A feeling or something more: Love as a liberating force in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Sula and The Women of Brewster Place

Abstract

Love. The word itself has become a cliché and literary works dealing with it run the risk of being presumptively categorized as sentimental fiction. In academia there is an uneasiness surrounding the topic. However, in African American culture there is a different love: ―Active love‖. This thesis explores the use of as active love as suggested by bell hooks and Martin Luther King, Jr. as a practice of freedom and as a force that empowers the individual and community. This study focuses on the following three novels: Zora Neale Hurston‘s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Toni Morrison‘s Sula, and Gloria Naylor‘s The Women of Brewster Place. Each culminates in the empowerment of the individual character and their community through active love.

Amor. La palabra misma se ha convertido en un cliché, por lo que los trabajos literarios corren el riesgo de ser categorizados como ficción sentimental. En el mundo académico hay ansiedad acerca la seriedad de este tema. Sin embargo, en la cultura afroamericana existe un amor diferente: ―Amor activo‖. Esta tesis explora el uso del amor activo, sugerido por bell hooks y Martin Luther King, Jr., como una práctica de libertad y una fuerza que se apodera del individuo y de la comunidad. Este estudio se enfoca en las tres novelas siguientes: Their Eyes Were Watching God por Zora Neale Hurston, Sula por Toni Morrison y The Women of Brewster Place por Gloria Naylor. En cada una de estas novelas el amor activo brinda poder y libertad a los personajes y sus comunidades.