Toni Morrison's Jazz Toni Morrison's Essay

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For example, Dorcas' father was killed in East St. Louis during the riots of 1917. He was pulled from a streetcar and beaten to death. Her mother died that same day when her apartment building was torched by protestors. Morrison notes that Dorcas, just a child at the time, went to "two funerals in five days, and never said a word (Morrison, 57)." When Violet seeks out solstice with Dorcas' aunt Alice, Alice points out to her that she earned the nickname "Violent" for slashing Dorcas' face. Alice said that she never picked up a knife, "Even when my husband ran off I never did that. And you. You didn't even have a worthy enemy. Somebody worth killing. You picked up a knife to insult a dead girl (Morrison, 85)." But after that Alice thinks back to how she felt when her husband abandoned her and how she too wanted revenge. "What she neglected to say -- what came flooding back to her now -- was also true: every day and every night for seven months she, Alice Manfred, was starving for blood (Morrison, 86).

Even the imagery in the novel is violent at times. Morrison describes the way the sunlight hits the buildings in sharp angles and the "shiny black faces" of protestors in East St. Louis. But even in the darkest moments, Morrison sees hope and redemption for the characters, even the ones who were violent.

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Alice Manfred decides not to press charges in her niece's murder after she sees how sad Joe Trace is after her death. Violet decides after speaking with Alice Manfred and, in a sense, falling in love with the now dead Dorcas that she will try to mend her relationship with her husband. Alice Manfred, after first considering Violet to be dangerous decides that the woman is okay after Violet visits her every day. In a way, Alice even mends Violet by hemming her dress and mending her clothes.

As violence tears people and places apart, Morrison shows how the same people can put things back together with love and forgiveness. However, Morrison is not a sappy writer. She notes that humans are not perfect, are very complex and there is no one explanation or simple fact that puts our behavior into perspective. "Something is missing there. Something rogue. Something else you have to figure in before you can figure it out (Morrison 228)."

Morrison may have named the novel Jazz because the music form is also unpredictable. While the solos usually follow patterns from the original tune, not all musicians choose to write solos that are clearly derived from the original tune. Many artists step far away from the predicted path and that works as well. Morrison is a writer who accepts the unknown and the unexplainable with a mysterious smile. For her, it's all there, it's.....

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