridled, authentic self, but which she
thought of as a ‘cool’ self” (177).
Another clue to the inferiority and weakness of women, as the people of Ruby
believe, would be the name of their town. They have once named their town Ruby, to
immortalize Ruby Morgan, sister of Deacon and Steward, who died because of white
people’s racism. They refused to accept the black patient and sent for a veterinarian, she died
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12. meanwhile. And now, this name can connect the notion of protection in Ruby. Ruby men
should protect the Ruby, and it may directly signify their town, or indirectly the women in
their town. There two issues are the main concerns of men in Ruby.
Power
The other issue is the notion of power, which patriarchal society limits it to men. In a
male dominant ideology, a man is respectful because of his power. If there is no power, he
would be a woman; the inessential part of society. One the other hand, women are far away
from power. They cannot act or decide, and they cannot think or speak by their own. As
Robbins explains, patriarchal society reserves the right to speak for men and women are
derived from it. By ignoring their words and their subjectivity, society ignores their existence
and their identity. The power is not just to rule, but to speak.
In Ruby, men decide for women. They have even the power to ignore or accept
people. They can make Menus Jury “return the woman he brought home to marry; the pretty
sandy-haired girl from Virginia” (195). Or when Jeff is asked about her daughter’s attendance
in college, he says without any hesitation, that “I’m her father. I’ll arrange her mind” (61).
The main concern of the ruling powers in Ruby, who are victimized by racism
through centuries, is to isolate and protect women. “In order to ensure their racial purity, the
patriarchs of Ruby have to protect/control women” (Miyamoto, 105). It is hard to distinguish
between these two, or set a priority between them. In Ruby, protection has actually the same
meaning as limitation or control. Despite the women in Ruby, the convent women have the
power. They can decide for themselves, live alone and do what they want. Here the question
is that, “whose power is stronger?” (276) The final attack and the massacre of women in the
convent, is just to prove that Ruby men have still the power. Those women are scapegoats;
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13. they are scarified in order to warn the people of Ruby, and mostly the new generation, about
the power of tradition, to frighten them to obey their rulers, tradition and patriarchy.
Ruby is centered upon a patriarchal ideology, a history which does not allow a
reformation. Women in the convent, on other hand, are all free of their past, this history.
They have once escaped from it, and would never come back again. Ruby rules say that “they
don’t need men” (276), but they all know that they don’t need patriarchy. The door of
convent is open to all people, without any conditions or limitations. But patriarchy means
Ruby rules, and Ruby’s history. Therefore they feel frightened and may do anything to win
this war, they may think of killing, and one will say that they killed “because they could”
(297). This is assumed as a part of their rights.
Dependency and Freedom
Another fault of the convent women is their independency from Ruby men. If it is not
that Ruby is dependent on some of their products, like medicine and herbs, pepper and hot
spices, women in convent are free and they can live their own life.
In spite of Ruby in which no woman drives, they have a Cadillac and can drive
anywhere. This car is a figure of freedom for the convent women, which brings almost all of
the women to the convent, they come there by their own will, in contrast with the isolation
which is dominant in Ruby and prevents women from thinking except about their husbands.
The convent women have even a business, trade with outsiders and earn money. And they
have done all of these things without a man! That is why Ruby men think of them as witches.
Dinitia Smith believes that “the women's self-sufficiency is deeply threatening” (1) to men’s
territory.
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14. The situation is opposite in patriarchal town of Ruby. Women are always connected to
their fathers or their husbands there. No one can live or survive alone. Reviewing the family
trees in Ruby, Patricia finds some last names, without any other references, of “women
whose identity rested on the men they married – if marriage applied” (187). If not, they have
no name for themselves.
Patricia, who and educated woman in Ruby, acting as a teacher and historian as well,
seems to be free by her own. She knows almost everything about men of Ruby. She knows
about their past and history, and she counts every single event to complete her knowledge.
She likes to keep these records for next generation and write them as the story of Ruby. But
she is still in bound of Ruby men. “Identified as an outsider by the townspeople, [she] still
cannot fight with the old, strong ideology from the men in Ruby (Ching-yu Chiu, 13)”. She is
mentally forced to burn her papers and all the documents.
In the convent, women are free and independent. The first thing they encounter is the
individualism, free of social patriarchy. They face themselves, alone, and for the first time
they find the chance to explore and get familiar with this self. Passing this stage, they can live
by their own. In Ruby, people call them strong women, because they, Ruby people, have no
confidence or power by themselves. If it is to shoot, to kill or defense, they should be in a
group. The elder generation has never experienced the individualism, and can never accept
that. They have fought in World War II, and they have built a town. But all of their
accomplishments belong to the whole town, to the whole black people of Ruby. There is
nothing personal in that community. Ruby rules cannot allow the first encounter of young
generation to their individuality. They cannot imagine losing the power, the control of the
town, and the control over its people.
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15. Religion
Thinking of patriarchal religious traditions and ceremonies, it is possible in a feminist
point of view to ignore (if not reject) some inequality aspects of religion, to experience an
absolute freedom, even freedom of religion. On the other hand, patriarchal interpretation of
religion may offer the isolation and suppression of women.
But religion can be defined in a broad sense as any set of believes, or ideology. Here I
mentioned religion; to point at the common believes between people of Ruby, a part of it may
be derived directly from their church and bible, as they are very religious people, and a part
of it –one can claim that- roots back to their past, their customs and traditions. Regarding this
broad definition for religion, I am to label even their respect toward an oven, a statue in the
center of Ruby, as a strong traditional belief, because –as we may see- it is more than a
sincere respect, or praise. It is a part of their beliefs, and their traditions.
In Ruby, we have two related images, which are the Oven and the church. Oven,
which is a sign of unity and landmark of the town should always be respected, and may not
be changed in any way. It is also a sign of protecting women from unrestrained sexuality of
whites; with the help of this oven, no black woman has ever needed to work in a kitchen
belonging to whites (which is potentially dangerous in Ruby’s point of view).
Ruby women had once used the Oven and cooked on it, but through these years, its
practical function has changed to a patriarchal one. “It is [now] the men, not the women, who
meet about the Oven” (Taylor 167). Oven is no more an oven, it is now a symbol that
represents Ruby’s primal goals, and is interpreted to justify Ruby’s reversed racism and
patriarchy. “What was needed back in Haven’s early days had never been needed in Ruby …
A good thing, as far as it went, but it went too far. A utility became a shrine” (103). This
holiness of the Oven, represent Ruby’s dogmatism toward their ideology, and women and
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16. their situation. They cannot bear any change in their ideologies, or any freedom for women.
As we saw, the mind of Ruby men is preoccupied with the concepts of protecting women,
their sexuality and their freedom. If they are racist toward white people for all black members
of Ruby, they care more about their women. And the patriarchal way to protect is to have it
under the control. The Oven was once useful, as women logically should have helped in
foundation of the town, but now, the cold bricks of Oven have no function anymore. It should
be there to be praised. No one can change anything of it, or anything about it. Deacon
Morgan may threat the new generation by saying that “You all listen to me. Real close.
Nobody, I mean nobody is going to change the Oven or call it something strange. Nobody is
going to mess with a thing our grandfathers built” (85).
The other element in Ruby is the church, despite the fact that one of the Reverends is
an enlightened man, but the other one and the function of church is always to support
patriarchy of Ruby people. It seems that it is unable to change anything. This is a tool in the
hands of leaders to suppress women and make them passive. Reverend Misner, who tries his
best to aware people of their isolated situation, and preaches of God’s love, or comments on
people’s traditions and ideology, is an outsider and an enemy in the point of view of Ruby
members. During the novel, he cannot change a person, or bring a better situation. It is just at
the end, that Deacon regrets, he come to reverend Misner to confess, to talk, and asks for a
reconsideration in his ideology, that reverend Misner supports him. And he himself, decides
to stay in Ruby, and hopes that he may help or awake traditional patriarchal Ruby in the
future.
On the other hand, in the convent, women have their own big kitchen, always full of
food and drink. They don’t need an oven. They need no church or reverend to preach them or
restrict them, too. They live in a house which was once belonged to the nuns, and was a
Christian school for Native Americans. They have passed and overcame that stage. Now they
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17. live there in peace by their own. Ruby men cannot visualize it, they see it as if “they don’t
need God” (276), or think that they are witches ready to harm.
Conclusion
Ruby is based on patriarchy. The fundamental underlying system of the town is based
on a traditional and patriarchal ideology, in which there is no space for women. At first it’s
alright, but when time passes, and they become aware of their neighborhood, the Ruby rulers
cannot bear the convent and the women in it, who live free of patriarchy and are successful.
Frightened by the Convent women, they cannot face the awareness of women in Ruby, which
may lead them to a revolt against tradition and patriarchy. They can feel it, if not understand,
that this opposition is inevitable. And as De Beauvoir believes, rebel is the next step after
awareness. Men of Ruby are afraid of losing their prestige, the power and the control over
people. Their patriarchy prevents them from understanding their neighbors. They are
restricted by some traditional dogmas. They feel frightened from something that they cannot
understand. Having just some imaginations about the convent and the convent women, they
end up in a patriarchal solution; destroying whatever which is different, or (in some ways)
may be prior to them. This is the “helplessness” that makes them “want to shoot somebody”
(96), as Steward declares in the novel.
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18. Works Cited
Ching-yu Chiu, Ellen. (2006) Sharing Female Power: The Female Characters in Toni
Morrison’s ‘Paradise’. Master Thesis. Unpublished. Providence University.
Davidson, Rob. “Racial Stock and 8-Rocks: Communal Historiography in Toni Morrison's
Paradise.” Twentieth Century Literature 47, no. 3 (Fall 2001)
< http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0403/is_3_47/ai_86230572>.
De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. trans. H M Parshley. New York: Penguin, 1972.
Hekman, Susan J. Gender and Knowledge: Elements of a Postmodern Feminism.
New England: Northeastern University Press, 1992.
Miyamoto, Keiko. (2005) Thinking Through Sexual Difference: Toni Morrison's Love
Trilogy. PhD Dissertation. Unpublished. University of New York at Buffalo.
McAfee, Noëlle. Julia Kristeva. UK: Routledge, 2004.
Morrison, Toni. Paradise. New York: Plume, 1999.
Robbins, Ruth. Literary Feminisms. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
Smith, Dinitia. “Toni Morrison's Mix of Tragedy, Domesticity And Folklore.” New York
Times 8 January 1998.
Taylor, Deborah (2007) Reading Utopian Narratives in a Dystopian Time. PhD Dissertation.
Unpublished. University of Maryland, College Park.
Tymieniecka, Anna-Teresa. Phenomenology of Life: Meeting the Challenges of the Present-
day World. Massachusetts: Springer, 2005.
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