Toni Morrison

SUMMARY: In the article “To Be Loved: Amy Denver and Human Need: Bridges to Understanding in Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’,” by Nicole M. Coonradt, the author goes into more depth in the story’s motives and message it tries to speak out to the reader. The article talks about slavery and its unfairness, acceptance in a community, racism, and love. Mainly, it talks more about Amy Denver—as without her, there would be no story. The author talks about the “bridges” that make up the main points in the…

Sula, Toni Morrison presents nature as an all controlling force over people in the Bottom by emphasizing the embodiment of nature in powerful characters, by depicting a sense of liberation in death, and by illustrating a lack of agency in the Bottom’s population. Morrison first suggests the pervasiveness of nature in the lives of people in the Bottom by creating parallels between powerful characters in the community and natural forces. With this humanized view of nature’s…

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? The novel, Sula by Toni Morrison, sees the glass half-empty. Morrison constantly depicts the evils in the 1920’s black community in her story, and for that she teaches her characters that goodness does not normally exist. All of characters have a relationship with another, be it mother-daughter, husband-wife, friends or family, and many of those relationships end in disaster. Toni Morrison’s pessimistic nature is the reason behind the many failed loving…

A Time Never Forgotten Toni Morrison’s Beloved is “not a story to pass on” (Morrison 323-324), but if that’s true then why did she write it? When reading Morrison’s story, we see how she showed us characters haunted by depressing pasts based on the events they took part in during their days in slavery and depression. The problem is that her characters didn’t want to relive those painful memories, but to forget them for good. Morrison shows readers the recovering process they had gone through…

Toni Morrison’s Beloved underlines the importance of how names are an essential part of one’s identity. They disconnect slaves from their heritage and families while also depriving them of their cultural background. Slave owners used formulaic names to suppress slaves and ex-slaves then used the naming process to assert their newfound independence. The slaves at Sweet Home perceived themselves as inferior the same way their slave owners, Schoolteacher and Mr. Garner viewed them. Names…

formats the journey of love, independence and identity for characters development. ‘The Bluest Eye’ endures reconciliations between the protagonist, Claudia MacTeer and the world as she recalls a childhood memoir of being surrounded by “ruined” (Morrison, p.101) women, a corrupt family and a misfortunate lifestyle. Similarly, ‘The Complete Persepolis’ scrutinizes the irony of a bildungsroman, where Marjane Satrapi the protagonist reflects on the rollercoaster that was her childhood and how it…

In Playing in the Dark, Toni Morrison addresses the recurring themes and faults of racial portrayal in American literature. A substantial amount of this analysis has to do with the concept of the racial imaginary and racial canon. Using specific examples from ‘classic’ American authors, the author breaks apart the underpinnings of allegories around race. Morrison asserts that a contributing part of racism is poor portrayals of people of color in literature. This literary criticism crafts complex…

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is a jaw dropping perspective of the lives of young black girls that are forced into believing that they are ugly and therefore suffer from self-loathing. The role models in their lives are not exactly the most stable to provide them with the answers of live; therefore, they leave the girls to look into society to fill that ever expanding void of their purpose in life. In this shockingly realistic story, the young black girls such as Pecola take on the burden from…

Who or What is Beloved? By looking at “ Beloved” by Toni Morrison, we can see firsthand how slavery has taken a toll on Sethe, Denver, and Paul D. Set during Reconstruction in Cincinnati in 1871, this family is constantly haunted by their past hardships as slaves. All their pain eventually manifests into someone or something called Beloved. Beloved, is something of a mystery throughout the story. Who is Beloved? Is she a Ghost or is she a real human? What is her strong connection to Sethe,…

In the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison,the author develops the male figures through point of view, their names and internal conflicts to convey to the speaker that the past has a crippling affect on one’s actions and their present as a result. “Beloved” by Toni Morrison moves among many perspectives, closing in a multitude of characters: third person limited, third person omniscient and first person in every character’s perspectives. The novel also changes tense - past to present. This…