The thesis, entitled The Pain, Hunger, and Birth of Epiphany in the Novels of Toni Morrison, is divided into three chapters. The introduction discusses some of the traditional uses of the word “epiphany” in literature and then proceeds to define the ways in which Morrison’s characters experience epiphanical journeys. Furthermore, Morrison’s development of the idea plays a fundamental role in the structure and unification of all of her novels. The first chapter compares the texts Love and Sula and charts the progression of pain from external, communal, and inherited to internal, individual, and isolationist. In both Love and Sula, death and the body are irrelevant, and it is only when characters learn to dispel pain and disregard the body that they can truly experience an epiphany. Chapter two discusses Paradise in detail and describes the role of food in allowing or preventing characters’ spiritual awakenings or transcendence. Food and the way it is consumed, prepared, grown, and perceived are inextricably linked to characters’ journeys to epiphany. The third chapter compares the novels Jazz and Song of Solomon and illustrates the ways in which perceptions of pain and food are translated to younger generations. It also raises questions of generational sterility and degeneration as well as conveys ideas of stunted or aborted growth and truncated epiphanies.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 51-55).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 51-55). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.I.S.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-76). Also available on the World Wide Web.

No description available.

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, 2005. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-118).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2001. / Available in film copy from University Microfilms International. Vita. Thesis advisor: Lewis R. Gordon. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-266). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-246). Also available online through Digital Dissertations.

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, 2005. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-118).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Secrets and silence appear frequently in the work of Toni Morrison. In three novels, The Bluest Eye, Jazz, and Paradise, she repeats a specific phrase that acts as a signal to the reader. Morrison three times writes, “Quiet as it’s kept” in her novels to alert readers to the particular significance secrets and silence play in these novels. Morrison portrays this secrecy and silence as a barrier to building strong communities and even a strong self-identity. While the phrase appears in the same form, with each subsequent appearance, Morrison takes the idea a step further. In each novel she demonstrates how breaking the silence and refusing to keep quiet is an act of healing or salvation and she expands this healing to be increasingly inclusive. What begins as a single voice breaking the silence in The Bluest Eye becomes a group of people sharing their secrets in Jazz, and finally an entire town coming to terms with the power of speaking up. This thesis looks at the secrets and their impact on characters in each novel and explores the progression of the power in refusing to keep quiet.