Reading Morrison

Our African American Literature class began reading Toni Morrison's 1973 novel Sula.  Now, Morrison's work is important on several levels, and certainly one of them is that she consistently creates works that center on the lives, experiences, and histories of African American individuals and communities.  As noted by Professor Howard Rambsy II at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Morrison's texts are regularly cited in the productions by literary scholars and appear on the syllabi of various literature courses. But how does Morrison's popularity translate in the classroom?

"Morrison is hard."  I have heard this many times from students in response to reading novels and essays by the prize-winning author.  This is understandable given the backgrounds of most college-level students - their literary careers in high school and beyond don't often include experience with Morrison's work for different reasons; her texts have been banned in some schools due to ostensibly controversial subject matter, the state curriculum and testing standards have resulted in less reading overall in high school classrooms, and there is the old and problematic notion (overtly or covertly stated by teachers, professors, school boards, administrators, etc.) that only works by the outdated 'canon' are important - this canon has historically been dominated by privileged white men.

When I ask students if they have read works by Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, or Hawthorne, by and large they respond in the affirmative.  But, ask about Morrison, Octavia Butler, Gloria Anzaldúa, James Baldwin, or Leslie Marmon Silko?  No.  Students shake their heads and sometimes assume that because they've never heard about or read these authors, they must not be all that important.  This underlying notion that some texts are important while others are not impacts how students approach a novel, story, or memoir and what these young minds understand as valuable.

Yes, Morrison is hard for students who have not been able to experience literature outside of this very white, very male canon.  Her texts are non-linear and establish the importance and relevance of African American men and women within Black communities.  For Black students reading literature who have been inundated with writing by white authors, this is key.  Ultimately students begin to appreciate how incredibly descriptive, insightful, and even how shocking Morrison's texts can be - "did you read the part where Eva kills Plum!?" and "Morrison is playing with language.  Down is up, up is down, and the Bottom in Medallion is the top!"

Morrison's work moves from indecipherable in some ways to a puzzle students want to work through.  They begin to dig into her stories, looking for ways the author creates impossible situations, word play, vivid imagery, beautiful language, and how she creates the lives and histories of empowered and complicated Black characters who love and live deeply.