A Maternal Love Misread: Narrative Judgments in Toni Morrison' s A Mercy

Immediately after its release, Morrison' s A Mercy has become a focus of critical attention. This paper, in the light of rhetorical narratology, sees the "daughter-selling scene" as the kernel event of the novel. It intends to analyze three types of narrative judgments made by narrators, characters and audiences upon this event, namely, interpretive judgments, ethical judgments and aesthetic judgments. It further argues that the interactions of these judgments not only constitute the dynamic power of the novel' s progression but also shape the novel into an organic whole in terms of narrative form, narrative ethics and narrative aesthetics.