A “Special Kind of Double”: Sisterhood, Selfhood, Mermaids, and the Bonds of Trauma and Love

Abstract

Toni Morrison states that a sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves— “a special kind of double. In this project, I examine two Toni Morrison novels A Mercy and Beloved, to understand the dynamics of black sisterhood. In Morrison’s novels trauma is depicted as psychological and physical violence, isolation, and through forms of oppression. In both A Mercy and Beloved, sisterhood creates important modes of survival that did not exist for these characters before. The “sisters” of Toni Morrison’s novel use their bond to save themselves. I came to this project by reading Morrison’s works and reflecting on the role of sister- friends in my own life. How do black women find ways to support each other across difficult, impossible circumstances? What roles did these women have to play for themselves and for others? These questions sparked my exploration of trauma and how survival is enabled through black sisterhood in fictional narrative and theory.