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Toni Morrison: The Power of Words (extra credit)

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Toni Morrison is a literary icon who has reshaped the landscape of not only African-American literature but the literature of the entire world. From her early works to her revolutionary ideas on writing, Morrison constantly challenged the status quo and slowly became a symbol of empowerment that hasn’t changed ever since. Through her powerful words, she sought to eliminate the dominance of the “white gaze” in literature and elevate the voices of Black people she “wanted to speak to, and to be among.”

 

Morrison’s early works faced criticism for being “limiting” by focusing solely on Black experiences. However, she vehemently rejected the notion that White people should define the narrative. She believed that Black experiences did not need validation through the presence of White characters nor were her books written for the White characters, challenging the conventional literary norms (till this day).

Morrison’s words possessed an undeniable power, something she learned about as a child. It became even more evident to her when her book was banned from a Texas prison. The authorities feared that her work could incite a riot within as her novels became the vessels of freedom. She wrote with “depth, meaning, knowledge, and information,” allowing readers to explore new perspectives and contemplate the complexities of the human experiences, especially the experiences of Black people (mainly Black women and girls).

She started her writing career late, and before that she was a teacher and an editor. Through her versatile career, Morrison showcased the rich history of Black people and transformed it into literary art. Her time as a writer aligned with the Black Power Movement, that was inspiring to Morrison as she understood the importance of preserving and amplifying the voices of the people contributing to a drastic societal change. And thus, she became the editor of Angela Davis’s and Muhammad Ali’s books.

 

Overall, Toni Morrison’s contributions to literature were nothing short of groundbreaking. With a determination to challenge conventions, she unleashed the power of words and changed the literature forever. Her legacy continues to inspire and empower generations, reminding us of the transformative potential of storytelling and the importance of diverse voices in shaping our world.

Toni Morrison died in August 2019. We will always remember this powerful and remarkable  “Black woman.”

 

Death and the African American

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Warning: Gruesome Images are in the video

In Sula, the death of Chicken in the chapter titled “1922” was sudden and worrisome. How his body was treated after he was found reminded me of Emmett Till and how his body was found in the Tallahassee River. For those who don’t know, Emmett Till was a 14-year-old boy brutally beaten and shot for whistling at a white woman. He was so severely beaten you couldn’t even make out his face. No one was charged for his murder. But his mother made sure to publicize what those men did to her child. If you are interested, I’ve attached a video going into more detail about his case. A movie about him came out last year called Till. I recommend watching it, as it’s heartbreaking yet powerful.

 

Going on to read about Chicken’s funeral was heartbreaking. It had me thinking about how often black Americans see and experience death. This line, in particular, stood out to me, “Or they thought of their son newly killed and remembered his legs in short pants and wondered where the bullet went in.” (65). It made me think about gun violence in this country and police murdering black children, mothers, and fathers. I think about the recent shootings in Chicago just a couple of days ago. This article by the Chicago Sun Times gives the ages, whereabouts, wounds, and conditions of people who were shot and/or killed during this year’s Fourth of July weekend. The ages of these victims range from 5-52 years old. For centuries African Americans have been closely tied to death. From slavery to lynchings during Jim Crow to gun violence and murderous police. Just imagine the cases that don’t make national news. I’m aware that death isn’t solely tied to black Americans. However, something must be said about the rate at which death occurs in the community. To the point where Toni Morrison not only has Chicken’s death but the death of Plum as well. It’s truly mind-boggling the relationship African Americans have with death, almost to the point where we’re desensitized to it or almost tiresome of these same outcomes. It’s intensified as technology and media have advanced. Will there ever be change, or will death continue to be a plague? 

Womens Freedom in Toni Morrison’s “Sula”

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Sula by Toni Morrison is a book that tackles many topics that are still relevant today but one of the reasons why this book is my favorite book of all time is because of the way it approaches gender roles and plays with what true freedom looks like for women. The novel takes place from 1919 to1965, a time when women did not have the same rights that they do today and more strict gender roles were enforced, and while the end of this book takes place 57 years ago many of these topics are still relevant today. The main character Sula is hard to pin down and maybe even a little hard to understand at times but I think that is the point. Sula defies traditional gender norms for her time and even things that are still considered proper today. Sula rejects the traditional role of a woman in her town because she refuses to accept the taboo of sex, racism, and even class definitions that are forced on many people in her community. One example of this that we see in the book is the fact that Sula is a sexually liberated woman. Her actions push back on the long-held belief that men are more sexual than women and are judged less harshly for sleeping with whoever they want to sleep with. She is arguably one of the only truly free characters in the whole book, while at times, her actions may seem selfish or detrimental to other people she’s unapologetically living for herself, something that many other women in the bottom cannot say for themselves. The women in her town do not only hate her because she sleeps with their husbands, they hate her because she is a living breathing reminder of the freedom they could have had and the traps they live in. 

“‘You think I don’t know what your life is like just because I ain’t living it? I know what every colored woman in this country is doing.’ ‘What’s that?’ ‘Dying., Just like me. But the difference is they dying like a stump. Me, I’m going down like one of those redwoods. I sure did live in this world.’ (Morrison 143).

Sula lives her life radically free because she is the only woman in the novel who consistently chooses herself. Being selfish all the time is not great, but women sometimes have to be more selfish than men because the cards that life hands us are not always fair.

In this interview Morrison asnwers the question how do we survive whole in a world where we are all victims of something? Her response gives more insight into how we can view Sula’s behavior in the novel. 

 

Selena Rodas