How Did Toni Morrison Impact Society

Superior Essays
Toni Morrison was one of the most prominent authors of the 20th century. Her personal background helped her a lot when becoming an outstanding writer. She was born into an African-American family, in the 1930s, and credits her parents with giving her the love for reading, and her perspective on life. In her younger years she was never seen as inferior, even though she was the only black in the class. There was also a significant amount of historical context that aided to her successfulness. Morrison, being and black woman, often wrote about the African-American experience in its many forms and eras, leading her to become a prominent figure in literature. Toni Morrison's life influenced her literature incomparably. As a kid she learned many …show more content…
Her style also impacted the role of literature. She used African-Americans as the speakers, and characters, and her writings also focused on rural communities. Morrison’s literature greatly impacted people and society. It was important for young black people to see what she was doing, and it encouraged them to do the same. Overall, Toni Morrison's personal background,the historical context of the time period, her life's influence on her work, the impact of her style of literature, and the impact of her work of the society all led to her becoming a prominent figure in the authors of the 20th century. Toni Morrison's personal life, and the historical context of the time period she grew up in, helped her to become the successful and inspiring writer that she is. Morrison was born on February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio, into an African-American family ("Toni Morrison," 2017). Toni Morrison's parents both had a big difference in there thoughts on race. Due to a traumatic experience Morrisons father had as a child, he had a very serious hatred towards white people, however, her mother was the exact opposite, and never rejected anybody based on race, color, or religion (Morrison, 2015) . Her parents …show more content…
Toni Morrison wanted to influence other African Americans to write, just as she did. She said a young black person seeing her do what she does, and write about her race, and culture might inspire them to write about it as well. She also impacted literature by writing with self assurance. Morrison claimed that it was her writing with self assurance that led her to Howard University, and what gave her the courage to split from her husband (Hoby, 2005). Toni Morrison influenced people, mainly African Americans, to write about what they found interest and assurance in, and what would help them in their lives. Toni Morrison also stated that after staying home for awhile, and writing she discovered many things about herself that she had never known before (Morrison, 1993). Morrison influenced people to find who they were in their writings. Her writings were also always very unique to the world of literature so in the end they would cause a lot of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Nel And Sula Comparison

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In Sula, Toni Morrison uses emotive language and humor to relate the struggles that most African Americans suffered in the 1920s. It was common for African Americans to be poorly treated in those days, however, women additionally endured mistreatment from their husbands and society in general. The main characters are Nel and Sula. There are striking contrasts between the two families and their relationships.…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The United States began to see the black community as a serious source of literature, art, and especially music. Before now, whites had a virtual monopoly on the arts. In the face of opposition, black artists make literature and art to reflect their feelings of desired freedom. Several themes emerged in an effort to recapture the African American past—its rural southern roots, urban experience, and African heritage. The exploration of black southern heritage was reflected in novels by Zora Neale Hurston.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    There are many books that have made outstanding impacts on American society. Every single book is different in several divergent aspects. They reflect the different personalities of the authors through their writing styles. Some books focus more on descriptive writing, while others focus on portraying emotions. There are many genres that can fit anyone.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Brooks’ experiences influenced her to write about the inequalities and hardships of being African-American in the vast majority of her works. Brooks was born in Kansas but moved with her family…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Zora Neale Hurston, is often considered as the “literary ancestor” of contemporary African American writers such as Alice Walker, Toni Morrison and Terry MacMillan was a renowned writer and anthropologist (Rayson, 1974). Since her writing gained recognition among critiques, it is often referred to as the “written oral art” (in Garrigues, 2003: 23). She was born in 1989 in Alabama. Her writing was undoubtedly shaped by the community in which she spent her childhood. More importantly, she was a daughter of two former slaves.…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Growing up as an African-American girl in the 1930’s was not easy. Life was a challenge for any woman, especially of color. For Maya Angelou, she turned her hardships into inspiration. With her multi talents, Angelou traveled across the world writing and inspiring people across the globe. Her trials and tribulations through life allowed her writing to become something that would be relevant forever.…

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Beloved: The Difficult Road to Recovery Eighteen sixty-three, President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, ending slavery. Many would recall the end to slavery in the mid nineteenth century as a victory for African Americans formerly held in bondage. Be that as it may, those who were slaves, although free, continued to be subjected to the harsh memories of a past filled with tortuous suffering. Protagonist in Toni Morrison’s novel, former slave named Sethe, exemplifies the damaging effects that slavery had on those who were affected by it. Despite the adversity, Sethe also embodies the indefatigable human spirit, present in all slaves, that is able to persist through the hardship of being slave-confronting external factors…

    • 1888 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Song Of Solomon Analysis

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Fight or Flight Toni Morrison born out of a mixed race family in Missouri ties in her ancestral line to that of Macon Dead’s in Song of Solomon (Blue). Morrison’s mother flew out of Morrison’s life as quickly as Morrison began life. This inevitably created a deep distrust and mildly anti-American sentiment that is signified throughout Song of Solomon. Morrison’s father was an amazing story-teller and often told Morrison stories about their ancestors (Blue). Her story-telling skills were inspired by her dad’s archaic stories.…

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Margaret Atwood is a famous writer and poet in canada, many people and causes influenced Atwood and her work, Atwood was heavily awarded and an extraordinary writer, Atwood has been writing since a young age and has known what she has wanted to do for a long time. Atwood was impacted by many people in addition to her father. “The position of her father as a prominent entomological researcher had a profound effect on the eventual career of his daughter” (Gray 73). Her father's work inspired her writing. Atwood was also influenced by many different causes like feminism, civil authority, and environmentalism.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Both Toni Morrison Sula and Alice Walker are both extremely influential revered authors. They were one of the first to document the experience of black women. Both writers take the time to explore the ideals and identity of different women, mostly mothers, and the insights they provide still compares with different women across the globe no matter the age or color. They provided a testimony that had been lacking the different annuals of literature. Not only did these two phenomenal women illustrate the experiences of black women, but also the marginalization of all women no matter what race they were.…

    • 249 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These questions got me thinking, all she wanted was for her dad to be proud of what she accomplished. I believe she included this statement to make the readers see that she didn’t only do writing for herself, she did it to try and make her dad see that…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a longtime fan of Morrison’s work, I was content to reread her novels whenever I felt nostalgic for her nuanced portrayals of African-American life. This being said, “The Origin of Others” came as a surprise to me. I was not expecting another book from Morrison and certainly wasn’t expecting a work of literary criticism. In a diversion from her most infamous works in fiction, the Pulitzer Prize- and Nobel Prize-winning author demonstrates her reflective and meticulous nature in this most recent work of nonfiction, offering her readership both surprise and consistency.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Black writers and musicians have often struggled with creating pieces by Black people for Black people. The white gaze, which sees the world through a white person’s perspective is what Black artist and writers have tried to avoid in their work. Toni Morrison once said, “...life has no meaning without the white gaze.” She was criticizing the notion that blackness cannot exist by itself, but only as a contrast to whiteness. The essence of Black pieces have been…

    • 1570 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are many components that influence a person’s mind and ideas. Experiences, whether delightful or unpleasant, will always leave a memory and influence one’s life in an abounding number of ways. Authors usually grasp onto a certain writing style, where they tend to write about topics that can relate to their own life influences. Sometimes, an author can write a piece and include multifarious connections to their personal life, having no intent to do so. Ernest Hemingway had a rather interesting life from the time he was born to his death and in many instances, events from his own life come up in his stories.…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The novel Beloved by Toni Morrison emphasizes the need for community in order for a society to evolve and move forward from a difficult history. It is impossible for the community to evolve, sustain, and survive without its members working continuously in a structured formation in which the members support each other. In the novel, the absence of support from their community poses a significant challenge for the characters to progress from the haunting memories of slavery. This absence results in the lack of self-affirmation, isolation, and makes it impossible for the characters to develop their own independent identity. The cohesion of the African American community of Cincinnati functions as a foundation for the characters to develop a true…

    • 1773 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays