Destruction From Within: Exploring Internalised and Intra-Racial Racism in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Tarbaby and A Mercy

Abstract: This abstract examines internalised and intra-racial racism in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, and A Mercy as internal destructive forces, focusing on how racial hierarchies are absorbed, reproduced, and contested within Black and marginalised communities. Across these novels, Morrison reveals that racism operates not only as an external system of oppression but also as a psychological and cultural force that shapes self-perception, interpersonal relationships, and communal belonging. Characters frequently measure worth through proximity to whiteness, economic power, or dominant cultural norms, resulting in fractured identities and conflicted relationships. In Song of Solomon, internalised racism manifests through class elitism, colorism, and gendered expectations, particularly in the Dead family’s pursuit of respectability, which alienates them from communal and ancestral roots. Tar Baby foregrounds ideological conflict within the Black diaspora, dramatising tensions between assimilation and cultural resistance through opposing conceptions of identity, beauty, and progress. A Mercy extends this inquiry to the early colonial period, illustrating how racial categories and hierarchies are being formed and internalised even before they are fully codified, fostering division among enslaved and marginalised individuals. Collectively, these texts demonstrate how intra-racial conflict sustains broader systems of domination by redirecting violence inward. Morrison critiques the ways internalised racism erodes solidarity while also emphasising moments of resistance, remembrance, and relational repair. By exposing the intimate consequences of racial ideology, Morrison calls for a reimagining of identity rooted in historical consciousness, mutual recognition, and ethical responsibility.