Writing Reality in Fiction

1
Writing Reality in Fiction

• Toni Morrisons Song of Solomon

2
Morrisons Childhood

• Born Chloe Anthony Wofford in 1931
• Grew up in Lorain, Ohio
• Setting for many of her novels
• Parents George and Ramah Willis Wofford
• Interested in reading and writing
• Quite taken with classic literature

3
Education

• Early education in hometown
• Howard University, B.A. in English, 1953
• Jaded by superficial lifestyle
• Changed her name to Toni
• Cornell University, M.A. in English literature,
  1955

4
Career

• Taught English at various universities (Howard,
  Texas Southern)
• Senior editor at Random House 1965-85
• Famous written works Song of Solomon, Beloved,
  The Bluest Eye, Playing in the Dark Whiteness
  and the Literary Imagination
• Famous works edited Race-ing Justice,
  En-Gendering Power
• Also the writer of childrens books, musical
  productions, and various scholarly articles

5
Personal Life

• Married Harold Morrison in 1958
• Had two sons Harold Ford and Slade Kevin
• Divorced in 1964
• Raised her sons as a single mother
• Never remarried

6
Aims of Writing

• Strives to lay bare the injustice inherent in the
  black condition and blacks' efforts, individually
  and collectively, to transcend society's unjust
  boundaries
• Depicts the hurt inflicted by blacks on blacks to
  deprive readers of stock responses
• Believes language is expression of black
  experience

7
Song of Solomon

• Published in 1977
• Most linear novel also longest yet
• Won the National Book Critics Circle Award in
  1977
• First novel by a black writer to become a
  Book-of-the-Month Club selection since Richard
  Wright's Native Son was published in 1940

8
Major Themes

• Material wealth versus spiritual wealth
• Alienating effects of racism
• Flight versus fight
• Abandoned women
• Anaconda love versus real love
• Importance of community and family in the
  creation of an individuals identity
• Supernatural/Magical Realism

9
Motifs and Symbols

• Motifs
• Names
• Singing
• Biblical Allusions

• Symbols
• Gold
• Artificial Roses
• Whiteness

10
Rooted in Experience

• Both her parents and grandparents harbored racist
  feelings toward white people
• Believed white people were genetically corrupt
• Guitar as composite character
• Represents the destroying effects of racism on
  the individual

11
Inspired by Experiences

• Grandfathers land stolen from him by white land
  owners
• Jake (Macon Dead I) experiences are similar
• Also greatly influenced by the customs and
  beliefs of her cultural background
• Importance of community and the supernatural

12
Morrison and Milkman

• Transformed by a journey through the south, in
  which she came to terms with her heritage and
  ancestry
• Milkman must journey through the south to
  discover his heritage
• Morrisons writing career did not begin until her
  30s
• Milkman does not begin to really live until he is
  in his 30s