Table of ContentsIntroductionCultural CriticismConclusion IntroductionCultural criticism is a critical prism through which any text can be viewed. This form of criticism examines how different religions, ethnicities, class identifications, political beliefs, and opinions affect the way texts are created and interpreted. For those looking for examples of cultural criticism essays, the works of Toni Morrison provide an excellent foundation. Morrison's approach to literature anchors it in a broader framework that includes the economic institutions of literary production, ideology, and political issues of class, race, gender, and power. In his works, Morrison delves into the psyche of African Americans to understand their unique cultural heritage, heavily influenced by their folklore, myths and traditions. His works provide insight into the complexity of the African American experience and its roots in cultural myths and traditions. Morrison's literary approach is an excellent example of cultural criticism in action. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayCultural CriticismCultural criticism suggests that being part of or excluded from a specific group or culture contributes to and affects our understanding of texts. The use of cultural criticism as a tool for understanding literature is based on certain common assumptions. For example, ethnicity, religious beliefs, social class, etc. are crucial elements in formulating plausible interpretations of a text. Additionally, given that examining a text from the perspective of individuals (blacks, women, and slaves) who are in some way marginalized or not part of the dominant culture, As new understandings emerge, cultural criticism also focuses primarily on examination or exploration. relations between dominant cultures and those dominated. As L. Tyson says, cultural criticism focuses on what a literary work suggests about the experience of groups of people who have been ignored, underrepresented, or misrepresented by mainstream history (e.g., laborers, prisoners, women, people of color, lesbians and gays, children, insane, etc.). For Mr. Habib, cultural criticism is a critical approach that grounds literature within a broader framework that can include the economic institutions of literary production, ideology, and larger political questions of class, race, gender, and power. Cultural analysis therefore tends to emphasize what is specific or unique – in terms of time, place and ideology – at a given cultural and literary moment (Habib, 2005: 276). Thus, cultural critics invite attention to political, ideological, social and historical factors when analyzing literary texts. Indeed, cultural theories assert that literature cannot transcend history and is continually shaped by social and political forces. For them, literary texts are the product of the ideology of the time in which they are written. (Greenblatt (1982) In other words, literature does not exist in a timeless aesthetic domain as an object to be passively contemplated. On the contrary, like all cultural manifestations, it is a product of the socio-economic and therefore ideological conditions of the time and place in which it was written, whether the author intended it. Because human beings are themselves products of their own.socio-economic and ideological environment, it is assumed that authors cannot help but create works that embody ideology in one form or another (Tyson, 66). themselves of ideology but write within certain ideological limits which influence their works. From such definitions and hypotheses, I can wonder if the literary corpus developed by African Americans and in particular Toni Morrison cannot be analyzed and understood from a cultural perspective, indeed, when Africans arrived. to America, they brought with them their rich and colorful history, culture, folklore and myths that they inherited from their ancestors. Although they lacked a written literary tradition, they had already developed and disseminated their diverse black culture since their liberation from slavery. In writing, they included their rich heritage and folklore that preserves their race, identity and culture. These large groups of literature written by Americans of African descent became known as African American literature. Toni Morrison is one of the major notable writers who have left their mark on this body of literature. She ranks among the most beloved and widely read African American fiction writers and cultural critics who emerged in the 1970s. As an African American writer, Toni Morrison reflects not only the exploitation and devastation caused by slavery on African Americans, but also delves into their psyche to reach the unique cultural heritage of African Americans by intermittently alluding to their folklores, myths, cultural traditions, ancestral heritage, magic, fable, poetry , songs, music and superstition. His works provide insight into the complexity of the African American experience and its roots in myths, African cultural traditions and folklore. She developed an interest in describing how African Americans are affected by dominant white cultural values ​​by focusing on the living conditions of the black community with more truth and accuracy, often with direct or implicit social messages. Therefore, it can undoubtedly be said that the influence of African culture is a notable feature of Toni Morrison's work. Indeed, she has developed an exuberant writing style that constantly strives to incorporate what she considers "unorthodox novelistic features [of] black art" into her writing ("Rootedness", 342). . Morrison always said she wondered what made a book “black.” In “Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature,” she considers “the development of a theory of literature that truly accommodates African-American literature: a theory based on its culture, history, and the artistic strategies of the works”. use to negotiate the world he inhabits” (“Unspeakable,” 11). Similarly, in Playing in the Dark: White and the Literary Imagination (1992), she focuses her attention on what she calls the Africanist presence in American literature, a term she uses to describe the centrality of certain issues and narrative techniques in African-American works. . In short, in her various novels which generally focus on African Americans in mainstream American society, Toni Morrison intermittently alludes to African cultural traditions and folklore. Toni Morrison explores oral tradition extensively in her works. His fiction is consciously interested in myths, legends, stories and other traditional forms, as well as memory and history. The stories are conscious of African cultural heritage as well as..