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.
No comments:
Post a Comment