제이콥스, 허스턴, 그리고 모리슨의 ‘시그니파잉’
The ‘Signifying’ of Jacobs, Hurston, and Morrison’s Writings
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This essay aims to contextually study the ‘signifying’ of Jacobs, Hurston, and Morrison's writings. ‘Signifying’ has always been used as one of the most essential expressive genres in African American literature. It is primarily a term for rhetorical strategies. It is a trope which are subsumed into several other rhetorical tropes, including metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, and hyperbole. Therefore, it epitomizes all of the rhetorical play in the black vernacular. It is mostly subdivided into two subgenres, such as ‘toasting’ and ‘loud-talking’ or ‘louding.’ The verbal insult of ‘dozens’ and ‘sounding’ is not central to the nature of ‘signifying.’ However, it is difficult to arrive at a consensus of definitions of ‘signifying.’ It is closely related to double-talk and trickery of the type. Since slavery and the subsequent centuries of White segregation policy, the African American female writers have used it as a rhetorical expression to fight against the insidiousness and violence of racial distinction and the patriarchal system. In Incidents in the Life of a Salve Girl, Jacobs uses ‘toasting’ or ‘louding’ as a means to expose the racial and sexual violence of their white masters. Of course, Hurston and Morrison are more developmental than Jacobs in that they expanded the use of ‘signifying’ into the exploration and restoration of the African American female identity. In Their Eyes are Watching God, Hurston uses it as a means to figuratively attack the patriarchal violence of black males and the uncritical accommodation of black females to the patriarchal system. And then she leads to her female characters' turning-point for self-awareness or self-realization. Morrison also uses it as Hurston does. In Love, Morrison uses ‘toasting’ or ‘louding’ as a means to figuratively attack the patriarchal system and describe the conflict of her black female characters who are open to the patriarchal power. However, her ‘signifying forms’ are more various than Hurston’s. She borrows the wit battles of Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox, or Old Master and John from the black folklore that is an origin of ‘signifying’ so that she may figuratively describe her female characters’ face-to-face fighting.
Abstract
This essay aims to contextually study the ‘signifying’ of Jacobs, Hurston, and Morrison's writings. ‘Signifying’ has always been used as one of the most essential expressive genres in African American literature. It is primarily a term for rhetorical strategies. It is a trope which are subsumed into several other rhetorical tropes, including metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, and hyperbole. Therefore, it epitomizes all of the rhetorical play in the black vernacular. It is mostly subdivided into two subgenres, such as ‘toasting’ and ‘loud-talking’ or ‘louding.’ The verbal insult of ‘dozens’ and ‘sounding’ is not central to the nature of ‘signifying.’ However, it is difficult to arrive at a consensus of definitions of ‘signifying.’ It is closely related to double-talk and trickery of the type. Since slavery and the subsequent centuries of White segregation policy, the African American female writers have used it as a rhetorical expression to fight against the insidiousness and violence of racial distinction and the patriarchal system. In Incidents in the Life of a Salve Girl, Jacobs uses ‘toasting’ or ‘louding’ as a means to expose the racial and sexual violence of their white masters. Of course, Hurston and Morrison are more developmental than Jacobs in that they expanded the use of ‘signifying’ into the exploration and restoration of the African American female identity. In Their Eyes are Watching God, Hurston uses it as a means to figuratively attack the patriarchal violence of black males and the uncritical accommodation of black females to the patriarchal system. And then she leads to her female characters' turning-point for self-awareness or self-realization. Morrison also uses it as Hurston does. In Love, Morrison uses ‘toasting’ or ‘louding’ as a means to figuratively attack the patriarchal system and describe the conflict of her black female characters who are open to the patriarchal power. However, her ‘signifying forms’ are more various than Hurston’s. She borrows the wit battles of Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox, or Old Master and John from the black folklore that is an origin of ‘signifying’ so that she may figuratively describe her female characters’ face-to-face fighting.
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