토니 모리슨의『 낙원』 텍스트: 상징과 해석

Abstract

Toni Morrison’s Paradise is an open text. The symbols and the stories in the text delay fixing their meanings, drifting endlessly, seen from Roland Barthes’ concept of text. According to Barthes, a text, not a literary work, is a fabric of quotations drawn from many different cultures, having multiple layers and meanings. Among layers, there are numerous gaps which should be filled in by the reader’s interpretations. Ironically, a paradise is not found anywhere in the Paradise text. On the surface of the text, the original nine families of coal black African-Americans tried to build a paradise called Haven. This effort is followed by their descendents in Ruby near the Convent where five women live. There are no nuns in the Convent. All of these processes are double coded with the Biblical texts in the perspective of Umberto Eco. He said that post-modern texts have at least two layers called double coding for their different levels of readers. Zechariah, Haven, and the Oven in the text correspond with Moses, Canaan, and the Tabernacle in the Biblical text. But instead of truth and happiness, there are deceptions, lies, distortions, and prejudices in Ruby. The Oven and the Cross lose their power as symbols. Men in Ruby need a scapegoat to blame for their failure. They attack the Convent and kill the women, who are later resurrected. The Convent, a potential paradise, is destroyed by the men, and there is no paradise in the Paradise text. But putting together all the fragments of texts and filling in the gaps of the text, the reader realizes that a paradise is found in his/her mind.