The Shell-Shocked Veteran in Toni Morrison’s Sula and Home

Authors

  • Manuela Lopez Ramírez independent scholar

Abstract

In Sula (1973) and Home (1973) Toni Morrison depicts the madness of the homecoming war veteran, whose symptoms and their consequences impair his life. Through the return of her traumatized African American soldiers, she explores the tensions of a racially-prejudiced America and the dire consequences for the black community and self. Morrison unveils the destruction that racism effects on blacks, both the physical and psychological violence. Hence Sula and Home become anti-war novels which portray anti-heroes, broken men, whose madness is associated with the war, but also with a racist America.

Keywords: African American soldiers; war veteran; shell-shock; post-traumatic stress disorder; home; racism

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Author Biography

Manuela Lopez Ramírez, independent scholar

Manuela López Ramírez holds a MA degree and a PhD in English Literature from the University of Valencia. Her research interests include the Gothic in the literature of the United States, focusing mainly on two American authors: Nathaniel Hawthorne, especially his novel The House of the Seven Gables, and Toni Morrison.

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Published

2016-06-21

How to Cite

Lopez Ramírez, M. (2016). The Shell-Shocked Veteran in Toni Morrison’s Sula and Home. Atlantis. Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies, 38(1), 129–147. Retrieved from https://www.atlantisjournal.org/index.php/atlantis/article/view/148

Issue

2016: Vol. 38, Num. 1

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Articles

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