Throughout her work, Toni wrote about many different characters but focused on a few essential themes pertaining to racism, internal struggle and sexual assault. She used a variety of styles and techniques to convey these themes to her audience in an engaging, entertaining, and interactive way. These themes and techniques elevated her work from a normal story that follows a character from point A to point B who learns a clear singular message to masterpieces that have varied structures throughout and complex thematic material from beginning to end.
Of the many themes Toni Morrison writes about in her many novels, those pertaining to slavery and the lingering racial prejudice are the most common. When writing about slavery Toni Morrison makes clear distinctions in the ways a slave owner controlled his slaves. To say a slave owner owns is to say that he has legal rights to the slave. To say that a slave owner possesses his slaves is different. In terms of slavery possessions means the physiological dominance a master has over his slaves to believe that they are meant to be slaves and will never be anything else. Possession of slaves was created by the destruction of slave’s culture, separation from one’s family, and the constant whip lashings given on plantations (Bloom, Beloved 59). Morrison uses this idea of sentiment of possession asa slave carrying into the lives of free blacks. In Beloved, Sethe is consumed with pleasing Beloved, mirroring the possession of slavery in which a slave must obsess over pleasing his master.
In his guide to Toni Morrison’s Beloved Harold Bloom wrote, “Beloved’s power resides in Sethe’s willingness to please; though it is based in guilt, it’s surface manifestation is no different from that of the acquiescent slave who believes that, other possibilities notwithstanding, his destiny resides with his master, and he is just as willing to serve as the stereotypical Sambo suggests (Beloved 67).”
Morrison uses possession in a similar way in her 2008 novel A Mercy. Throughout the story Florens is haunted by the memory of her mother attempting to tell her something. Florens obsessed over this image just as obsessed over pleasing Beloved (Wyatt, 123). With the distinction between Morrison informs her readers how slave owners controlled their slaves even after the slaves escaped or were freed. Morrison is also commentating on how slavery may still possess some African-Americans. Toni Morrison further demonstrates how slavery still possesses those who are no longer under the threat of a whip by describing physical features of some of her black characters in terms of money. Toni Morrison uses money as a tool to measure beauty. Specifically, the first time Lady Jones left the house alone, Morrison described her eyes as “nickel round” , inferring a child like wonder in her eyes as she sees the world. She uses money to describe physical feature to imply that black people are free of physical slavery, but the world still sees them as commodities (Bloom Beloved, 68). By describing physical features in financial terms, she implies that even after slavery, many people still view black people through the lense of slavery. This creates a situation in which money is elevated to the same level of importance as humanity in the novel. This attitude is further in Stamp approach to Baby Sugg’s mother. Stamp believes he has a debt that needs to be paid (Bloom, Beloved 61).
Morrison continues her commentary on slavery in her book A Mercy, Morrison uses possession in a similar way in her 2008 novel A Mercy. Throughout the story Florens is haunted by the memory of her mother attempting to tell her something. Florens obsessed over this image just as obsessed over pleasing Beloved (Nehl, 6) While Morrison never loses focus and outright compares the seventeenth century treatment of women and that of slaves, she does make subtle implicit comparisons (Nehl, 7).
Constant to both women and African-Americans is their vulnerability in a white male dominated society. When Toni Morrison write about Pecola’s abuse, she is writing how society destroys those with the lowest standing. Pecola is a young black girl. These three qualities you default make her vulnerable to attack. Society should look to protect these individuals, but in Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, society fails to do anything for a hurt girl in a cycle of self hatred (Bloom, Bluest Eye 53). Similarly in Tar Baby, Jadine is a black girl in a white society. When society should look to raise her up as a unique person, it instead pressures her into changing herself to conform to the societal majority. In Tar Baby, Jadine, a Black girl, has internalized European Beauty as the universal standard of beauty. As Jadine attempts to change herself into a conventionally, white, beautiful woman, she further isolates herself from her true identity and those who share said identity (Small-Mccarthy, 10).
In addition to exploring the conflict between minorities and the majority dominated societies they exist in, Toni Morrison explores the internal conflict of her characters. In Sula, Toni Morrison explores the discrepancies that exist between one’s own self-image and the image others project on to him or her. In the novel, Sula sees herself as a free spirited girl, but some of the people around her see her as a whore who seduces her friend Nel’s husband Jude into cheating (Small-McCarthy, 5). In Sula this promiscuity is a commentary on lovelessness in sex and the broader black American community (Göbel, 131). The dissonance of perceived and projected image fuel an internal struggle within Sula and an external struggle with her best friend Nel (Small-McCarthy, 6). She also expanded upon Jadine’s internal struggle in Tar Baby. Jadine is a black woman, who has removed herself from the black community and now perceives herself as the embodiment of conventional European beauty despite being of African not European descent (Small-McCarthy, 10). Because Jadine is a young woman who has yet to fully apply life lessons to her everyday life, she has ripped herself apart, because her culture taught her to do so (Small-McCarthy, 11). This encounter was a clear sign to Jadine that she need to rectify the discrepancies between her self-image and who she really is. The African women represents Jadine’s African heritage. Jadine being spat on by an African woman is deeply symbolic of both her people’s disapproval of her life choices and what is left of her African making a desperate cry for help. Instead of heeding the warning of the African woman, Jadine brushes her off and continues shopping. By ignoring this African woman, Jadine has chosen to reject her true self (Small-McCarthy, 11).
In addition to discussions of slavery, the topic of sexual assault especially as it pertains to slavery and psychology is featured heavily Toni Morrison’s work. This abuse holds a standing above the rest within her work. In his guide to Beloved Bloom said:
While Morrison depicts myriad abuses of slavery like brutal beatings and lynchings, the depictions of and allusions to rape are of primary importance; each in some way helps explain the infanticide that marks the beginnings of Sethe’s story as a free woman. Sethe kills her child so that no white man will ever “dirty” her, so that no young man with “mossy teeth” will hold the child down and suck her breasts. Of all the memories that haunt Morrison’s characters, those that involve sexual abuse and exploitation hold particular power: rape is the trauma that forces Paul D to lock his memories in a “tobacco tin” heart, that Sethe remembers more vividly than the beating that leaves a tree of scars on her back, that destroys Halle’s mind. (70-71)
Bloom stated how Morrison elevates sexual assault above the other horrid abuse in her works. In Beloved especially, sexual assault can be the cornerstone on which the psyche of a damaged person is built. Sethe is so driven by the fear of her sexual assault that she kills her own child to protect her from that same abuse. Similar to the way memory of her rape while in captivity lingers over Sethe the murder of Beloved haunts Sethe and her loved ones. Beloved sexually assaults Paul D in the middle of the night. This sexual assault has both a physically abusive component and an emotionally abusive component. By physically assaulting people, Beloved brings back strong and painful memories of their captive past. This abuse dehumanizes her victims just as a master raping his slaves strips them of their humanity (Bloom, 71).
Toni Morrison uses various styles and techniques to enhance her writing for her readers. Toni Morrison allows readers to be a more involved participant in her work by embedding rhythm, lyrical syntax,and tonality into her work. This fusion of permanece and literary art evokes a physical response to the mental process of reading (Small-McCarthy, 1). In Song of Solomon, she distinguishes characters and groups by creating distinct oral dialects and musical styles (Small-McCarthy, 8). This is another example of how the creative author Toni Morrison can subtlety use musical elements to enhance her writing. In addition to fusing literary and musical elements to create her novels, Toni Morrison will at times add actual music into her work, creating a soundtrack to each of her novels as a movie director creates a soundtrack to his film. This literary soundtrack is made up of folk songs, gospel singing, and everyday actions that add to the feel of a scene such as humming or whistling while walking down the street (Berret, 2). These everyday actions reveal two purposes. One purpose is to add depth to the book, making the reader feel as if they are emerged in the real lives of the characters. The second purpose is to push the plot along from one scene to the next and filling the empty space with local color.
Throughout her works Toni Morrison uses African folklore and mythology as the inspiration for an alternate retelling of a legend or as a cultural and moral source to call upon when necessary to the telling of a story. When used in the latter method, Morrison reminds the reader of the history of African-American to give insight on the present situation of African-Americans. One such instance in which Morrison uses African folk culture is through Milkman’s journey in Song of Solomon. Morrison takes the common African folk trope of humans taking flight, a symbol of enslaved blacks freeing themselves from spiritual captivity by their own power, and reimagines it through the blundering Olaf known as Milkman. Milkman discovers an old song which reignites his belief in the power of flight. Milkman descends from an ancient African tribe known for the flying capabilities (Small-McCarthy, 7). Later on in Song of Solomon, Morrison takes the commonly held belief that music is an escape from one’s real responsibilities and reimagines it as a thread that weaves the past, present and future together (Small-McCarthy, 8).
Morrison used music in Song of Solomon agai later in the novel to tell part of Milkman’s story. Toni Morrison blended the distinct male voices of Milkman, Guitar, and Macon with the choral female voices. The men, the women, and the ancestors of both combined their voices to create a symphony of African music with different voices representing different familial and communal units. At times Milkman strayed from the pack and sang his own song, as he did when he sang “Sugarman”. His performance was contrasted by the performance of a female choir performing their own version of “Sugarman” (Small-McCarthy, 9). Toni Morrison intentionally set up a situation where Milkman was all alone as he performed his song and was contrasted by others singing together in beautiful harmony. She made this contrast to again force her readers to interpret Milkman as a lonely outsider. This contrast and the likely conclusions of her audience set the stage for her to turn the story on its head. As Milkman sang “Sugarman” alone, he was joined by a chorus of his ancestors singing with him. The ancestral choir joining Milkman symbolized a greater self realization of who he is to himself and who he is among his family (Small-McCarthy).
Morrison uses musical rhythms to deliberately give her novels a flow common to music not literature. At the climax of the novel, Morrison abandons some grammatical conventions, although not to the same extent as she did in The Bluest Eye. During this portion of Song of Solomon, she uses short staccato phrases that create a rhythm, reminiscent of famous musician Max Roach’s bebop drums (Small-McCarthy, 10). This fusion of musical sounds and the written word create a style unique to Toni Morrison that is both authentic and emotional. The musical qualities among other element of Milkman’s speech patterns during the climax of Song of Solomon reflect elements of the real African-American dialect (Small-McCarthy, 10). She marry music and her fictional stories again in Tar Baby. Son, a character in Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby, is a pianist. Toni Morrison crested Son to be both a literal musician and a literary musician. His language can be described to have the free and rebellious nature of a Jazz musician. His Jazz style of speaking reflects the emotional complexity of Son as a character. Son is able to si play his emotional range and his Jazz style when he gives his passionate speeches to Jadine. His speeches dramatically occur at times of great strife in the novel just as songs are sung during the most emotionally infused moment of plays (Small-McCarthy, 12). In a similar way, Morrison uses rhythmic elements in Beloved to change the pace of the novel. Morrison uses repetition to add momentum to her stories. Her repetition of words such as rolling add emphasis to her work while also serving as the vehicle by which the plot of Beloved moves from one moment to the next while maintaining the memory like order established by Morrison through Sethe. Using repetition and transitional phrases keep the readers focus off of how the story arrived where it is and instead on to the key detail as currently being explained in the present moment (Small-McCarthy). She also adds emotion to the book when Sethe finally admits that Beloved is the child that she murdered, “Sethe sings the call of rapturous motherhood,” (Small-McCarthy, 14).
Toni Morrison utilizes a unique narrative structure to engage her readers. In The Bluest Eye, she progressively breaks down the grammar in her writing. “She take her readers from, Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door… to Here is the house it is green and white it has a red door… and finally to Hereisthehouseitisgreenandwhiteithasreddoor.” This progressive breakdown of established American English grammatical convention lead to a fast-paced chaotic tone. This chaotic tone forces the reader to make his or her own judgements. This breakdown of grammar and subsequent narrative ambiguity forces the reader to be an active participant in the transformation from text to interpretation (Small-McCarthy, 4). Morrison creates an environment where the author and the audience have a conversational relationship. Both sides have some give and take to create a complete story. The reader fills in where Morrison intentionally leaves gaps created by character’s memories. Character memories are used to create these lapses because of their real-life unreliable nature (Chapter-V Techniques and Structures of Toni Morrison’s Novels, 7).
To further develop the audience as an active participant in the crafting of her stories, Toni Morrison often writes with a non-linear chronology. Toni Morrison begins Beloved by following the conventional chronological order of a novel. As the book progresses Morrison switches back and forth between past and present without explicitly stating when she is doing so. These time changes take the form of flashbacks. Sethe incessantly relives moments from her past she rather forget. Morrison couples each of these flashbacks with a current day scene that gains a new meaning when viewed in light of past events. This follows the pattern of human memory where one image can trigger a full memory that is only tangentially related to the image (Small-McCarthy, 13). By using this technique, Morrison creates a stream of consciousness, though at times hard to follow, but is completely authentic and realistic. In addition to being a tool for greater storytelling, the disjointed chronology of Morrison’s work may be reflective of the abrupt relocation of Africans( Wyatt, 95). Black people were either sold or kidnapped in Africa, and brought across the Atlantic Ocean to a new world that they did not wish to be a part of. In this new world they were sold as slaves. As slaves they were moved randomly with the only constant being the slave had no part in the decision making process of where they would live their lives. Toni Morrison calls on this inconsistent and helpless struggle in her novels by shifting where and when her story happens.
Along with shifting the time in which events take place, Toni Morrison will tell the same event from multiple points of view. By using multiple unreliable narrators to show one event, Toni Morrison allows her readers to piece together what actually happened. Each reader may come to a different conclusion of what happened. The memories of Sethe are layered with the memories of other characters such as: Baby Suggs, Paul D, Beloved, and Denver. These memories are layered on top of one another through a technique called re-memory through Sethe (Small-McCarthy, 14).
In addition to her unconventional methods of strengthening reader interest, Morrison uses some of the traditional literary devices to help her writing peak the interest of her audience. Toni Morrison uses similes and metaphor to make her writing more interesting to read. Her unique comparisons keep her readers engaged as they progress through her work. She frequently uses historical events in her similes and metaphors, which give her writing a unique feel allowing her audience distinguish her style from her peers (Chapter-V Techniques and Structures of Toni Morrison’s Novels, 1). In Beloved, Morrison uses the imagery of the four horsemen of the apocalypse (Khawaja, 1). This imagery exemplifies how Toni Morrison uses history in her work. The biblical image enhances the feeling of impending the reader has for the protagonists of Beloved. Biblical Imagery is also present in both Song of Solomon, in the text as well as the title, and Tar Baby (Nichols, 1).
Toni Morrison explores many themes throughout her work. These themes mostly focus on the marginalized groups of society. She sees and writes about African-Americans through the lens of slavery. To convey the messages about those marginalized groups Morrison employs various different methods to create a literary environment in which her readers work with her writings to create the story, and in turn receiving a deeper understanding of Toni Morrison’s most important themes.
Works Cited
Berret, Anthony J. “TONI MORRISON'S LITERARY JAZZ.” CLA Journal, vol. 32, no. 3, 1989, pp. 267–283. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44322028.
Bloom, Harold Toni Morrison's Beloved: "Beloved" New York City, Chelsea House, 2004. Print
Bloom, Harold Toni Morrison's Beloved: "The Bluest Eye" New York City, Chelsea House, 2004. Print
CHAPTER- V TECHNIQUES AND STRUCTURES OF TONI MORRISON’S NOVELS
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/175610/11/11_chapter5.pdf
Göbel, Walter. “CANONIZING TONI MORRISON.” AAA: Arbeiten Aus Anglistik Und Amerikanistik, vol. 15, no. 2, 1990, pp. 127–137. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43023537.
Khawaja, Mabel, et al. “Toni Morrison's Beloved.” PMLA, vol. 112, no. 1, 1997, pp. 115–118. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/463060.
Nehl, Markus. “From Human Bondage to Racial Slavery: Toni Morrison’s A Mercy (2008).” Transnational Black Dialogues: Re-Imagining Slavery in the Twenty-First Century, Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld, 2016, pp. 55–78. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wxt1v.6.Copy
Nichols, Julie J. “Patterns in Toni Morrison's Novels.” The English Journal, vol. 72, no. 1, 1983, pp. 46–48. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/817444.
Small-McCarthy, Robin. “From 'The Bluest Eye' to 'Jazz': A Retrospective of Toni Morrison's Literary Sounds.” Counterpoints, vol. 96, 1999, pp. 175–193. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42975836.
WYATT, JEAN. Love and Narrative Form in Toni Morrison’s Later Novels. University of Georgia Press, 2017. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1g2km9c.