Month: November 2024

Madelyn Perry, Maggie Kiernan, Nyna Garduno, Lily Gallagher, Kyle Mele

Literacy, whether it is defined simply as knowing how to read and write in any given language, the ability to read for the sake of performing a task, or the ability to read for the sake of criticizing people or systems that confine other people to a single and unchanging state, is nonetheless rooted in the ability to read. These are skills that Florens, an enslaved Portuguese girl in Virginia in Toni Morrison’s novel A Mercy, comes to master. The bulk of her strength, however, is in her critical literacy- a skill she honed in attempting to justify why her mother could ever expel her into slavery in a strange land. Sent on an errand that makes her responsible for her Mistress’s life, Florens’s literacy is initially a shield of armor. However, her tendency to create symbols that play into her interpretation of the past makes her apophenic to a degree that ultimately perpetuates her fear of abandonment and, consequently, creates the grounds for her final expulsion. 

Florens, a central character in A Mercy, struggles to interpret signs surrounding her expulsion as she strives for answers after being sent away from her mother. She is unable to understand the reasoning behind this expulsion, which helps shape her person and the outcome of her story. In the search for her answers, Florens tries to derive meaning for her existence; like a puzzle piece, she will try to fit herself into any situation where she either does or does not belong in order to justify her existence. Florens is capable of reading her surroundings; although she may have misunderstood the meaning, she is pretty aware of her environment. For example, Florens’s ability to read the situations surrounding her expulsions is apparent in noting the presence of a child in each of her expulsions. The presence of a child forces Florens to reflect on her mother. Her mother sent her away while leaving her brother behind. She noticed how her mother favored him as a child, so she felt she would never stand a chance against a child.  Florens is unaware of the real reason for her mother sending her away; she feels as if she belongs nowhere because every time she feels accepted, it results in expulsion. As Florens continually gets expelled from the people around her, her mistrust continues to grow, and she develops a mentality of them versus me, which eventually erupts when she is left alone with Malaik. The critical literacy skills we have seen throughout the book have also led to Florens attempting to fit herself into a mold in each situation to gain some semblance of the maternal presence she lost as a child. The result of her original expulsion led her to believe that people around her were automatically acting in bad faith toward her. Until proven otherwise, she felt as though she would be expelled. This feeling of mistrust through past experiences ties to her ability to use her literacy skills as her protective shield. 

Trust is a concept with multiple definitions, similar to literacy. Depending on the context, it can refer to a social bond, a legal document, or even confidence. Within A Mercy, we can see how trust and literacy played a pivotal role in Florens’ expulsions following her initial expulsion from her mother at the beginning of the book. Florens’ mother sent her away with a farmer named Jacob while her little brother stayed behind. The underlying meaning of this expulsion would remain unknown to Florens for the duration of her story; however, the search for answers would ultimately lead to her continued expulsion. Florens would not understand why she ended up where she did; she would read any signs available and make connections with things that weren’t relevant in search of these answers. Altogether, the lack of understanding of concepts and perspectives may affect the fate of an interaction, which may contribute to expulsion.

In particular, we saw this during the 2008 housing crisis and the factors leading up to the outcome. Michael Lewis’s The Big Short perfectly emphasizes one of these factors when discussing a collateralized debt obligation or CDO. Investopedia defines this term as “a collateralized debt obligation pools together various types of debt, such as loans or bonds, and repackages them into tranches that are sold to investors.” The CDO was what investors used to gain many of their profits, particularly by betting against the market, resulting in many individuals defaulting on their house mortgages and having their houses foreclosed on. Within The Big Short, we get a sense of how complex the CDO is, even emphasizing that professional investors weren’t so sure how complex a CDO was. What can we say about the new homeowners if the investors need clarification? The lack of interpretation and understanding of the complex nature of the CDO led to the expulsion of millions of homeowners for a generated profit amongst the investors. In light of the coming crisis, some companies pulled out and pointed fingers at the companies remaining in bad faith—”They look at you and forget about me” (Morrison pg. 135). Homeowners trusted these investors, similar to Florens’s trust in the Blacksmith as a haven where a lack of understanding from both parties led to expulsion. Individuals’ high degree of trust placed in those looking to help influenced the expulsion rate. Like the CDOs, Florens’ journey, upbringing, and story were also misunderstood. She wanted answers, and her apophenic search for answers led to her continued expulsion. Placing too much trust in individuals can lead to a crisis; not understanding both sides of the coin plays a similar role. It is one thing to read the signs and another to understand them. When we think about the question, “Does this help you understand the forces that push people away from the places and people they call home?” We start to see how literacy can be one of those forces. Being able to read and understand something can have drastic effects. For example, banks and housing companies will purposely make contracts long and wordy so they can get away with more unfaithful practices, such as hidden fees or ballooning interest rates, which seem highly unfair. Still, they’re rarely questioned or challenged because they’re hidden in complex language. When people can’t grasp the fine print, it can lead to dire consequences, putting them at a disadvantage and leaving them vulnerable to exploitation, sometimes to the point of losing their homes. One of the most pivotal quotes in A Mercy can be found on page 3 when Florens asks, “Who is responsible?” and follows by asking, “Can you read?”. By linking the two, the book asks if accountability is evident to the literate. It asks if those with literacy are, in a sense, more equipped to assign responsibility or if this privilege of knowledge is what shields them from exploitation and displacement. The book suggests that literacy is not just about knowledge; it’s about survival, agency, and the power to stay rooted in the place you call home. By showcasing the perspectives of each character, Morrison’s novel A Mercy is skillful in illustrating how none of the characters are above desire, which is a flaw that proves to be detrimental to the family the characters share. Namely, Florens’s interpretation of Malaik as a threat to her relationship with the Blacksmith renders her an object of his disgust, illustrating how she becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Additionally, Rebekka’s survival is the only protection against the fragility of single women running an estate and the land grab that is bound to occur. However, her religious awakening keeps her distant and removes her from those she tries to protect. As a result, Lina, Sorrow, and Florens become just as vulnerable as they feared they would be. This stark character reversal illustrates how acting in self-interest becomes destructive, as seen also in the greed of big bankers in the financial crisis of 2008. Ultimately, even though the institution of slavery does not exist as it once did in 17th century America, there will always be bodies of people that are subject to the whims of the dominant ideology, and Rebekka’s betrayal of fellow women demonstrates that the more removed one is from the consequences of their actions, the more destruction they will allow themselves to commit.

Lauren Bieniek, Samantha Kim, Lily Scobbo, Cole Kominiarek, Nathan Walz, Jayden Prashad

In class, we have been working with A Mercy, a historical fiction novel written by Toni Morrison. The novel takes place in the 1680s and is told from the perspective of multiple characters, but primarily is told from the main character, Florens. Florens is an enslaved teenage girl who can mainly speak Portuguese and only a little English, which makes it difficult for her since many other characters speak English. One of the first points that Beth made to us about this novel is that it is about reading and interpretation. For many of us readers, that was quickly made clear as the text is very fluid and difficult to follow along. For example, there are no chapter titles, there are no quotation marks when characters are having a conversation, and chapters are told from different perspectives without any warning. We discussed how this is purposeful, and almost puts the reader in the same position as Florens. Meaning we had to work hard to be very observant and pay close attention to details, even though we weren’t given all of the information at once. This could be related to Florens as she is a keen observer, but since she isn’t given all of the information or resources to make sense of her observations, she is often left confused or making unrelated assumptions. Multiple factors play into this, such as Florens’ language barrier, the fact that she’s a slave and others might not feel a need to keep her in-the-know, or even because of her past and recurring traumas. Throughout the story, Florens is expelled from her living spaces and swapped around from place to place a total of three times. One of our course concepts we have been discussing is “diaspora” which we defined in class as “a force pushing people out of their homes.” From that definition alone, we could use the term to describe Florens’ expulsions throughout the novel. However, according to the first definition on Google, diaspora is, “the dispersion or spread of a people from their original homeland.” This definition more clearly shows what the word diaspora means as it refers to large groups of people who are typically being pushed away from not only their home but their homeLAND. While knowing that Florens is a slave, this makes it much more clear that along with the three expulsions that occur throughout the novel, the true origin, root/cause, of Florens’ reality is the slave trade. Because of the fact that Florens’ family was sold and forced to leave their original home country, multiple expulsions and other effects take place in the rest of the novel. All of these factors play into why although Florens is a keen observer, she has a difficult time making sense of everything that’s truly going on around her.

The course concepts of origin, good faith and bad faith relates heavily to Florens’ struggle in A Mercy to read and interpret things. In chapter two Jacob Vaark goes to D’Ortega’s house and ends up taking Florens as payment for a debt. This took place when Jacob wanted to take Florence’s mother who was the head cook at Ortega’s plantation. However as Jacob and D’Ortega were arguing Florens’ mother speaks up “Please,  Senhor. Not me. Take her. Take my daughter.” This is when Florens’ first expulsion takes place. This is arguably the origin of the book. There is also an origin to the crisis that caused the expulsion. The origin of the crisis is the ownership of people, or better known as slavery. Google defines origin as; the point or place where something begins, arises, or is derived. So the origin of the crisis begins or arises when there is the owning of something that is really someone else’s. An example of this is shown in chapter 4. “The traveler laughs at the beauty saying,” This is perfect, this is mine” and the word swells, booming like thunder, into valleys, over acres of primrose and mallow. Creatures come out of caves wondering what it means, Mine. Mine. Mine.” After this there is a crisis and an eagle is shot and falls while her eggs sit there alone.

The housing crisis of 2008 also started with ownership of really terrible mortgage bonds and really risky mortgages. Before the housing crisis there was a real estate boom where everything was increasing in value. This made everyone want to get in on the action and own a house/land. Some people had really bad credit and still wanted to own their own real estate. So the adjustable rate mortgage was made to make it possible for people to buy a home when they usually wouldn’t be able to. Because of this these mortgages had a higher chance of failing because a lot of these people really couldn’t afford to get a house. Also there were rates called teaser rates that contributed to these mortgages. The teaser rates would keep the interest rate very low at first, but after a few years the interest rate would skyrocket causing many mortgages to fail. On the other end of these mortgages were banks. Banks bought things called CDO’s from mortgage lenders. CDO’s are collateralized debt obligations. They are people’s mortgages that you can buy. One would think that banks wouldn’t buy such risky mortgages however the banks didn’t know that they were risky. There were CDO rating agencies that rated the CDO’s based on how risky they were. At the time these agencies were compiling all of these risky CDO’s together and rating them AAA which means they aren’t risky.So the banks thought they were buying really great and stable mortgages when they were buying horrible risky mortgages. The origin of the housing crisis was based on owning things. This goes right along with A Mercy where the origin of the crisis was the owning of people.

To Florens, getting expelled by her mom was a sign that she wasn’t wanted or loved. Florens thought that if she was loved by her mom then she would have fought to stay with her daughter instead of what looks to be a sacrifice to save herself from being taken. Florens thought this expulsion was simply an act of bad faith by her mom. Google defines bad faith as the intent to deceive. Florens thought that her mom wanted to make her think that she was loved only to get rid of her when given an opportunity. Although Florens does remember that her brother was the favorite, “The first time it is me peering around my mothers dress hoping for her hand that is only her little boy.”(160) However she only thinks about this now that she has been expelled.It was later found out Florens didn’t read/ interpret the situation in the same light that her mom did. Her mom saw Florence’s so-called expulsion as more of an act done in good faith. Google defines good faith as honesty or sincerity of intention. Like Florens, Florence’s mom was a very keen observer and noticed Florens’ body changing. “Breasts provide pleasure more than simpler things. Yours are rising too soon and are becoming irritated by the cloth covering your little girl chest”(190) Florenses mother was trying to protect her from D’Ortega because she was worried about what would happen when he started to notice Florens. Another example of Florence’s mother worrying about Florens’ appearance is when she tells her why she can wear high heels “Only bad women wear high heels.”(4) Even though Florens’ mother didn’t directly state that she was worried about Florens being noticed by D’Ortega,she definitely was. So the reality of the situation with Florens’ first expulsion was that Florens’ mother was only looking out for her out of love. Florens saw it as expulsion and her mom saw it as an act of care and love.

Floren’s being a keen observer allowed her to notice tendencies and patterns that were occurring throughout her life. These instances and events often lead to Floren’s feeling of abandonment and expulsion. Her ability to notice these events relates to a concept called apophenia which is an ability to realize tendencies or patterns. The second time that Floren’s had noticed an expulsion brewing was when Jacob got smallpox. This was the start of her difficulty in understanding that there were forces in life that expel people from their current situation. This ties back to a course concept called toxins. Toxins in this case refer to a literal sense of poison or disease in the form of smallpox. This was an outside force that caused an expulsion and this had a big impact on Floren’s ability to grasp the concepts. Florens was unable to comprehend why she was constantly being affected by outside forces such as her mothers abandonment and the smallpox and this had a major impact on how she viewed relationships and trust. After Rebekka also gets sick, Florens is sent through the forest on her own to find the blacksmith. Another example of being forced to leave(expulsion), as she goes on her own. She notices the changes of light and quiet movement of the animals but lacks the knowledge to interpret those things. This observation of light comes into connection with apophenia because she perceives signs or meanings where there are possibly none to distinguish. This interpretation of her environment highlights her hopes, anxieties, and limited understanding of not just her world but her place in it. I would go as far as to say Florens apophenic lens on the world highlights one of Morrison’s themes which is the isolation of individuals, especially those like Floren who are already taken advantage of. She does not possess the understanding of her nature, so she covers up the holes with her own feelings and fear, sometimes searching for a deeper meaning when one might not actually exist. 

Floren’s final expulsion was being expelled from the blacksmith. This is another example of apophenia because it is a pattern of Florens continuously getting expelled from different people. Florens is desperate for affection from a person and the feeling of being chosen or wanted. Florens is naive and interpreted her relationship with the blacksmith in her own way that was one sided just to her. Florens’ lack of experience with being able to form long lasting emotional connections and relationships is a main factor in this. Florens thought that she and the blacksmith had a real deep connection and had genuine love for him with the idea that she created in her head. But in reality the blacksmith had no interest in Florens in the way she had thought and saw her just as an enslaved girl. Florens realizes this when she was rejected from the blacksmith. Florens had jealousy and resentment towards Malaik with him being cared for by the blacksmith and did not want Malaik to be chosen over her. The idea of Malaik being chosen over her brings back the idea of Florens’ little brother being picked over her when her mother decided to send Florens away and keep her little brother at home. Florens accidentally breaking Malaik’s arm causes the blacksmith to expel her. The blacksmith thought that Florens was acting in bad faith, breaking Malaik’s arm but that was not her intention; instead, she was trying to get Malaik to stop crying. Floren’s struggles with abandonment and self-worth are extremely affected and further damaged by this expulsion and rejection from the blacksmith. This led Florens to react and lash out, injuring the blacksmith due to her frustration. The path of Florens in Toni Morrison’s A Mercy demonstrates how having certain resources, or lack thereof, can impact people’s ability to interpret what’s going on around them. Morrison used Florens’ story to illustrate how power structures prevent people from understanding their own experiences, thereby isolating them emotionally as well as physically. This can be related to the 2008 housing crisis that we have been discussing in class. Economic systems, created by wealthy individuals, put profit above people and caused numerous individuals to lose their homes, jobs, and security during the 2008 crisis. When comparing A Mercy and the 2008 crisis, Florens is much like the consumers in 2008 because they were not given the proper information they needed to make smart financial decisions. As young students, it is important for us to gain the necessary knowledge and ability to make connections within our own society and world unlike Florens whose lack of knowledge contributed to how much she was taken advantage of. If we were to fall under the same circumstances history could repeat itself and we could become victims of the same crisis that occurred in 2008. This emphasizes the point about how important it is to give people the information and tools they need to comprehend and control their own situations so they are less susceptible to manipulation or expulsion from society where they could otherwise fit in.

Abbigail Woodworth, Joseph Latella, Ava Patelli, Caleb Martin, Aboudramane Doumbouya

A Mercy is a story focusing on the harsh realities of enslaved women throughout the 17th century. In particular, the story is about a young girl named Florens who was abandoned by her mother and traded as a slave to Trader Jacob Vaark. She looks for the love of a mother consistently throughout the story because of the feeling of isolation and expulsion that she encountered throughout her story. She tries to find that love through other people along the way. The story is an example of how throughout the 17th century mothers and children of color underwent obstacles along their journeys of being enslaved. Furthermore, A Mercy shows us that society creates and sustains conditions that expel people from their homes and families. This common theme of expulsion can be defined as forcing someone to leave a place.

The first act of expulsion takes place towards the beginning of the story and is the start of Floren’s story. When Floren’s mother sends her away with Jacob Varrik, a trader who took Florens because her mother had begged him to do so. Floren’s mother gave her away to protect her from the brutal reality of enslavement, especially under a man like D’ortega. Florens couldn’t understand this perspective of her mother at the time as her younger brother got to stay with her mom, this failure was not her fault. It’s because of the absence of education, interpretation, stability, and maturity that she was not able to put the pieces together to create that picture. This also shows that societal structures can force displacement between families due to poverty, enslavement, and patriarchy. Although this was the first act of expulsion, it was too complex to understand without the rest of the journey she went throughout the book. By the end of the book, we realized that her mother was the first originating act of expulsion and the reasoning she gave up became clear. ”One chance, I thought. There is no protection but there is a difference. You stood there in those shoes and the tall man laughed and said he would take me to close the debt. I knew Senhor would not allow it. I said you. Take you, my daughter. Because I saw the tall man see you as a human child, not pieces of eight. I knelt before him. Hoping for a miracle. He said yes.”(Morrison p. 195) Floren’s mother noticed that Florens caught the eye of Senhor and wanted to save her from the brutality of being a slave under D’ortega. Floren’s mother knows what it comes with and she doesn’t want her daughter to go through what she went through so she sends her with Jacob. Readers came to understand the reasoning as to why her mother sent her away and it was to protect her from being raped and abused by D’Ortega. We come to understand that in the end, Florens’ mother did love her; she just wanted Florens to have a better outcome than she did. Giving her away was the best solution to keep Florens safe even though she lost her daughter. A Mercy.

The second act of expulsion that Florens overcame was her encounter with Daughter Jane and the Widow. Florens distracts the town from Daughter Jane and once again a child gets to stay with their mom and Florens must go. Florens in the end, ends up distracting Jane and the widows’ community from the rumor that Jane was a witch. Rebbeka sent Jane a letter stating Florens was owned by her. At the end of the chapter, Jane thanks Florens for her help and kisses her on the forehead. Florens is confused as to why she did this. She did not understand the feeling of belonging. “I say thank you and lift her hand to kiss it. She says no, I thank you. They look at you and forget about me. She kisses my forehead then watches as I step down…” (Morrison p. 135) Florens has never felt a sense of belonging and doesn’t know how to act when someone shows gratitude towards her. Florens has been treated as property her whole life and couldn’t comprehend the act of kindness. Due to the absence of family and friends, she constantly felt neglected. This is an act of expulsion because, at the end of the chapter, she was sent on her way again. 

The third and final act of expulsion was at the end of the book when Florens started to create a pattern in her head of the reasoning as to why she kept being expelled in certain situations. This pattern was revealed when the blacksmith kicked out Florens for hurting Malaik, she falsely believed every time she was expelled from a relationship or land was because of unfair abandonment, and not protection or love. This was the most detrimental act of expulsion because Florens was in love with the blacksmith but he chose the child over her. Feeling the emotions of betrayal and abandonment she realized during every encounter, that she was expelled and in most cases, it was a parental figure protecting a child. “When they saw her stomping down the road two days after the smithy had visited Mistress’ sickbed and gone, they were slow to recognize her as a living person.” (pg. 79), Her humanity and will to live were taken from her after she argued with the blacksmith. A man she adored so much and felt so safe with pushed her away without second guessing leaving her to question everything she’s experienced.  

As discussed before Florens is expelled multiple times and these expulsions follow the same pattern. This pattern is when Florens is the one to leave, a smaller child gets to remain with a parental figure. During these expulsions the pattern, although not explicitly commented on by Florens, is clear to a reader that this pattern is something Florens subconsciously connects. The patterns within this book can be compared to the patterns of the housing crisis. We can compare Florens to the homeowner during the housing crisis. During this time the homeowners were consistently set up with poorly maintained and written mortgages. With loans like the NINA loan (no assets, no income), these loans were given to set up homeowners to fail as they did not have to prove that they would or could pay their loan back. The result of these poorly written mortgages was that many homeowners had to move out and foreclose on their homes. These foreclosures happened in the masses leaving many expelled from their own homes.

 It is interesting to note that within the first chapter, there is a consistent pattern of subtle foreshadowing as to the cause of Floren’s first expulsion. With Floren’s unknown cause of her original expulsion, it seems like her expulsion came out of nowhere and is the reason for her poor feelings towards her mother for sending her away. But Florens had no idea what troubles and experiences she would’ve endured had she stayed. Like at the beginning of the housing crisis and the constant trade of CDO’s most homeowners and borrowers had no idea what they were in for, almost no one could’ve seen the outcome of this crisis. Like the subtle foreshadowing that was missed by Florens, the subtle foreshadowing at the beginning of this crisis was also missed by homeowners, financial institutions, and almost everyone involved. Florens was unable to comprehend her struggles due to a corrupt and broken system of slavery, much like the complicated CDOs that many bankers did not understand, let alone the people who signed onto these complex fraudulent mortgages. In millions of cases, the 2008 housing crisis cost people their livelihood, homes (expulsion), and their life savings. Florens also experienced expulsion which she did not understand. The expulsion in both these cases was a lack of regulation, ethical decisions, and fueled by greed and hatred. 

A Mercy by Toni Morrison was published in 2008, it leaves the reader wondering if perhaps Morrison wanted to draw attention to the pattern that this society creates and sustains conditions that expel people from their homes and families. Although, you can not closely compare the housing crisis to the brutality of slavery within America in the late 1600s. It is clear that society still remains prejudiced towards certain groups of people. People took advantage of people of color during slavery in the 17th century, during the 2008 crisis people from low-income households were taken advantage of because they were given loans that they couldn’t pay back. After centuries have passed, you can conclude people will take advantage of their power, corrupt systems, and social standing to achieve wealth and power even at the cost of dividing families and expelling them from society.  Perhaps Morrison was playing on the idea of history repeating itself in different forms of systematic corruption. 

By: Cassidy Hand, Ericeliz Carrillo, John McKiernan, Kyle Footer, and Mia Hendrickson

During the story of A Mercy, it is emphasized that Florens is a keen observer. Florens has the disadvantage of not being able to read or interpret things that she notices during her life. Florens experiences being expelled from places and people that feel at home due to certain forces. In reading A Mercy, it is important to keep in mind, and understand, the specific course concepts that lead to Florens being expelled from the things she calls home. The course concepts are expulsion, pressure, apophenia, and origin. According to Oxford languages, expulsion is defined as “the action of depriving someone of membership in an organization.” The next course concept, pressure, is defined by Oxford languages as, “continuous physical force exerted on or against an objective by something in contact with it.” Pressure is also explained by Merriam- Webster as, “the burden of physical or mental distress.” Merriam- Webster defines apophenia as the “tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things.” Finally, Oxford languages define origins as “the point or place where something begins, arises, or is derived.” Knowing all of these course concepts will build a deeper interpretation throughout the story of why Florens gets expelled multiple times during A Mercy before it is declared at the end of the story. 

At the very end of the book, Florens’ mother takes over the narration and shares her reasoning for expelling Floren’s. We go through the book knowing only what Florens feels, which is abandoned and unwanted. These fearful emotions shape the person that Florens becomes and especially the way she navigates future relationships, seeking approval and affection. Merriam Webster defines expulsion as the act of forcing someone out from a place or membership in an organization. Pressure, defined as the burden of physical or mental distress,  is a variable in decision making that led Florens’ mother to expelling her daughter. Unfortunately, this revelation is not one Florens ever gets to hear but it changes the situation in the reader’s mind from a sudden expulsion to a selfless decision made under extreme pressure. Florens’ mother believed that Jacob was a better human being than their current Portuguese ‘master’ D’Ortega so she hoped that Florens would grow up happier and with a better quality of life with him, and not as a breeding cow. As she recounts her own journey, Florens’ mother says, “One chance, I thought. There is no protection but there is difference… I said you. Take you, my daughter. Because I saw the tall man see you as a human child, not pieces of eight…I knelt before him. Hoping for a miracle. He said yes. It was not a miracle. Bestowed by God. It was a mercy. Offered by a human” (Morrison, p. 175). In Florens’ mind, she remembers her mother holding her baby brother while sending her away, interpreting it as a sign that she was less loved and valued than he was. However, this recollection shows that Florens’ mother was under enormous pressure to make the best possible decision for her children. She had the strength to make a difficult choice—sacrificing her own potential safety and sending Florens away, knowing it would be permanent and she might never see her daughter again—while staying behind to protect her even younger, more vulnerable infant. She truly loved her daughter and her brief narration closes on how much she loves her daughter and hopes that she can understand the pressure of being given “dominion” over another. 

From the very beginning of the book, we’re told the importance of the letter is what truly drives Florens forward. It’s her only protection on this journey, and, even before the contents of the letter are unveiled, we know that without it, she is truly lost. Immediately, upon entering the Widow’s house, Florens feels disconnected and unnerved, despite the otherwise normal hospitality the Widow and her daughter are showing. She repeatedly describes her mannerisms and environment as akin to that of animals, “Water rises to a boil in the kettle hanging in the fireplace. I turn and see its steam forming shapes as it curls against the stone. One shape looks like the head of a dog.” (p. 130). Florens sees shapes in the Presbyterian’s house of what she believes is a dog. This reinforces her belief that the Presbyterians don’t want her there and think Florens to be less than a dog. This was also shown in the reading when she was eating from a bowl “like a dog” and was “lapping” from the river, which could be a word purposely used to describe an animal-like behavior. 

The dehumanization of Florens is further elaborated on through the subplot of Florens finding shelter in the Widow’s house on her way to find the blacksmith. Locals inspect Florens to determine if she is a runaway slave or a minion. When she defends herself, she says, “I think they have shock that I can talk. Let me show you my letter I say quieter. It proves I am nobody’s minion but my Mistress” (pg. 111). Although it is true that Florens is not a minion of some evil supernatural force, she is by no means free. Her freedom is bound to Rebekka’s letter, and once the letter is taken, Florens is, in effect, an exiled runaway slave. It is interesting that Morrison uses the word “minion,” which has the connotation of someone who is possessed by an evil force. In this sense, Florens is a minion—or, in a literal sense, a possession—of Jacob and, by extension, Rebekka. At first, Jacob is presented as an upstanding person. However, as he is exposed to wealth, his morals are degraded—punctuated by his acceptance of Florens as a slave, regardless of his initial hesitation.

It should be noted that Florens’s mother gave her up not because Jacob was objectively moral, he was simply the lesser evil. Therefore, Florens is not a minion of an evil entity, she is a minion of an evil man. However, paradoxically, belonging to no one is worse than belonging to someone evil.

Morrison conveys this fact through Sorrow, saying, “three unmastered women and an infant out here, alone, belonging to no one, became wild game for anyone” (58). Morrison repeatedly elaborates on this paradox. The legitimacy of the Widow’s property is artificially questioned because she no longer has a husband. Additionally, Florens is no longer protected by her enslaver without her letter. Today, the concept of freedom is understood as being someone who does not belong to anyone. However, during the time period of this novel, the extent to which someone was considered free was determined by their ability to own or enslave others. So, even in the event of Rebekka’s passing, leaving Florens technically liberated and without a master, she is not truly free. Therefore, in the context of this book, to be expelled is arguably worse than being enslaved. We see a similar theme at the end of the chapter, when Daughter Jane has helped Florens flee, “They look at you and forget about me.” (p. 135). Having something “stranger” or more terrifyingly different than Daughter Jane forces the eyes of the townspeople off of her and onto Florens, who has now been stripped of her letter and reminded once again how she will always be chosen last. The protection of a seemingly random young child goes against her innocence, and she becomes the target regardless. In this case, Florens is seen as worse than a possible demon. With each expulsion, she is placed lower and lower until she believes she’s nothing at all without the Blacksmith. 

Florens is proven throughout the book to be observant, but while she does observe the look in the Blacksmiths eyes when he sees her, she is not able to understand the extent of his affection towards her or the care he has for the little boy Mailaik who he watches over. When given the opportunity and trust to take care of Mailaik, Florens is unable to responsibly take care of the child, hurting him in the process both physically and emotionally. Even after the Blacksmith comes back to the house and sees the boy hurt she can’t understand her wrongdoing saying, “You see the boy down and believe bad about me without question. You are correct but why no question of it? I am the first to get the knocking away.” (p. 165) This goes back to Florens observing situations, but not reading and understanding situations. She does not understand that the task she was assigned, babysitting Mailaik, was an important job trusted to her by the Blacksmith and is blinded by the love she believes is shared between the two of them. 

Florens again observes a situation and only sees a child being chosen over her again which has happened twice before, “The first time it is me peering around my mothers dress hoping for her hand that is only for her little boy. The second time it is a pointing screaming little girl hiding behind her mother and clinging to her skirts. Both times are full of danger and I am expel.” (p.160) The first child was her little brother, the second was Daughter Jane, and the third was Mailaik. In these three such cases a child has been present during the time of her expulsion, but she lacks the context of the situations and blames it on what she sees, the children.

In her brother’s case this is especially shown. Florens blames her brother for taking her mothers love and her mother for choosing her brother when in reality her mother was sending her away to protect her from D’Ortega as she blossomed into womanhood. Her mother was sexually assaulted during her time on the plantation and as Florens grew into a woman her mother noticed that the men there noticed too saying, “they see and I see them see.” (p. 190) This led to the decision to send Florens away, not her brother, and led to a life of unwarranted hatred towards her mother because Florens could not read the situation and stakes at hand. 

Having Florens’ entire person tied to a singular aspect of herself (the letter, her race, status as a woman, love for the blacksmith) she’s put at an incredible disadvantage in society, and completely set apart from everybody else. Tying this to the housing crisis, where everyone was tied to a single number on a document or an address, we see how people getting boiled down to one aspect kills their individuality and sense of self, they get lost in the sea of people and are essentially worth nothing. Florens is observant, and creates links between everything she sees, whether they are related or not, and she was still forced lower and lower until she was lost completely. With all the preparations and precautions Florens had taken, all the warnings she received, nothing could prevent what had happened, similar to the Housing Crisis, no one could truly stop it from happening and causing so much damage in the process. Even people who knew how to read and were highly educated struggled with the amount of documentation and the language within during the housing crisis, leading to misinterpretations, loopholes, and plain bad faith used against homeowners. Many people did everything within their power to understand what was happening to them, and to prevent themselves from falling through the cracks, but these banking industries didn’t just create cracks and loopholes to fuel themselves, they built canyons and tripwires, deliberately forcing innocent people into untenable positions. Society places a high value upon a home, believing that a person without one, or with a poor one, is barely a person at all. We see through Florens that constant expulsion drives people to horrific lengths, when all of these people found themselves suddenly “worthless” or struggling to maintain any form of shelter, they grew desperate, feeding into the chaos. 

Jordan Welker, Zachary Simons, Brenden Harrington, Sarah Lyons, Natalie Schuey, Joshua Irizarry

A Mercy by Toni Morrison is set in early colonial America in the late 17th century, a time when slavery was expanding and racial, gender, and class hierarchies were becoming more rigid. Throughout the novel, Florens tries to understand herself and the world around her, but she is constantly derailed by her lack of control over her circumstances. Floren’s journey throughout the novel was pretty much out of her control. While Florens repeatedly tried to do the right thing she was constantly knocked back by other characters acting in bad faith and expelling her to outside forces. In this regard, she is very similar to the people experiencing the housing crisis, along with others facing expulsion.

One of the biggest connections between Florens and the people experiencing the housing crisis is the concept of expulsion. Expulsion is forcing a person or thing from something, like a house (Mirriam-Webster). Throughout the novel, Florens is expelled repeatedly, from her mother, from society, and from the blacksmith she believes she “loves”. This expulsion is usually done by people of “higher standing”, for example: her mother, the townspeople, and the blacksmith. This is because Florens did not know any better, in the sense that she was not educated on how the world works. Thus, she would have no understanding of how to “protect” herself from the people in power. This relates to the people expelled from their homes during the 2008 housing crisis because they lacked the knowledge that the people expelling them had, and the majority of the people signing contracts for these homes they could not afford, did not know how to read the fine print of the contracts they were signing. 

Another connection between the Florens and the housing crisis is people acting in “bad faith” which can be defined as the “lack of honesty in dealing with other people” (Mirriam-Webster). In the novel, the D’Ortega family constantly acts in bad faith with other characters. The D’Ortega’s are a vicious slave-owning family who are always exploiting others for their gain. Since the D’Ortega’s were in debt to Jacob and had no means to repay the man they instead gave Jacob a human being. That human being happened to be Florens in this case who was then separated from her mother in doing so. Jacob also often acts in bad faith in the novel as well as he constantly avoids accepting responsibility for doing nothing with all the injustice and violence happening around him. For example, he relies on tradition and social norms to justify his behavior thereby deflecting any serious examination of his wrongdoing. During the housing crisis, many bankers and lenders also acted in “bad faith” while downplaying the risk involved with subprime mortgages. Credit ratings agencies were also ignoring systemic risk while giving AAA ratings to CDO’s even though the subprime loan was almost destined to fail. With all this going on the Government did almost nothing as policymakers and politicians downplayed and denied the role of financial downregulation in causing the housing crisis (Previous classes/readings). 

On the other hand, “good faith” is also prevalent in this novel, as it is in the housing crisis. To act in good faith is to act with honesty (Mirriam-Webster). Florence can relate to the unknowing homeowners who have good faith in their hearts but are being brought down by people with more power preying on their lack of knowledge. One example from the book would be when she is told “Your head is empty and your body is wild”(A Mercy, pg. 166). Florence shows signs of good faith, however, it appears very little as Florens is living in a world that does not like her. Despite this, Florens attempts to act in good faith wherever she goes. A key point in the novel that describes this is during her time with daughter Jane. Daughter Jane is the daughter of a widow, who is believed to be a demon, to prove this false her mother whips her legs to prove she can bleed. And, while either directly or indirectly, Florens acts in good faith by distracting the townspeople from Daughter Jane with her letter, as they are convinced she is a demon as well. In return Daughter Jane acts in good faith and helps her escape (A Mercy, pgs. 132-135). During the housing crisis, similar to Florens, the homeowners acted in good faith, signing mortgages and loans, not knowing how predatory they might have been. However, their good faith was returned with bad faith.

 In the end, many people “spotted” things that lead to the market crash and the housing crisis. However, like Florens, they were massively uneducated in these fields. Thus, when they tried to understand all it was, was Apophenia, or “the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas)” (Mirriam-Webster). This means that they could draw all the conclusions they would like, but it would all be nonsense, just as the world was nonsense to Florens. These connections between two seemingly very different topics really makes you think of how people act when they have some form of power over another person or group of people. The continuous bad faith acts against these people who do not know any better and who are most of the time acting in good faith themselves, is a testament to how people act when they are met with the opportunity to gain off of someone else’s losses. Both examples show how the people of any country, in any situation, need to be more educated on important topics such as this.