Overview

As I stated previously, Toni Morrison uses historical information as inspiration as she writes her books.  She reminds the readers aspects that are either neglected, forgotten, or overlooked in history classes or personal knowledge.  This allows those silent voices to have their day in the community and acknowledge their experiences.  Maybe as the readers gain insight on these aspects of historic situations, they will consider it as they interact with this portion of society.  As Toni Morrison demonstrates, though these situations are in the past, they still affect the present within this portion of the community, but also assumptions of other sides of the society. 

I would suggest listening to any of her interviews because she does a great job describing the her personal purpose of writing particular books, her expectations that will be fulfilled once read, and so on.  I know that I hope to add a book or so while I teach English Literature and hope to inspire someone to research more on the historical topic and create a more dominant interest in the topic, time frame, and on.

Recitatif

Though this is a short story, Morrison still demonstrates her great ability to describe characters without really forcing a racial view of the characters.  This allows the reader to decipher the situation based on their personal experience, assumptions, etc.  One teacher noted that in her many years teaching high schoolers, her students predominantly focused on the racial status of the main characters instead of other situations in the story. 

One example is how one situation remained in the two girls thoughts from the time it happened into their adulthood.  They try to determine reality compared to memory and which is more accurate. 

How these girls interact with each other and those around them, what happens to them as they grow older, and how that alters their opinion of each other when they reconnect.  This is very relate-able because people transition from human stage to the next, individuals change within themselves and how they respond to others.

Home

As usual, Morrison uses the past that some would like to forget or ignore as inspiration for her book.  This time she doesn't out right tell the readers the racial backgrounds of the characters.  Instead, as it is read, the readers take note of clues based on their knowledge of historical context.  This demonstrates what is common knowledge and how much it is embedded into the culture.

She also brought attention to eugenics.  Though been around a lot, in the 20th century, more experiments were being done without people's knowledge.  The most well-known is the Tuskegee Experiment where the government was helping poor African Americans who had ciphilos.  Instead, they chose not to treat everyone so that they could discover the full affects of the disease.

A Mercy

Once again, Morrison uses accurate historical context for your inspiration.  She goes back to early colonialism as the backdrop for this book.  Instead of focusing on just the African American experience, she merges other cultures in the mix and how they may interact with each other by focusing on the common female experience.

The African American's experience is the usual oppressed situation based on slavery and the ramifications of such.  Then we have Native American's view of the colonial situation that delves into loss of land, disease, death, and difference of religious and work expectations.  Finally we have the European side of what were the available options for ladies of the time, an idea of how life it can play out, and how different cultures can interact when left in their own smaller community. 

As I read this book, there were many times that I caught on to the accurate historical references and enjoyed the fact that they were things that are usually forgotten, ignored, and so on.  This book is a quick, brief, good book to read.

Paradise

In Paradise, there are multiple historical references that are used to demonstrate African American community.  As the book begins, the migration of African Americans after the end of slavery is brought up again.  This time the migration is headed to the west as the recently freed slaves try to start their new lives.  Because of the standard discrimination in the Southern portion of the United States, they find it difficult to establish themselves in existing towns.  This led to African Americans pooling their allotment of land into solid black communities in Oklahoma.  As they thrived through time, they hit bumps just like other towns.  Just like others, the dust bowl hindered their expansion, the youth's need to explore and find their own place in the world, and so on would end up bringing strife to the communities. 

Later in the book, she uses another historical context or belief.  Marcus Garver's "Back to Africa/Diaspora" theory was utilized to illustrate this conflict of opinion in the black community.  Two of her characters have a discussion about who their ancestors are, how far back they should consider when looking at their community influence, pride, and such. 

This book can be hard to keep the characters straight because of the amount of characters, how they come, go, and interact.  But it is worth reading as you gain insight in opinions, debates, interaction, and so on.

intrigueing inspriation for Morrison's books

As I'm reading each of these books for my upper English class, there is one theme that a current history student couldn't help but notice.  She seems to be inspired by little known historical occurrences in African American cultural.  Though she spins it into a fictional what if book, the base of at least part of the book was something historical that she got a glimpse of.

One example (which I know I have mentioned before) is Margaret Garner for the Sethe character in Beloved.  She researched a little of the back story and the actual events of Garner's life, but she altered it into a "What would have happened if she not only lived, didn't kill ALL her children, but was able to stay in that community that harbored her?"  At the same time, she reminds the audience of the horrific side of slavery in her description of where some of the characters came from or how it affected their actions later in the story.  This also reminds the reader that just because some things are in the past, doesn't mean that the ripples still can't be felt in current generations.  Until current generations acknowledge that ramification, accept the situation, and learn how to move forward, the community will find it very difficult build a better situation.

In Jazz, she noticed a picture of a girl who was killed by a boyfriend in that time frame from Harlem.  There is no information on who this girl was, why the boyfriend killed her, and so on.  So from there, Morrison, once again, used her imagination and created the back story and how it affected those characters.  Intertwined in that inspiration, she theorized how Southern African Americans may have perceived and was affected by the migration to the North, which was so different from their lives in the South.  Once again, the past can't just be left behind because it affects people's lives, she also integrates those same harsh conditions the Southern African Americans left behind and how it affected their interaction with other people. 

Currently I'm reading Paradise which was inspired by the amount of "black towns" in Oklahoma after the Civil War.  As the newly freed African Americans were trying to find their new home and get a fresh start, they were met with doors slammed in their face, unwelcoming actions from white communities that didn't want their "intrusion" and forced to move on.  It was this process that lead a large amount of African Americans to "settle" in Oklahoma and create their own single race communities as they joined together (using their 20 acre allotment) to create a town that would bond them, support them, and such.  This is another little known fact in African American history that Morrison has touched on as the backdrop for her fictional book.

Based on this new insight, it makes me rethink how I've read her books previously (will have to reread and see what else I can get from them), consider what multiple messages she is not only telling her African American community, but to all readers.  Though she doesn't necessarily write for people outside her community, it definitely leads to personal insight.

Sula

This was an interesting book that had a "binary" view of things.  You have the white and black dynamic, difference of mothering styles throughout the book, and different types of personality interactions.

The reader is immediately introduced into the white and black dynamic per how the community of Bottom was established and the irony of the name of the community.  The additional irony is the ending result of that community based  on future interaction between the white and black communities.  Then you have Nel and Sula's mother and grandmother difference of raising children (be it hands on or free will) and how that affects those characters as they grow up.  This then leads to the how Nel and Sula's personality transitions as they grow into their own womanhood and friendship changes through time. 

As usual, Toni Morrison illustrates the injustices between the races and the lasting effects of racism.  She also does a great job demonstrating how the differences of raising children can have a lasting effect on them and future generations.