The Religion & Culture Web Forum
July 2009
Flowers in the Dark: African American Consciousness, Laughter, and Resistance in Toni Morrison's Beloved
by Jacqueline Bussie
Capital University
In excerpt from her Trinity Prize-winning book, The Laughter of the Oppressed: Ethical and Theological Resistance in Wiesel, Morrison, and Endo, published by Continuum Press,Jacqueline Bussie explores the function of laughter in Toni Morrison's slavery-era novel Beloved. Using literature to approach the question of why people, in horrific and oppressive situations, would respond with laughter, Bussie's study explores the complexities of the human condition and points toward a more nuanced understanding of ethics.
Invited responses will be posted later in the month from Joseph Winters (PhD candidate, Princeton University), Cooper Harriss (PhD candidate, University of Chicago), John Howell (PhD candidate, University of Chicago), and Zhange Ni (Virginia Tech University)
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