“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it” was the quote that I heard over and over, and that also stuck with me after the Toni Morrison memorial. Morrison has touched a number of hearts with intersecting identities and has taught many valuable, life-changing, lessons about what it means to be you. Morrison is unapologetically herself throughout her writing and makes other conscious of who they are through the music of her words.
I have read Beloved in an Adolescent English Education class with Dr. Bender, which made his presentation on Morrison’s literature very familiar to me. In this way, I was grateful to have this background knowledge about this fiction novel that so accurately represents the feelings behind slavery in the South and the realistic happenings of a slave’s life. The connection between self-identity and the power of relationships is much more moving than any non-fiction, historical document when the topic discussed is slavery. Morrison connects the bridges between personal experiences and historical issues that deal with what it means to be a black woman in America- so well in which she has won the Noble Prize for American literature. Taking into accountably that she won for that category- not African-American literature or a featured Female in American Literature. Toni Morrison’s children’s books, novels, all her literature ignites feeling within every reader with her nontraditional mechanics of writing that turn into music on a page when reading aloud.
Professor Savonick’s talk touched upon the movement of freedom for African Americas and/or women through Toni Morrison’s novel Sula. Morrison writes about how a friendship can open doors of possibilities, be life-changing, and leads to an understanding of the character’s identity. The idea of living with no priorities wasn’t seen as lazy, but instead seen as a radical movement against a system that sets up black women/girls to fail and compete against one another; still leaving them at the bottom of the societal power ladder. Toni Morrison will always be remebered for the impact she has on people of all intersecting identities, and the inspirational nature behind her stories of a community’s struggle.
Such a great reflection, Kianna! Thank you for coming and for sharing your thoughts.