As I zip-lined in the Smokies, I thought of the concluding paragraph of Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon.”
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 Beloved, Ivanka Trump, slavery, Women Who Work, working women 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.
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 2016 presidential election, Absolom Absolom, Donald Trump, Go Tell a Watchman, Harper Lee, racism, To Kill a Mockingbird, white privilege, William Faulkner 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 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, misogyny, Paradise 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 black anger, Black Lives Matter, Dallas shooting, police killings, Song of Solomon 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 Beloved, censorship, High school teaching, John Milton, Paradise Lost 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.
