Tag Archives: Toni Morrison

Ivanka Doesn’t Understand “Beloved”

When Ivanka Trump quotes Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” in her recent book, she does everything I tell my students not to: she reduces the work to herself.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

The President Who Loved Literature

In a remarkable interview with “The New York Times,” Barack Obama spoke about the importance of literature in his life. The range of his reading and the sensitivity of his responses is astounding.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Morrison: Where America Went Wrong

Toni Morrison’s 2008 novel “A Mercy” seems to start with a promising vision of America before everything goes wrong. It’s as though she starts with the optimism of the Obama years and then predicts the Trump backlash.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

Toni Morrison: White Panic Led to Trump

As Toni Morrison sees it, William Faulkner’s observations about white panic go a long way toward explaining Trump’s victory.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Toni Morrison Explains Hillary Hatred

The rage against Hillary Clinton is probably the result of primal male fears. Toni Morrison captures such male fear and rage in her novel “Paradise.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Toni Morrison’s Caution about Black Anger

The killer of the Dallas policemen is not unlike Guitar in Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon.” Through Guitar, Morrison shows how black anger is corrupted by violence. She also shows, through the novel’s protagonist (Milkman), how black resolve is stronger than anger and can soar above the earth.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Let Our Teachers Teach

Monday When I wrote last week about a Virginia legislator attacking teachers for assigning Toni Morrison’s Beloved, I didn’t realize that there was a mother in an adjoining county also going after the book. And unlike the Virginia legislator she gives reasons. Here’s from The Post’s article about Laura Murphy, a Fairfax County mother whose son […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

A Virginia Legislator Attacks Beloved

A Virginia representative has attacked the teaching of Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” calling the novel “moral sewage.” Given the man’s views on spousal rape and abortion, i think I know what scene in the book set him off.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , | Comments closed

Mixed Feelings after Winning a Drawing

Following an unpleasant sales pitch, we opened up our envelope and discovered that we had won… Well, read the post to find out. I felt like Reba in Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed