Toni Morrison Criticism
Renowned for her profound exploration of African-American experiences and culture, Toni Morrison's work delves deeply into themes of identity, community, and the lingering effects of historical trauma. Her narrative style often highlights the dual challenges of racism and sexism, particularly in the lives of young Black women. In celebrated novels like The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon, Morrison employs intricate patterns of symbolism and foreshadowing to explore the tensions between societal pressures and individual identity. Phyllis R. Klotman discusses how The Bluest Eye employs cultural symbols to address racial self-hatred, while Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi analyzes its exploration of a young girl's psyche under racial strain. Morrison's storytelling is noted by Yvonne Atkinson for its use of Black English, which bears witness to cultural identity, and by Rob Davidson for employing storytelling as a tool for personal and communal historiography.
Her later works, including Love, continue to build upon these themes with rich allegories and complex interpersonal dynamics. Thulani Davis lauds Love as a "rich parable" that reflects on the past's hold on the present, examining cultural histories and identity through Morrison's signature lyrical prose. Jane S. Bakerman notes Morrison’s profound exploration of love, while Susan Lydon highlights the tensions of gender and identity that persist throughout her oeuvre.
Beloved, one of Morrison's most acclaimed works, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988, stands as a poignant examination of the psychological and physical violence of slavery. Morrison crafts a narrative that intertwines memory and community, as Clarence Major notes in In the Name of Memory, and Deborah Horvitz explores in Nameless Ghosts: Possession and Dispossession in Beloved. Elizabeth E. House examines the novel’s complex structure of discontinuous flashbacks that reveal haunting pasts, while Eusebio L. Rodrigues likens Morrison's storytelling to "the blues mode in fiction." Despite facing controversy for its raw depiction of slavery's horrors, as some reviewers critique its sentimentality, Morrison's ability to evoke the "interior life" of her characters with intensity is praised by Walter Clemons in A Gravestone of Memories. Susan Bowers further contextualizes Beloved within African-American apocalyptic literature, noting its commentary on historical and personal trauma.
In works like Sula, Morrison's intricate layering of psychological and philosophical elements captures the complexity of human experience, a point observed by Anne Z. Mickelson. Her narratives, rich in mythological allusions, invite varied interpretations, with Tar Baby critiqued by Webster Schott for ideological leanings and praised by John Irving for mythological depth. Despite critiques on character complexity by Rosellen Brown and Darryl Pinckney, and concerns about metaphorical coherence by Pearl K. Bell, Morrison's novels remain a powerful force in American literature, offering profound insights into the Black experience and the pursuit of self-worth.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Morrison, Toni (Vol. 194)
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The Lyrical Dimensions of Spirituality: Music, Voice, and Language in the Novels of Toni Morrison
(summary)
In the following essay, Holloway examines Morrison's use of lyrical female voices in The Bluest Eye and The Song of Solomon as a celebration of African-American spirituality and cultural identity.
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Black Girlhood and Black Womanhood: The Bluest Eye and Sula
(summary)
In the following essay, Furman examines the significance of family and community to developing a personal sense of African-American female identity in Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Sula.
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The Function of Jazz in Toni Morrison's Jazz
(summary)
In the following essay, Lewis argues that Morrison's Jazz may be categorized as a “jazz novel,” in that the narrative structure of the story is based on stylistic techniques of jazz music.
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Prospero's Spell and the Question of Resistance: Tar Baby
(summary)
In the following essay, Grewal asserts that Morrison's Tar Baby examines African-American struggles over issues of identity in a postmodern, postcolonial world.
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Language that Bears Witness: The Black English Oral Tradition in the Works of Toni Morrison
(summary)
In the following essay, Atkinson argues that the Black English oral tradition, grounded in African-American culture, forms the foundation of Morrison's fiction.
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The Authorized Morrison: Reflexivity and the Historiographic
(summary)
In the following essay, Duvall examines elements of metafiction in relation to African-American female identity in Morrison's Beloved, Jazz, and Paradise.
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Sula and Beloved: Images of Cain in the Novels of Toni Morrison
(summary)
In the following essay, Jones examines the significance of references to the biblical story of Cain and Abel in Morrison's Sula and Beloved. Jones argues that Morrison's references to this mythical story suggest a connection between memory, community, and individual identity.
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Racial Stock and 8-Rocks: Communal Historiography in Toni Morrison's Paradise
(summary)
In the following essay, Davidson examines the role of narrative as a means of constituting community identity in Morrison's Paradise.
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Toni Morrison
(summary)
In the following essay, Hove provides an overview of elements of postmodernism in Morrison's fiction, highlighting how her work shares features with a widespread tendency in postmodern fiction to confront, question, and ultimately supplement dominant cultural narratives.
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Truth in Timbre: Morrison's Extension of Slave Narrative Song in Beloved
(summary)
In the following essay, Capuano examines references to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), by Frederick Douglass, in Morrison's Beloved.
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Love and the Outlaw Women
(summary)
In the following interview, Morrison and O'Connor discuss the themes of Toni Morrison's novel Love, focusing on the depiction of "outlaw women," the dynamics of gender roles, racial struggles within democracy, and the intimate, poetic artistry that characterizes Morrison's work.
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Prisoners of One Man's Affection
(summary)
In the following review, Charles discusses the interrelationships among the characters in Morrison's Love. Readers who know Toni Morrison's work only from her surreal classic Beloved will be surprised by the subtlety and humor of her new novel. And those who have held off from Morrison, intimidated perhaps by her complicated structures, her graphic subject matter, or even her politics should start here with Love. This is the carefully crafted work of a storyteller entirely unburdened by her Nobel Prize. No pretension deadens her rhythm, no self-importance forces her wit, no presumption of Significance bloats her significant insights.
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Ghost Writer
(summary)
In the following review, Mantel provides a plot synopsis of Morrison's Love, and offers a favorable assessment of the novel.
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Not Beloved
(summary)
In the following review, Davis offers a favorable assessment of Morrison's Love, describing it as a rich parable about the damaging past as a demagogue ruling the present, and noting its multifaceted narrative structure.
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Philosophy of the Heart
(summary)
In the following review, McDowell discusses the theme of love in Morrison's Love.
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The Lyrical Dimensions of Spirituality: Music, Voice, and Language in the Novels of Toni Morrison
(summary)
- Morrison, Toni (Vol. 4)
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Morrison, Toni (Vol. 22)
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Dick-and-Jane and the Shirley Temple Sensibility in 'The Bluest Eye'
(summary)
In the following essay, Phyllis R. Klotman explores how Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" employs the "Dick and Jane" reader and Shirley Temple as symbols to highlight the cultural and social challenges faced by young black girls in America, emphasizing themes of identity, societal pressures, and racial self-hatred.
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Winging Upward, Black Women: Sarah E. Wright, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker
(summary)
In the following essay, Anne Z. Mickelson explores how Toni Morrison uses psychological, symbolic, and philosophical elements to portray the themes of rebellion, identity, and the duality of the human experience in her novels, particularly focusing on the characters in "The Bluest Eye," "Sula," and "Song of Solomon."
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Failures of Love: Female Initiation in the Novels of Toni Morrison
(summary)
In the following essay, Jane S. Bakerman argues that Toni Morrison's novels explore the theme of love through the motif of failed initiation, portraying the struggles of black female characters in their search for identity and self-worth, with a particular focus on the complexities and tragedies of familial and romantic relationships.
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Toni Morrison: Tearing the Social Fabric
(summary)
In the following essay, Webster Schott critiques Toni Morrison's Tar Baby, acknowledging its sophisticated exploration of themes such as race, love, and societal norms, but argues that the novel's characters and their motivations suffer from an overreliance on the author's ideological convictions rather than credible character development.
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Morrison's Black Fable
(summary)
In the following essay, John Irving argues that Toni Morrison's "Tar Baby" masterfully employs dialogue and symbolism to explore racial tensions and gender dynamics, while elevating the narrative beyond mere social realism through its mythological elements.
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Grits and Grace
(summary)
In the following essay, Rosellen Brown critiques Toni Morrison's novel Tar Baby for its simplified character portrayals, arguing that while Morrison's inventive storytelling and exploration of black identity remain powerful, the novel sacrifices some of its nuanced complexity and mystery to serve its thematic purposes.
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Every Which Way
(summary)
In the following essay, Darryl Pinckney critiques Toni Morrison's novel Tar Baby for its complex narrative style and obscure symbolism, arguing that while it attempts to echo high literary styles and explore themes of privilege and folklore, it ultimately lacks the clarity and intensity found in Morrison's previous works.
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What's an Intelligent Woman to Do?
(summary)
In the following essay, Susan Lydon examines Toni Morrison's Tar Baby, emphasizing the novel's exploration of racial and gender tensions, the internalized oppression of women, and the complex identity struggles of the protagonist, Jadine, while also highlighting Morrison's lyrical prose and its thematic resonance.
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Self-Seekers
(summary)
In the following essay, Pearl K. Bell critiques Toni Morrison's novel "Tar Baby" for its disjointed narrative and flawed use of metaphor, arguing that the novel's themes of racial tension and cultural identity are overshadowed by Morrison's extravagant style and lack of coherence.
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Dick-and-Jane and the Shirley Temple Sensibility in 'The Bluest Eye'
(summary)
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Morrison, Toni (Contemporary Literary Criticism)
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A Gravestone of Memories
(summary)
In the following review, he praises Beloved as a masterpiece of psychological and historical evocation which re-creates the "interior life" of black slaves "with a moving intensity no novelist has even approached before."
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Author Toni Morrison Discusses Her Latest Novel Beloved
(summary)
The essay excerpted below was originally published in The Boston Globe in October 1987 and was based on an interview with Morrison in which Caldwell questioned her about the sources for Beloved, the difficulties Morrison faced in writing it, and its major themes.
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In the Name of Memory
(summary)
In the following review of Beloved, he identifies its dominant theme as the residual power of memory and extols Morrison's ability to "disappear" from her own writing.
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Nameless Ghosts: Possession and Dispossession in Beloved
(summary)
In the essay below, she provides a thematic analysis of Beloved, noting Morrison's focus on bonding, bondage, alienation, loss, memory, and mother-daughter relationships.
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To Embrace Dead Strangers: Toni Morrison's Beloved
(summary)
In the following essay, Fields explores Morrison's emphasis on 'the nature of love,' focusing primarily on the personal relationships between Sethe, Beloved, Paul D., and Denver.
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Beloved and the New Apocalypse
(summary)
In the following essay, Bowers analyzes Beloved in the context of the 'long tradition of African-American apocalyptic writing.' Morrison's novel maps a new direction for the African-American apocalyptic tradition which is both more instructive and potentially more powerful than the end-of-the-world versions of the sixties.
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Toni Morrison's Ghost: The Beloved Who Is Not Beloved
(summary)
In the following essay, House argues that the character Beloved in Morrison's novel is not literally a reincarnation of Sethe's slain infant, but an orphaned child upon whom it is convenient for Sethe to project her anguished feelings of remorse and guilt.
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Beloved: A Spiritual
(summary)
In the essay below, Holloway examines myth, historical revisionism, voice, and remembrance in Beloved on both thematic and structural levels.
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Toni Morrison's Beloved and the Reviewers
(summary)
In the following essay, Atlas discusses the differences between various reviews of Beloved and suggests that the novel's subject and design pose unusual difficulties for most critics.
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The Telling of Beloved
(summary)
In the essay below, Rodrigues comments on the narrative techniques in Beloved, which he calls "a triumph of story-telling" and an example of "the blues mode in fiction."
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The Bonds of Love and the Boundaries of Self in Toni Morrison's Beloved
(summary)
In the following essay, Schapiro discusses the psychological and emotional dimensions of slavery in Beloved, which she praises for its historical depth and insight. Toni Morrison's Beloved penetrates, perhaps more deeply than any historical or psychological study could, the unconscious emotional and psychic consequences of slavery. The novel reveals how the condition of enslavement in the external world, particularly the denial of one's status as a human subject, has deep repercussions in the individual's internal world. These internal resonances are so profound that even if one is eventually freed from external bondage, the self will still be trapped in an inner world that prevents a genuine experience of freedom. As Sethe succinctly puts it, 'Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.' The novel wrestles with this central problem of recognizing and claiming one's own subjectivity, and it shows how this cannot be achieved independently of the social environment.
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A Gravestone of Memories
(summary)
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Morrison, Toni (Vol. 10)
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Order and Disorder in Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye'
(summary)
In the following essay, Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi examines the structural use of triadic patterns in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye to critique racial and existential issues in America, noting how Morrison's narrative invokes themes of love, race, and societal expectations through the portrayal of characters and family dynamics.
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Into the Dark Heart of Childhood
(summary)
In the following essay, Vivian Garnick critiques Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, acknowledging its powerful language and emotional depth yet arguing that its structural manipulativeness and choice of protagonist undermine the narrative's plausibility and cohesion, although moments of beauty and insight persist.
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Black Family Chronicle
(summary)
In the following essay, Reynolds Price praises "Song of Solomon" as a novel that combines fantasy, fable, and allegory to convey profound insights about human transcendence, highlighting its wide scope, emotional depth, and the compelling character of Milkman against the backdrop of American history.
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Diane Johnson
(summary)
In the following essay, Diane Johnson critiques Toni Morrison's use of myth and folklore in novels like Song of Solomon, arguing that while these elements create a symbolic narrative reflecting psychological conditions, they may also sacrifice realism and result in sensationalized depictions of black familial and communal strife.
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Maureen Howard
(summary)
In the following essay, Maureen Howard praises Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon for its rich narrative voice, playful use of names and oral traditions, and its blend of humor and sophisticated literary references, ultimately portraying a profound yet simple story of a boy's maturation within a myth-infused family history.
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Order and Disorder in Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye'
(summary)
- Morrison, Toni (Literary Masters)
- Further Reading