기독교적 관점에서 본 토니 모리슨 소설의 희생양 메커니즘 연구

Abstract

본 논문은 모리슨의 초기와 중기 소설 중 『가장 푸른 눈』 (The Bluest Eye), 『솔로몬의 노래』 (Song of Solomon), 『낙원』 (Paradise) 세 소설에 나타난 집단 폭력으로서의 희생양 삼기(scapegoating)의 발생 원인과 과정, 극복 의지를 르네 지라르의 기독교적 사상의 틀을 빌려 조명해보고자 한다. 많은 비평가들이 모리슨 작품의 주된 관심사와 주제가 “희생양 발생”이라는 사실을 지적해 왔지만, 이를 모리슨 작품의 종교적인 배경과 연관지어 논의한 연구는 찾기 힘들다. 문학비평가와 인류학자의 입장에서 성서가 가지는 인류학적 의의를 찾는 지라르의 연구는 인간의 사회적 관계 속에서 발생하는 폭력으로서 희생양 삼기의 원인과 그 작동 원리, 극복 방안을 논의하고 있기에 유사한 문제 의식과 종교적 배경을 지닌 모리슨의 작품 연구에 유용할 것으로 사료된다. 소설과 각종 에세이에서 모리슨은 지라르와 공통적으로 인간 사회의 폭력과 ‘희생’(“sacrifice”)이라는 주제에 천착해 왔다. 희생양 메커니즘과 같은 사회적 폭력을 극복하는 데 있어서 그리스도교적인 가치관에 깊이 공감했던 모리슨 소설의 도덕적이고 종교적인 비전에 대한 연구는 지라르의 문화인류학에서 새로운 도움을 얻을 수 있으리라 생각된다. ;This thesis examines the issue of scapegoating as the most prevalent social violence in Toni Morrison’s three novels The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Paradise from Christian standpoint with the help of the Girardian theory. Morrison inquired into the problem of social violence such as scapegoating and fictionalized its process and the characters’ efforts to overcome it. Girard also concentrated on the reason, process, and overcoming of the scapegoating as typical social violence. They also shared Judeo-Christian value system that could work as an effective way of terminating the cycle of violence such as scapegoating. Although Morrison did not give a definite answer to the problem of violence in Black communities, she created Christ-like figures such as Pilate and the Convent women who take the first step to end the scapegoating mechanism. Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye details the tragic life of a poor black girl named Pecola in a black town. She is marginalized and ostracized by the people of the town because people generally emulate white middle-class model of established nuclear family and fear that they will be “contaminated” by contact with this poor, “ugly” black girl that embodies socially codified blackness in the worst sense in their eyes. The novel shows how she becomes scapegoated by her family, classmates, and the townspeople in general. Since she is the most vulnerable member of the this society, she is held responsible for the crime of the rape by her father Cholly that could be the shame of the whole town and this makes her an ultimate scapegoat of the society. This cruel victimization is revealed in Christian imagery of transference of the human guilt to an innocent lamb whose archetype is Christ. Morrison continued her concern with the scapegoating with her third novel Song of Solomon mostly through Pilate, who is ostracized by the black society on account of her lack of the navel. She is feared and shunned like the ancient scapegoat and falls prey to the blind violence of ungrateful Guitar in place of Milkman. However, she lets go of resentment and willingly surrenders her life for others who need it and her selfless sacrifice moves Milkman to also offer his life to the former friend turned enemy to end the cycle of violence spawning around his family and friends. In her last novel of the “love trilogy”, Paradise, the residents of the all black town Ruby have been divided among themselves by economic disparity, influx of the sexual liberation and generation conflict between the elder generation and the younger generation over the issue of isolation and integration during the Civil Rights and Black Power movement. The town leaders try to solve this problem by vilifying the neighboring Convent women and “purging” them. Morrison portrays how the town leaders’scapegoating of the women in the nearby Convent backfires because of the townspeople who emulate Christ whose crucifixion exposed the falsity and transient nature of the peace that the scapegoating brings. Through her fiction, Morrison fictionalized how scapegoating unfolds mostly in black society and how people cope with it. She does not provide solution to the social violence such as scapegoating. However, her religious background enabled her to create deeply religious fictional characters who combat with scapegoating. Although she is not likely to have Girard in mind in creating her fiction, it is helpful to read the religious and moral vision of her novels with an aid of Girardian theory.