Interview With Toni Morrison

As I listened to Charlie Rose interview Toni Morrison, it intrigued me to learn that the author begins most of her works with a question. All questions have something in common: every word following the question mark has a specific purpose, a role in the answer. In effect, Morrison strives to instill learning in her readers. By opening with a question, she defines the whole novel as matter of importance, a process through which she leads us in the answering of the question. But what learning is she trying to put forth?

Later, Morrison describes the extensive research she conducts before the writing of a novel. She must master a historical context as well as specific relationships and patterns in a time period. She believes that “everybody changes all the time,” and after a short pause she adds, “like the country.” Morrison gives and added importance to relationships in her novel in her comparing them to the development of a country. This is true in Song of Salomon, where characters encompass ideas that represent groups of people. Guitar, for example, represents those who fought for the acquisition of equal rights for blacks. As the novel progresses, his relationship with Milkman begins to corrode as he takes on a more radical position. Conversely, Milkman takes on a passive stance towards racial discrimination. He represents northerners who chose to ignore the situation in the south in face of their own fortune. In effect, Morrison presents a dichotomy in her descriptions of Milkman and Guitar, a clash of ideals very real in America during the 1950’s.

Likewise, Morrison’s dependence on biblical allusion is supported by historical tendencies. As part of her research, she tried to locate the factors people where running from. She mentions Bacon’s rebellion, where a group of white and black gathered to bring down an oppressive government. They succeeded only to be caught and hung later. At first the relation isn’t very clear, but then Morrison explains: “religion supported people.” The bible was that driving force that led people to think and act the way they did. It led them to gather in an attempt to rebel against tyrannical rule, it gave blacks a reason to hope for a better future, and it even gave whites a reason to alienate blacks. Morrison explains how Satan was perceived in the bible as “the black man.” In one of her novels, a black girl is alienated because whites think she is a minion of Satan. The bible, she beliefs, is deeply related with the African American evolvement from slaves to Americans.