The Great Mother and God
——An Archetypal Analysis of Eva in Sula
Abstract
Eva, the female character in Toni Morrison’s second novel Sula (1973), has long drawn the attention of critics and readers alike. Attempts to analyze Eva’s puzzling and paradoxical behaviors are numerous and diverse. This essay attempts to analyze this character with an archetypal approach. Eva is interpreted as the literary displacement of the Great Mother who is both the giver, protector and the taker of life, and a literature displacement of the Almighty, God. The paper will first give a brief account of the archetypal criticism and a general introduction to the two archetypes explored in the paper, and then analyze Eva from an archetypal perspective. Through the analysis, the paper aims to gain a better understanding and an in-depth interpretation of the character Eva.
Key words: Eva; archetypal criticism; the Great Mother; God
Contents
中文摘要…….........................................................i
Abstract………………………….…………..………………………………….ii
Acknowledgements…………………...….…………………….………………iii
Introduction………………………………………..……………..……………...1
I. The Great Mother and God as the Archetypes…….………….……….……4
The Great Mother…………………………………..….…………………4
God ………………………………………….………..………………….4
II. Eva as the Displacement of the Great Mother………....……………6
Eva vs. Eve……………………………………..………….……………..6
Eva as a Mother…………………………………..……………………...6
A Loving Mother……………………………..….…………………..6
A Terrible Mother……………………………..….………………….8
III. Eva as the Displacement of God………………………...…………………10
A. Creator of 7 Carpenter’s Road………………………..…………………10
B. Sovereign of 7 Carpenter’s Road……………………..…………………11
Namer of Others…………………………………………...……………13
Conclusion………………………………………………………..……………16
Notes……………………………………………………………..…………….17
Bibliography……………………………………………………..…………….19
