不是妖怪，而是社區媽媽：論愛麗絲‧沃克《瑪莉荻安》的自我實現

Not a Monster, But a Community Othermother: Self-Realization in Alice Walker's Meridian

10.6255/JWGS.2007.23.35

陳淑玲(Shu-Ling Chen)

愛麗絲‧沃克 ； 瑪莉荻安 ； 黑人母職 ； 社區媽媽 ； 女人主義者 ； 自我實現 ； Alice Walker ； Meridian ； black motherhood ； community othermother ； womanist ； self-realization

女學學誌：婦女與性別研究

23期（2007 / 06 / 01）

35 - 69

繁體中文

非裔美籍名作家愛麗絲‧沃克(Alce Walker, 1944-)，向來繫念她同胞整體的生存，更致力於探索黑人女性的生活，其作品兼具政治性與美感。在富含非裔美國人的民權運動、女性主義及母系傳統等的小說《瑪莉荻安》中，沃克描繪矛盾的黑人母職制度，對非裔美籍女性的影響。本文試圖闡述瑪莉荻安實現自我的經歷及其對社區的作用，探究她拒絕接受強調自我犧牲與無我的理想黑人母職，及其延伸母職的意義。同時瑪莉荻安以社區媽媽的身分，促進非裔美國人民福祉的社區媽媽角色，爲其身體與精神的存活奉獻，實現自我，提出她激發社區用女人主義的觀點，思考、定義黑人母職與黑人女性，更帶動杜魯門面對自我的局限、偏見而成長。 本文分爲五部分，首先簡介沃克創作及其女人主義者的理念。第二部分主要討論芮曲對母職鞭辟入裏的見解，以及柯林斯與柯莉斯蒂安對黑人母職的論述。第三部分探討瑪莉荻安的自我實現，以受困母職、拒絕母職、重新定義母職爲主題，兼顧她與社區的關聯。接著分析她對社區，尤其是杜魯門的影響。最後結論省思借鏡瑪莉荻安自我實現的模式與願景於當前台灣社會。

Deeply concerned for the survival of her people, renowned African American writer, Alice Walker, whose works are both political and aesthetically beautiful, is committed to exploring the lives of black women. In Meridian, a novel about, among other things, the Civil Rights Movement, feminism, and matrilineal heritage, Walker depicts the impact of black motherhood, a fundamentally contradictory institution, on black women. This paper attempts to discuss the title character Meridian's journey to self-realization and its effect on her community. It will analyze how she refuses play the part of the idealized, selfless, and self-sacrificing black mother, redefines motherhood, and takes on the role of the empowering community othermother, striving for the physical and spiritual survival of her people and mothering the mind of both children and adults to achieve self-realization. It proposes that Meridian stimulates the black community to contemplate critically the restrictive institution of black motherhood and redefine it through a womanist perspective; it also contends that her self-realization inspires Truman to face his own limitations and contradictions, leading him to change. This paper is divided into five sections. It begins with a brief introduction on Walker and her ideas concerning the womanist perspective. It then probes the meanings of motherhood and black motherhood, focusing on the theories of Adrienne Rich, Patricia Hill Collins, and Barbara Christian. The third section follows the transformation of Meridian from being trapped in gender roles, especially in motherhood, to a self-fulfilling individual. It will also incorporate her relationships with her mother and the community. The fourth section analyzes Meridian's influence on the black community, especially Truman. It concludes with some thoughts on how we can learn from Meridian's solution and vision of self-realization, and create a better society.