Boundaries of Freedom

Toni Morris, with the help of her son, Slade Morrison, once again writes a book that encourages people to think on a deeper level.  Unlike the majority of her writings, this is a children’s book that challenges the definition of social boundaries adults set for children.  In The Big Box, parents, teachers, and other adults determine the boundaries of personal freedom for three irrepressible children “who just can’t handle their freedom.”  Because these children don’t fit into the expectations that the adults have for how children should behave and act, the adults have created a world inside a box where the kids are to live.  The adults have supplied everything they think children would want:  toys, games, gifts, and treats.  In this artificial world, the children are expected to live carefree and happily.  What the adults don’t take into consideration is that all the children desire is to be accepted for who they are and to have freedom.    

     The Big Box’s story is easy to read due to its poetic rhyme and repetition and its gentle flow from page to page.  Though the story is told with a child’s perspective and addresses the struggles I’m sure that children go through when trying to live in an adult world, I feel like the message of the book is perhaps too deep for smaller children to grasp.  This book seems more fitting for teenagers and adults.    

     When reading The Big Box, I started making connections to Morrison’s book, Beloved.   In Beloved, several of the main characters came from a plantation named Sweet Home where they served as slaves.  Though Sweet Home could be considered a place of comfort and privilege for slaves, it was nonetheless a place where individuals were denied their freedom to come and go and live the life they desired.  This is directly connected to the position that the children in The Big Box found themselves.  Though they were given what would seem to be everything they could want, they did not have their freedom.  Both of these books represent how important and instrumental freedom is for all. 

     As Schoolteacher in Beloved saw the slaves as subjects of experimentation and specimens that should be controlled, the parents in The Big Box believed that the children needed to be “cured” and until one could be found, they would control the children’s environment.  In both instances, a group condemned and controlled others because the segregated group didn’t fit the expectations and the controlling group ultimately decided their fate and thereby took away their freedom. 

     Both of these stories are about oppression of minority groups: in this case blacks and children.  In both literary works, the oppressed groups expressed a strong desire to be free.  Both groups compared their lack of freedom to the freedom animals naturally have in our world.  It is indeed difficult to understand and justify not being able to live your life, to express who you are, and to be an individual, when others, whether because they are white or because they are adults, are allowed not only make decisions for their own lives, but also determine the boundaries of personal freedom for others. 

A Different View

“They will always be about the same thing – you know – about the whole world of black people in this country.” (137)  This was a statement Toni Morrison said in an interview with Judith Wilson in 1981.  Toni Morrison is all about culture and family.  She researches a lot before writing her stories.  She writes fiction, but uses her research to incorporate what it was really like in the time period she is writing.  Toni Morrison shares African-American culture with the world through her novels.  Her books show the real cultural background of African-American’s.

Secondary Sources - Excerpt

“The book clearly reveals the disparate and extremely complex ways Afro-Americanshave thought about the quality of their lives; it also reveals what many of them have decided to do about it individually and collectively. In creating the Seven Days, Morrison reaches into the historical black community and its contemporary equivalent to reveal a dissonance which has always characterized the Afro- American world. This dissonance, tension, or Yin-Yang polarity unfolds principally through the relationship between Guitar Bains, spokesperson for the Seven Days, and his friend Milkman Dead, the middle-class protagonist of Solomon. Their socioeconomic differences,consequential socializations, and their divergent experiences are a microcosm for thetwo most distinguishable Afro-American ideological streams and their respective historical advocates.” –page 150

“Guitar and Milkman are also at opposite ends of the class/race spectrum. Guitar belongs to the wider black community, and as his movements throughout the community (from Feather's pool room to Tommy's barbershop to Mary's bar) illustrate, he has accumulated his knowledge of the world and self through conscious thought and worldly experiences. Guitar is street; Milkman is house. Guitar, moreover, has learned about the tragedy of black life in America from the personal tragedy of his father's murder and from those men who stand in opposition to what Milkman's father, Macon Dead, represents. In short, Guitar joins the Seven Days because of his experiences and his life, as if Morrison were suggesting that it takes just such experiences and tragedies for black men to embrace a revolutionary praxis. Milkman, on the other hand, ends up rejecting his backgroundand the world his father has created for him by setting out to rediscover his racial past-a noble quest but one which is only individually rewarding.”

–page 155

Trust Them to Figure it Out

This is an article published in the Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies and written by Maria Ropero. The main focus of the article is the viewpoint of Toni Morrison on the subject of children’s literature. Many of the children’s books that Toni Morrison wrote with her son Slade Morrison are discussed while adding comments from an interview with Toni Morrison. This article unlocks the answers to many questions about the style of Toni Morrison’s children literature. Morrison claims, “when children simply comply with norms and expectations, they don’t have their own lives and their own experiences” (Ropero 47).  Morrison believes that children have to be subjected to real life conditions to fully understand the capability of children to deal with the choices that life presents. Morrison does not undermine the authority of the parents or the education system, but believes that the central goal of education should be to encourage children to think and decide for themselves (Ropero 47). According to Morrison, we should “trust the children to figure it out and give them the opportunity to figure it out” (Ropero 48). Ropero argues in the article with Morrison’s beliefs that society has cheated children and not allowed them to make crucial decisions and observations that will help them to develop into capable adults. This article emphasizes the need to have children make their own decisions and for parents to stop protecting children from all of life’s disappointing situations. Children need to be able to face difficult situations and make their own choices of how those situations will affect their own life.

This article is helpful in understanding Toni Morrison’s beliefs and expectations ofchildren when she co-wrote her series of children’s books. In many of the children’s books, children are subjected to life’s harsh realities (oppression, mean people, prejudism, etc.). The children are subjected to situations that many parents try to shield their children from. In The Book of Mean People, a young child tells of all of the mean people in his life. These people include his friends, teachers, and family members. The child tells of these people yelling and making mean faces at him especially. His remarks about all of the mean people in his life make readers feel sorry for him, but, by the end of the book, the child has made the decision that he is not going to let all of the negativity in his life to turn him into a negative person. He triumphs over the oppression and adversity in his life and makes the choice to be happy and smile through the difficult moments that life may bring. This text is a perfect example of the beliefs of Toni Morrison presented in the article. This child has faced some difficult situations in his life and has made his own choice to be happy; he has made this decision without the help of his parents or influence from other adults.

Ropero, Maria L. "Trust Them to Figure It Out." Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies. 30.2 (2008): 43-57. Web. 27 Apr. 2013

Fun Fact

     Slade Morrison was more of an artist than an author.  He did, however, co-author with his mother, Toni Morrison.  There is a website on Slade and all of his work.  This was the only thing that I could find on him.  He was born in Lorain, Ohio.  He lived and painted in New York.  He passed away December 22, 2010.  Slade’s paintings are profound.  He does mostly abstract, but it shows real depth and emotion.  I believe he gets this from his mother, who too shows deepness in her writing. 

www.slademorrison.com

Secondary Sources - Reflection

     Despite the close relationship maintained between Guitar Bains and Milkman Dead throughout Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the pair of best friends could not contrast each other any more with their differing backgrounds and outlooks on life.  The strict raising of Milkman by his oppressive father restricts the son's personal growth whereas Guitar is portrayed as a free-spirited, passionate youth.  Analyses of the two characters reveal how their standings in society affect their perspectives and day-to-day actions, thus justifying the methods behind their madness.  One's placement in the social hierarchy has a great bearing on determining how each individual is to perceive and be perceived by his or her peers.  The social class system affects people in various ways, depending on which strata they happen to fall into -- upper class, middle class, or lower class.  Members belonging to the middle and upper classes experience life differently than members belonging to the lower clueless due to the level of accessibility to resources and wealth.  

     As a member of the middle-upper class, Milkman is shielded from the reality that many of his acquaintances face daily.  Macon Dead's real estate success enables Milkman to live comfortably his entire life; he is unfamiliar with current events and social issues as they do not directly affect him.  Guitar interprets Milkman's lack of interest as carelessness; however, his disinterest actually stems from his inability to relate to the issues discussed by his peers.  Milkman is not unintelligent, rather he is naïve about the ways of the world because he does not experience them first-hand like Guitar does.

Although Milkman does not necessarily see it this way, Guitar's placement in the rocking class deems him inferior according to the hierarchy that rules society.  Guitar's position in society, however, is also advantageous in some ways because he is not required to adhere to certain values or maintain a proper image.  Guitar's lower class rank provides him with something vital, something that Milkman lacks -- freedom.  Guitar is an independent being whereas Milkman relies on materialism to measure his satisfaction.  Guitar develops his own passionate interests and activities,especially focusing on race and equality as they relate to him personally.  

      Overall, Guitar is composed of more substance than Milkman because his street wisdom and way of life calls for a more practical perception.  Milkman's upper-middle class mentality parents him from realizing that the events that Guitar and the other men discuss are applicable to him too because of his African American descent.  Though Milkman does not realize it, Guitar acts as his mentor over the years.  For example, when presented with the opportunity to retrieve the gold from Pilate's house, Milkman expresses interest because of his worldly view regarding materialistic value; Guitar, on the other hand, sees the gold as a way to promote the success of Seven Days.  Over the course of the entire novel the two have opposing views about humanity and utilization of resources.  Ultimately Milkman discovers the truth in what Guitar has been trying to educate him about all along; you alone are in control of choosing what you would be willing to die for, so rather than allowing others to manipulate you for their own motives, take control of your life and live it as you wish.  Don't just exist; live.  And if you cannot live for something, die for something.

Secondary Sources - Reflection

Morrison’s literature is full of oppressed characters; economic or social oppression affects many of Morrison’s main characters.  This reflection focuses on the oppressed children one may find in Toni Morrison’s novels.

In the novel Beloved, Morison has many black characters who face the oppression of slavery, including children. One example is Sethe’s youngest daughter, Denver, who was born into a life of slavery. Denver lived the first eighteen years of her life alone and lonely, although she lived with her mother. She was ostracized from the rest of the community because of the actions of her mother. Denver never had playmates; instead, she found companionship in her ghost sister. She lived in constant fear of her mother, ever afraid that her mother would kill her like she did her sister. Denver’s childhood was full of disappointment, even when her sister, Beloved, returned. Beloved’s presence caused her mother’s downfall and left her in a helpless state. The young girl, Denver, was forced to ask the community to help the family. The black community did aid the family, but Denver had to take a job to provide for the family’s needs. Ironically, she took the very job that her mother so desperately tried to save her from, a servant caring for white people. Although Denver lived a rough life, she was a resilient character who triumphed over the oppression and gave readers the notion that she would survive and flourish in her community.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison also has characters that live under the oppression of others. Cholly was born in purity and innocence but quickly became degraded like many of the other characters of the novel and lived in a community that was socially oppressed. Cholly’s childhood living in oppression caused him to turn his emotions inward, which led to a life of depression and self contained rage. He is a character incapable of expressing love or compassion and is only capable of hate and anger. His emotions were ultimately expressed in violent sexual acts. Cholly became a man full of hatred and despised the weak and powerless members of society; they reminded him of his own past. The oppressed character, Cholly, finally took on the role of the oppressor and took out his frustrations on his daughter, Pecola. He expressed his anger from his traumatizing childhood by raping Pecola.

Pecola is another character whose life revolved around oppression. She was teased by many in the community because she was ugly and had no nurturing figure in her life. The raping and teasing quickly converted Pecola’s own thinking into believing that she was indeed ugly. Pecola never fought her father off when he raped her; this was the only form of love she received, although it did not result from any feelings of love. She was oppressed by the community and her family. All she ever wanted was to be accepted and to have the blue eyes that she believed would make her pretty to others.

Claudia is, perhaps, the most distraught character in The Bluest Eye. Claudia rebels against the oppressing white society because she is not popular within their white culture. The oppression turns Claudia to hating everything and everyone white. She even hates the white baby doll gifts from others because they remind her of a white childhood star, Shirley Temple, who danced with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Bojangles was her idol and Claudia became furious when she realized that black people were not ever going to have the privileges of white people. Her hatred of the oppressing white race drove her to dismember the white baby dolls she received as gifts. She refused to like anything white or light in color and rejected them for things of color.

Another novel illustrating oppressed children is Sula. This is a novel that slowly shows the destruction of the entire oppressed black community from the Bottom. The black community is oppressed in this novel by the white community. The whites control the majority of lucrative businesses and receive all of the lucrative jobs. Two of the main characters in the novel are two young black girls, Nell and Sula, who become best friends, but grow apart as adults. Nell found oppression at the hands of her own father. He arranged her marriage to a man, Jude, and forced her to exchange one life of oppression for another. Nell became oppressed by her husband and bound with motherly and wifely duties. Sula is the most oppressed character in the Bottom community and is considered by many as an outcast and labeled as evil. Together, Sula and Nell live through many horrendous acts throughout the novel, but both grow to become successful in one way or another. Sula is oppressed by the community her entire life even though her presence during adulthood actually helped the community. Nell lived an oppressing life in poverty and struggled to care for her children without their father present; he abandoned the family and left Nell forever in a life of hardship.

These are only a few of the novels Toni Morrison has written that include characters living a life in oppression. The oppression takes many forms and comes from different sources, but, never the less, it determines the life and mindset of the characters. Not many of her characters ever overcome the oppression, but some of the characters find reason to be happy in their life that is bound by the oppression. One has to read the majority of her novels to discover them and realize that even in a life bound by the oppression of others—happiness can be found.