Victims of incest: Portrayals of women as reflected in the novels of Toni Morrison and Zülfü Livaneli

The aim of this thesis is to illustrate adverse effects of racism and sexism on black women in the United States and adverse effects of sexism and custom on women in the east of Turkey by focusing on Toni Morrison?s The Bluest Eye and Zülfü Livaneli?s Mutluluk. Infact, the common points examined in the novels are marginalized woman and exploitation of woman?s body in patriarchal societies.The first chapter points out with the novel of Toni Morrison the position of black woman in the racist and sexist black community by emphasizing on a little woman, who turns to insanity in order to cope with outcasting from society after her violation. Black woman in the novel internalizes the attitude of beauty, belonging to whites, and so begins to embrace racial discrimination, ruining woman and causing her losing self-esteem.In the second chapter, the struggle of woman in a society, which gender discrimination and oppression on woman exist, has been explained with Zülfü Livaneli?s novel and it has been highlighted that how woman is seen as statue of honour and can be killed in the name of honour in case of necessity. It has been analyzed in the novel that in such a society, how a little woman coped with custom and managed to discover her self-identity.The last chapter represents comparative analysis of woman characters sharing the same destiny although they are from different races - one is black and other is white in The Bluest Eye and Mutluluk. It has been emphasized on the viewpoint of repressive societies on woman and it has been concluded in the chapter that how women are scorned and marginalized and how some concepts like beauty and honour are abused.Keywords: Racism, Sexism, Custom, Self-Esteem, Honour?