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.