(Im)Possibilities

Paradise ends without justice for the people affected by the violences which occur in the novel.  Dr. Beth encouraged us to consider what the effect of, what some people in class have described as, an unsatisfying ending.  Specifically, what this absence of justice pushes us to consider as students at a state school on occupied land.  As Dr. Beth called attention to the absence of justice and reparations given to peoples violated by a historical through-line of state-sponsored violence, I glanced up at the whiteboard in the classroom with “Happy Thanksgiving!” sprawled across it.  Continue reading “Happy Thanksgiving! (?)”

scapegoat

/ˈskeɪpˌɡəʊt/

In class, Prof. McCoy had us reread the line from Ruby which states, “their T-shirts, work shirts and dashikis soak up cold like fever,” pointing to the fact that this group was not only distinctly male- it also included members across all age groups (3). Morrison intentionally created a scenario where the violence being enacted is done in such a way as to label an innocent group guilty for events within the community, aka picking a scapegoat. Continue reading “Scapegoats”

For now I’d like to put these two works I came across today in conversation with each other:

and

https://www.thenation.com/article/no-place-self-pity-no-room-fear/

 

In class Dr.McCoy has mentioned Toni Morrison’s television interview, Uncensored, a couple of times, and while I could not find a site that would provide the entire interview without paying for it, I was able to find three segments of the interview on YouTube. Each video is only about 3-5 minutes long, but provide some extremely helpful context behind Morrison’s works. I am linking the third video in particular because Morrison goes into detail behind the meaning of sha sha sha within Consolata’s chapter of Paradise. Morrison states that she chose “the sound and the rhythm to suggest the eroticism and the longing,” that Consolata felt deep within her and could not express through words. Consolata’s lack of ability to express these feelings through language can be seen in the passage “‘But he, but he.’ Sha sha sha. Sha sha sha, she wanted to say, meaning, he and I are the same” (241). I think this passage along with the context provided by the interview relate well to our discussions in class of sound within Morrison’s work, as well as the repercussions of expulsions for her characters.

*DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE FINISHED PARADISE*

Since completing reading the novel, I have been trying to make sense of the recurrence of the name “Piedade” throughout the novel.  The name comes up quite a few times:

1. “Then [Connie] told them of a woman named Piedade, who sang but never said a word” (264).
2. “There is nothing to beat this solace which is what Piedade’s song is about, although the words evoke memories neither one has ever has: of reaching age in the company of another…” (318).
3. “When the ocean heaves sending rhythms of water ashore, Piedade looks to see what has come” (318).

Continue reading ““Blues da Piedade””

Recently, I ended up spiraling through a wormhole of BBC and National Geographic documentaries rather than relaxing with a good, reliable sitcom. The latest was a documentary series called “The Story of God,” hosted by Morgan Freeman in which he discusses God, justice, and morality (amongst other things) while traveling to landmarks for various religions and cultures around the world. You can imagine what sort of dynamic that has created for me while reading Dante’s Paradiso. To even further it, my Humanities class was reading the Christian Bible. So it has just been a whirlwind of big concepts in my head. Continue reading “Predestination/Free Will: Both/And”