Post # 5

Slave narratives are personal accounts depicting what it was like to live as a slave. They served as both anti-slavery documents and testimony's for human rights, giving their northern audience pivotal information to fight the pro-slavery arguments of the south. After Emancipation, the purpose of the slave narratives changed to promote social equality instead of freedom. The tradition first appeared from written accounts of African's in Britain (and it's colonies) including, but not limited to, the United States and the Caribbean islands. Slave narratives are part of a larger genre of literature called "Captivity narratives," many of which were published before the American Revolution and written by colonists and settlers in North America who were held captive by Native Americans.

Toni Morrison's A Mercy is not dissimilar to a slave narrative given the period in which it was set, and the fact that some of the characters are in fact slaves. However since it is fiction, it does not receive the same classification as other narratives. A Mercy, and similar novels, are referred to as being "neo-slave narratives," which are defined as being accounts of slavery written in contemporary times. These Neo-Slave Narratives are also defined by the fact that the author relies on both fact and fiction during the creative process, exploring their imaginations, as well as using oral histories and existing slave narratives to tell a new story.

In class we have read both neo-slave narratives and traditional slave narratives, and many similarities can be found with those texts and A Mercy.

In the narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (published in 1861), Harriett Jacobs talks a lot about the importance of motherhood, as well as how detrimental slavery is to the institution of motherhood and a woman's sexual virtues. Most of the narrative focuses on her undying devotion to her children and her yearning for a better life for them, going so far as hiding in a small cramped space to keep her children safe with only a small hole in the roof to watch them from. Morrison's A Mercy primarily focuses on the lives of four women brought together by Jacob as slaves on his farm. Jacob's narrative depicts the lengths a mother will go to in order to keep her children safe, and in Morrison's novel we also get a taste of the selflessness of a slave mother. Much like Jacobs', Florens' mother does not want her child to be exposed to the sexual and physical abuse that often falls upon a female slave from a cruel owner. In Jacob's narrative she discusses the fact that her Master would follow her around, stare at her, and whisper inappropriate things in her ears at a young age. This is what Florens' mother was beginning to noticed with the way her master would make eyes at her daughter, so she gave her away to a stranger to ensure that her daughter would not face the same abuse we are told she experienced. The stranger was Jacob (who shares some similarities with Sawyer, from Jacobs' narrative), whom she offered her daughter to because he valued her "as a human child, not pieces of eight."

Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved and A Mercy (published 11 years after the former novel) paint a similar picture, but go about doing so in very different ways. Both novels are considered neo-slave narratives, and depict how psychologically damaging slavery is on both men and, in particular, women. All four women in A Mercy and particularly Sethe in Beloved suffered tremendously from the institution of slavery. Both novels involve the loss of a child at the will of the mother, whether it be through trade (A Mercy) or death (Beloved).

Works Cited:

"The Slave Narrative." Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

"Slave Narratives: An Introduction to the Slave Narrative." Documenting the American South homepage. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

"Slave narratives." PBS. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

Post #6

A Mercy was published in 2008, the year of a historical presidential election.

The year opened with Hillary Clinton running against Barack Obama for the Democratic ticket. Hillary Clinton is the wife of former President Bill Clinton, and they have a daughter together. She was a Senator from New York, and received her B.A. from Wellesley College and graduated law school from Yale. Barack Obama was a Senator from Illinois. He had received his B.A. from Columbia and his law degree from Harvard. He is married with two daughters. Barack Obama won the Democratic ticket, saying in his speech "America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love" (CNN). Barack choose Joe Biden, a Democratic Senator from Delaware, as his running mate. They ran against Republican presidential nominee John McCain, a Senator from Arizona, and his running mate, Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska. Barack Obama eventually won the election, becoming the 44th President of the United States and the first African-American President. He had 365 electoral votes, taking the states Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

This election not only featured race but gender. This was the first year that an African-American had a chance at becoming president while the other party would have a female vice-president. Over 14 million more people registered to vote than were previously registered for the 2004 election. Having read both slave narratives and ne0-slave narratives, witnessing the horrors of slavery through the stories (both fiction and historical accounts) it is truly magnificent that after 200 years of prejudice and racism in this nation, the people voted for an African American man to join the ranks of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington as their president, when not too long ago, he wouldn't have been allowed to vote, let alone run.

Works Cited

Biographical directory of the United States Congress. 2003. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

"EAC releases data from 2008 presidential election U.S. Election Assistance Commission."
Welcome to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

"Election Center 2008: Candidates - Election & Politics News from CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

"OBAMA, Barack - Biographical Information." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

Post #4

Andrews, William L., Frances Smith Foster, and Trudier Harris, eds. "Toni Morrison." The Concise Oxford Campanion to African American Literature. Oxford African American Studies Center. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .

This article presents the life of Toni Morrison. It begins with her childhood in Lorain, Ohio, and continues through transformative events in her adult life, including marriage and children. The article also briefly describes some of her better-known novels, lectures, and critical writings.

Caesar, Terry Paul. "Slavery and Motherhood in Toni Morrison's 'Beloved'" UNESP. JSTOR. Web. 19 Nov. 2009.

In his examination of motherhood in the novel “Beloved,” Caesar argues that motherhood is a form of slavery and that it is a term that cannot be defined by child or mother when occurring in a slave family. Caesar uses the relationship between Beloved and Sethe, highlighting Sethe’s enslavement to the memories of her daughter and later to Beloved herself. Caesar hoped to show that motherhood had a hard time rising above slavery, especially in consideration of the mother-daughter bond.

Koolish, Linda " 'To Be Loved and Cry Shame': A Psychological Reading of Toni Morrison's Beloved." MELUS, Vol. 26, No. 4, African American Literature pp. 169-195. Winter, 2001.

This article explores the various psychological aspects of Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved. Koolish discusses the impact of the characters inability to hide from their past's any longer, referring to them as "dream-walkers in a state of dissociation and denial..." Furthermore, the article discusses the power of maternal love, the effects of infanticide, as well as the prevalence of what looks most like Multiple Personality Disorder and also Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Wyatt, Jean. "Giving Body to the World: The Maternal Symbolic in Toni Morrison's Beloved" PMLA, Vol. 108, No. 3 pp. 474-488. May 1993.

In her article, Wyatt discusses the power of the maternal bond, and in the case of Morrison's Novel, the power of Sethe's yearning for the maternal closeness she lost when killing her child. Wyatt believes that the character Beloved is not only said to represent Sethe's lost child, but she is also meant to represent the entire history of slavery's effects on women (and mother) in particular. She cites numerous other publications, including Harriet Jacob's narrative in order to solidify her argument concisely.

Post #3

Gates, David. "Original Sins". The New York Times: Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. 18 Nov. 2009 . <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/books/review/Gates-t.html?_r=2>

In this analysis of “A Mercy,” called “Original Sins,” the writer, David Gates suggests that the mercies of this novel occur when characters have power to harm another being but decide not to for whatever reason. Gates develops his argument by stressing the dominance of some characters over others, how they may abuse this power, or have mercy and spare them. Gates’ purpose in writing this article is to summarize Morrison’s story while accenting the tragedy of having power over another human being.

Gioia, Ted. "Book Review: A Mercy by Toni Morrison". Blog Critics: News Reviews and Opinions. Web. 18 Nov. 2009 . <http://www.blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-a-mercy-by-toni/>

Ted Giola wrote his “Book Review: A Mercy by Toni Morrison,” theorizing that if such a family as that in “A Mercy” can survive peacefully together, then there is hope for the rest of the world. Giola supports this theory by observing that each character in this novel is bound by normal human problems and sins, where even the heroes or heroines are prone to evil deeds. Giola wrote this review in order to show a hope for our humanity and compare it to the family of “A Mercy.”

Norris, Michele. "Toni Morrison Finds 'A Mercy' In Servitude". NPR: National Public Radio: News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts: NPR. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyID=95961382>

In her article, “Toni Morrison Finds ‘A Mercy,” Michele Norris shows that Morrison wanted to separate race from slavery in her story “A Mercy”. Norris does this by explaining that a black slave’s life was much like an indentured servant’s life and emphasizing the fact that a Native American was slave just like the African American woman. Michele Norris’ purpose in writing her article is to show Morrison’s readers that slavery is not dependant on solely on race.

Smart, Simon. "A gift incomplete: Toni Morrison A Mercy." Centre for Public Christianity. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. <http://www.publicchristianity.com/reviewamercypage1.html>

Simon Smart takes an interesting yet negative stance in regards to Morrison's novel, going so far as to describe the opening lines as being "untrustworthy." He does however shed light on one of the main points Morrison makes in her novel, the fact that anyone and anybody can find themeselves being a slave to people or things. He spends a great deal of time talking about the underlying theological themes in the novel, and in Morrison's works as a whole. Simon gives a somewhat biased, but well thought review that was quite enjoyable.

Updike, John. "Dreamy Wilderness". The New Yorker. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. <http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/11/03/081103crob_books_updike>

In John Updike’s analysis “Dreamy Wilderness” subtitled Unmastered women in Colonial Virginia, Updike contends that “A Mercy” is largely the concerning femininity, motherhood, and women mastering themselves and their lives. He supports this claim by emphasizing each women ascent from a bad situation to their generally better life by the end of the book. Hispurpose of writing this article is to underline for the reader the importance of the hardship of womanhood depicted in Morrison’s “A Mercy.”

Inside the Author: Toni Morrison

Chloe Anthony Wofford, better known as Toni Morrison, was born February 18^th in Lorain Ohio in 1931. Her parents relocated to Ohio hoping to escape racism of the South in order to better provide for their children. She was the second of four children in a working-class family, and when she started school she was the only black girl in the class room, and also the only child who knew how to read. Lorain was an interesting town for its time, Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics would all live in the same neighborhoods, in fact Chloe didn't run into any racism until she entered high school and started dating. She graduated from Lorain High School in 1949 and continued her education at Howard University where she received her bachelor’s degree in English and Classics in 1953. She later received her master’s degree from Cornell University in 1955. She then started her career as a teacher in 1955 at Texas Southern University and later leaves to go teach at Howard. Soon, she marries Harold Morrison, a Jamaican architect, and they later have two sons, Harold Ford and Slade Kevin. In 1963 Toni becomes the senior editor at Random House’s New York City. In 1970 her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published and it was then that she started to receive critical acclaim and the reputation as being a powerful and poetic writer of Black America. She went on to publish more than 15 novels, including Beloved and A Mercy. She wrote the lyrics to numerous songs and a play that was never published. Toni has received over 30 awards and nominations in the United States alone, and many overseas the most notable of these awards are the Pullitzer Prize (1988) and The Nobel Prize in Literature (1993).

Toni Morrison's A Mercy

Morrison's A Mercy is full of interesting characters that surge the reader through Morrison's effortless tale which takes place before the Revolution and is set in the wilderness near the town of Milton, Maryland. The common thread throughout the story is Jacob, but his character is not the main focus of the novel. Instead the story follows the lives of the four women he brings together on his isolated farm.
This novel mainly follows the life of Florens, a slave girl whose mother gave her to a stranger because Florens had caught the eye of the male masters. Florens' mother offered Florens to the stranger, named Jacob, because he saw Florens "as a human child, not pieces of eight" (166). Jacob sends Florens to live on his farm, where Rebekka, Lina, and Sorrow already live.
Upon her arrival, Florens immediately becomes attached to Lina, a Native American slave. Lina's entire village was wiped out by disease and is the only slave that "had been purchased outright and deliberately, but she was a woman, not a child" (34). Lina was the first one to be brought to Jacob's farm. When Rebekka, Jacob's wife arrived, "the hostility between them was instant" but they eventually became friends (52). Rebekka came from London, agreeing to marry Jacob and move to wild America because "whatever the danger, how could it possibly be worse" (78).
Jacob also brought Sorrow to the farm, a girl who had been found living on a wrecked ship. She gave birth to two children, one who was drowned by Lina. After the birth of her second child, Sorrow's hallucinations stop, making her more reliable, and causing her to announce that her new name is "Complete" (134).
After Jacob died from the fever while building his third hourse, Rebekka came down with the same fever. Florens was sent to the blacksmith, who she had fallen in love with and who could also cure Rebekka. During her journey she made a brief stop for rest at a widow's house for food and shelter. While there, a white child sees her dark skin and becomes hysterical, crying out that "it scares me" (113). Florens escapes and finally makes it to the blacksmith's house, only to discover that he has adopted a little boy named Malaik. Florens and Malaik immediately distrust each other, and Florens agrees to watch Malaik while the blacksmith foes to Rebekka. The blacksmith then rejects Florens and sends her back to Rebekka, who has drastically changed since recovering from her illness. The "tangled strings" connecting the women "had been cut" (133). She put Florens up for sale, and beats both Lina and Sorrow. Rebekka is now described as a "penitent, pure and simple" and that "underneath her piety was something cold if not cruel" (153). The women had thought themselves a family, "but the family they imagined they had become was false" (156).