Toni Morrison Narcissism

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In this essay I’ll be looking at Derrida’s claim about Narcissism in relation to two characters in Toni Morrisons,” Jazz”, Joe Trace and Golden Grey. In order to do this, first I will be outlining what Narcissism entails. Jacques Derrida infused the teachings of Sigmund Freud about narcissism, with his own deconstructive version of the Hegelian dilemma of the beautiful soul. “Freud’s paper on ‘On Narcissism’ lets us know that he was beginning to perceive cases of what he calls ‘secondary narcissism’… for him, such narcissism is unquestionably pathological, in contrast to the ‘primary narcissism’ of the infant who has not yet differentiated himself from within the symbiotic relationship he has been enjoying with the mothering one.” (Levin, …show more content…

He chooses his surname in particular after trying to understand the abandonment of his parents. At this time, he still believes they will come back for him. After Mrs. Rhoda Williams tells him that they disappeared without a trace. Joe as a confused three-year-old thought, “The way I heard it I understood her to mean the ‘trace’ they disappeared without was me.” (Morrison, 124). Joe names himself in pursuit of ultimately finding his ‘Sign’ and giving meaning to himself. Joe’s lack of relationship with his mother is why he is so driven to find purpose, and trace himself. Although his mother is not the only one to evoke this reaction from Joe Trace, Dorcas does this as well. When she mentions she wants to get rid of her acne Joe responds with, “take my little hoof marks away? Leave me with no tracks at all?” (Morrison, 130). Joe imprints on Dorcas as he does Violet, but when Violet is unable to care for him like a mother, he follows his trace to another. Dorcas was the tracks he reached for this time in his pursuit of an original …show more content…

Joe blames himself for the way he was not able to remain constant, and continuously change on her. The same way Wild was never constant in his life, and always ran around, in the wild. Derrida states that, “Love is narcissistic. Beyond that, there are little narcissisms, there are big narcissisms, and there is death in the end, which is the limit.”(There is No "One" Narcissism, Derrida) This excerpt relates to the relationship that Joe, a narcissistic lover is able to sustain for himself even after trying to re-appropriate himself in relation to the other -Wild. The relationship between Joe and Dorcas, can be described in big and little narcissisms. While Dorcas’ narcissism urged her to wanted to a younger man, Joe was unable to let go and brought her death as one of his final gifts. Joe used Dorcas as his trace back to re-appropriation for his image in his everlasting love. He created an image of Dorcas he wanted to keep forever, before she moved on to Acton. Joe Trace kills Dorcas as she is dancing with Acton. A familiar notion of “Fichtean ‘Schweben’, in which the I can never become truly present to itself and spins away from itself in a process of constant self-alienation.”(Bielik-Robson, 182) In this case, Joe struggles to trace himself, from his mother, to Dorcas and later on Violet as he drifts away from her in self-alienation

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