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.
I share your distaste for eugenics. What a vile, closed-minded practice! It seems that some people consider eugenics the "racial hygiene" abandoned after the days of Hitler. Sadly, eugenics is still alive and well in America today. I was so saddened earlier this semester to read that Planned Parenthood places more abortion centers in the African American communities than anywhere else, and that in NYC, there are now more African American children aborted than born. (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/02/21/black-abortion-sanger-planned-parenthood)
ReplyDeleteIt's a tragedy, and we are a worse people for it. Diversity should be embraced.