단맛을 통한 모성부재의 양상과 치료

Abstract

Maternal absence is one of characteristic motifs of Toni Morrison's works. Shown in case of Cholly and Pecola in The Bluest Eye, Son in Tar Baby and Sula and Nel in Sula, most of main characters did not receive maternal benefit during their childhood. So did Guitar and Milkman Dead in Song of Solomon. But one interesting thing in connection with maternal absence is the fact that maternal absence is supplemented by the sense of taste. Those children who did not receive their mothers caring are forced to quench their deficiency with the sweet taste. Children who have a sweet tooth like sweet things are generally liable to get into tasting ‘sweet’ as a comfortable meaning or ‘delicious’ as feeling good through a sweet taste, which at the same time, makes them stimulate associations of happy memories such as comfort, consolation, stability, expectation and amused recollection. The main characters, Milkman and Guitar of the family in this novel however have undergone opposite way to the sweet taste. In this paper, by carefully examining the experiences of Milkman and Guitar, it will be proved that the sweet taste is presented on the one hand as assimilation with the white-oriented value and on the other hand as the reaction of exclusion and rejection. In Song of Solomon, Milkman is represented as the case of the former and Guitar as that of the latter. The maternal affection experienced by the two young boys is colligated with the experiences of a sweet taste by becoming corrupt with possession and distortion. From the perspective of Morrison, the western conception of love is brimful of property and perversion. That is another murder without shedding blood. This paper will focus on Milkman's growth journey through questing out his true identity by shedding off his white-oriented vanity value, and at the same time will make Milkman contrast with Guitar who is fitted with hostility and aggression due to the fixed memory of a sweet taste in his early period. It is worth noticing the fact that the common experience of maternal absence shared by the two main characters ended up with opposite results. Through the analysis of this work, this paper will show that it is Pilate Dead who provides the true maternal care to Milkman and the experience by Pilate's maternal care made Milkman possible to venture to make a southern journey. In addition I will show that this experience through southern journey, especially the hunting at night made possible not only for Pilate towards Milkman to do the maternal role latent in her, but also for Milkman to achieve human relations in a family and a society. Therefore, Milkman's growth is meaningfully influenced by Pilate's maternal care and through southern journey, while Guitar's vision of society and human relationship narrows to the point where he believes that segregation and disenfranchise to African-Americans determine everything regardless of their efforts. In this paper, these relationships are analyzed by object relations theories based on the theories of Melanie Klein and John Bowlby. Object relations theories have their root in psychoanalysis, but their theories differ each other in terms of time period and emphasis. Object relations theories are more appropriate in analyzing child growth and the growth-related problems in Morrison's novels than other psychoanalytic theories because they especially focus on relations rather than instinct. Hereby, Morrison illuminates past, present, and future of African-American children who are neglected by their own family members, especially by their mother, and society. In this paper, motherhood is presented as a solution of child's ideal and desirable growth while lack of maternal care is suggested as one of the most important causes of social problems related to African-Americans.