Nidhu Kumar Dhar
Abstract
The
present paper aims to explore the way Toni Morrison, in her ninth novel ‘A
Mercy’, rewrites the history of early America by representing the experiences
of marginalised and diverse groups of people. Published in 2008, Morrison’s ‘A
Mercy’ takes the twenty-first-century readers to an early period in American
history and explores the predicaments of white settlers, enslaved Africans,
Native Americans, and the white indentured labourers. The novel particularly
focuses on the desperate act of an enslaved African American mother in offering
her daughter to a stranger and the consequences of that act. By analysing
Morrison’s novel and exploring the experiences of different characters, who are
stripped of any roots, stability, and perhaps a place called “home,” the paper
argues that Morrison deconstructs the foundation myth of America and offers a
multi-perspective narrative of the past.
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Published: June 2025 [Vol. 08, No. 06]