“Wholesome Utility”: Patriarchy and Black Nationalism in Paradise

This essay examines the relationship between patriarchal culture and Black separatist politics in Toni Morrison’s Paradise . While these two themes are obviously central to the text, they are generally treated as merely contiguous elements of life in Ruby, Morrison’s fictional all-Black town. A close examination of classic Black nationalist discourse, however, reveals that the politics of Black separatism has, from the time of its origin, stemmed from efforts to establish a Black patriarchal order that could stand in opposition to racist institutions and practices that strip the Black man of the patriarchal status enjoyed by white men. I argue that Morrison’s novel exposes this causal relationship between patriarchal culture and Black separatism and the way that it generates within Black nationalist ideology a tendency to hijack, obscure, or even eliminate racial solidarity efforts that are more intersectional, inclusive, and democratic.