Gothic elements in Toni Morrison's novel Mercy

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the use of gothic elements in Toni Morrison's novel A Mercy (2008) and to explain why and how the author deals with them. By reshaping traditional gothic tropes, the author exposes the traumatic legacy of slavery and racism, women's loneliness and colonial violence. Morrison uses classical gothic elements such as mysterious locations, bodily decay, death, loneliness and psychological disintegration to explore the Colonial American period. She implies that the gothic atmosphere of this period has left deep traces on the American psyche. The author also uses the gothic genre to trace generational pain, ancestral memory and the origins of identity. The study concludes that Morrison utilizes the gothic not only as an aesthetic choice, but also as a political and psychological tool to expose historical silences. The purpose of Morrison's return to the Colonial period by writing this novel in the postmodern era is to show that even today the effects of that period remain unresolved. Although the colonial period is 400 years old, similar problems persist in contemporary American society. As a result, by addressing these important points, Morrison shows that the problems of contemporary American society date back to the Colonial period. The main goal of the study is to reveal how Morrison uses gothic elements not only as an aesthetic choice but also to illuminate important historical and sociopolitical issues such as slavery, the oppression of women, trauma and social collapse. In this framework, the study shows how gothic elements are associated with America's traumatic past during the colonial period and carried into the present. Investigating the present-day manifestations of past individual and social suffering through Morrison's novel makes important contributions to both literary and cultural memory. This thesis is especially important as it reveals that gothic literature is not limited to horror or fantasy narratives, but also offers a rich ground for political, historical and psychological analysis. This analysis of Morrison's work reveals the multi-layered structure of African American literature