Violet And Joe Trace In Toni Morrison's Jazz

The novel Jazz which was written by Toni Morrison took place during the late 1800’s up through the mid-1920’s. The novel begins in the neighborhood of Harem in the year of 1926. A women and her husband who are unhappily married have lived together in this town for many years. Their names are Violet and Joe Trace. Violet is a skinny, fifty year old black woman, who is very emotionally unstable and lonely. She recently has let her birds fly free out the window. Joe Trace is in his late fifties and works as a waiter and a cosmetic salesman. He had an affair with a young girl named Dorcas who he met one day while selling cosmetics and after she wanted to end the relationship to see other guys that are her age he murdered her by shooting her. Her ghost haunts the Trace’s and the Salem Women’s Club was going to help Violet through this struggle but, she went to Dorcas’s funeral and slashed her face with a knife so they denied help to her because of this inappropriate behavior. Violet wants to learn all about Dorcas so she talks to her aunt about her and what she was like and what her life was like. Dorcas’s aunt Alice offers Violet a photo of Dorcas for her to keep on their mantle for both the Trace’s to visit. Joe grew up without a mother and feels a special connection between him and Dorcas because she was also motherless. Joe was born in Vienna, Virginia and was raised by Rhonda …show more content…
Toni Morrison includes many elements from the genre of jazz music into his novel that help show the expressions and cultural production of African Americans. The novel takes place in the 1920’s which was also the beginning of jazz music. Both the novel and the music’s main place during this time was in Harlem, New York. The idea of music is talked about all through out the novel. This novel shows the significance of the music jazz, and the African Americans lives and how they relate to each