ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the significance and meaning of novelist Toni Morrisons works in terms of US culture, literary originality, Black feminism and women's spirituality. It explores some differences between a white female's and Black female's response to specific patterns in Morrison's novels. The chapter discusses portraits of old Black women and their spiritual/political significance as foremothers. Morrison's clan is a complexity of values and mythologies. The presence of the ancestor is critical to its legacy and its promise and therefore blends the traditions of Africa with the contemporary realities of the US Morrison's women stir personal imagery and collective female memory; they also have a spiritual strength and aura that are best expressed in Goddess imagery. Morrison's Sula is the story of Sula Peace, one of a family of women who are like the ancient goddesses Demeter, Persephone and Hestia. The images of the feminine that the Peace women embody are ancient, natural and universal.
