If we were to make the words and literary work of Toni Morrison into a painting or quilt, there would be more than enough material and artistry to cover the entire Earth; more remaining over to wrap around other planets within our solar system; and other galaxy forces that we have yet to know. Her literary genius, the crafting of the Negro experience, into a study of Black American psychology and well-being, is revolutionary. Her ability to weave the Black American psyche into a poetic style of peculiar fashion, is indicative of the people she comes from. This skill of crafting a general standard to know the treasures and complexities of Black America’s psyche. Using words as markings; transforming her literature as the written word.
Song of Soloman. Beloved. Sula.
We speak of Toni Morrison’s work as words of fiction. Fiction. Hmm. If only it were easy. If only we could truly separate ourselves from fiction.
One of the most fascinating attributes of Toni Morrison’s work is how she detailed the magic of Black American people to take “fiction,” and bring it into reality. Making the hardships, pains, and tribulations of reality more bareable. Using the world of fiction to remind us of our humanity. Like a dust of winds that surrounded our being. Blowing colorful kisses and embraces, which illluminated any part of our sensory-our tastes, our smells, what we see, how we feel, and what we hear. Any part of our sensory, which had become dull, hardened, or discolored , due to the toxicity, ignorance, and evil that was projected onto blackness; was restored, re-nourished, and sparkled all over again, with peculiar magic dust. That in the work of Toni Morrison, fiction was poured into reality, in order to re-vive the lives of Black American people. . .The Negro Flower gardens of US soiling. And that in these peculiar gardens, were many sparkles of black glitter, which grew the cultures of the USA. This is the psychological euphoria of Black American people. And Toni Morrison showcased that artistry of Black America. Like the Great Ones of our culture, our gardens—–Dr. Maya Angelou, Zora Neal Hurston, Alice Walker, James Baldwin, August Wilson, Langston Hughes, and others.
One example of such euphoria is in the book, Sula. In particular, the first chapter, and the phenomenon of “the Bottom,” readers are given a glimpse of this peculiar energy. To transform straw into gold. Readers view one of many examples in Song of Soloman, and Milkman’s dream, as he lays with Sweet on one night. Entering into the novel, Jazz, the aesthetics and energies describing “the City,” (in the early part of Chapter 1), continues to paint the psychological journey of Black American women, men, children, people, and culture.
God Help the Child. a mercy.
Too often people fail to understand how Toni Morrison (and other Black American poets, playwrights, and writers) took this method of cultural therapy, and placed it in the mainstream spectar of masterpieces for the world to witness. For the world to see what it means for a people, who perform in the impossible. Whose Blackness is not only defined as coloring, but also as a process and performance of darkness. Existing in a place, where the nourishment of Blackness was lacking and limiting. Where life’s energies were removed to destroy Blackness. A land, not orginally of their own soiling.
Home. Love. Paradise.
How does a people sustain mental and emotional stability? In the midst of such chaos, in the midst of such madness, and surrounded by death.
The work and treasures of Toni Morrison answers such questions. Answers the how’s and why’s. Yet, answering it in our speech, through our eyes, and what makes sense to us. Our cultural way of educating and presenting “common talk” ideologies and “philosophies” to be just as worthy as those coming from Harvard, Princeton, and any other Ivy League institution. Any prestigious, international institution. That Negro Talk, Baby! That BAVE dialect (Black American Vernacular English) is fine by us. And the Beauty and mystery of Morrison’s literary jewels is that you are not given an easy answer, or easy way out in order to understand the therapy. This is especially true if you are a non-Black American, who enters the world of Toni Morrison. There are no short-cuts, or easy passes to being able to understand Black America’s mental experience. The roads to freedom and liberation were unpaved, rocky, and steps of broken glass.
The Bluest Eye. Tar Baby.
No! You will not have a mental hiatus when you read the jewels of Toni Morrison. No. You do not get to glamorize the experience, and position it as truth. You will be forced to unmask the fiction that you bought, and face the reality that you sought.
In learning and appreciating the Negro psyche of US soiling, you may have to go on an unpleasant and uncomfortable mental roller coaster ride. It will shake and shatter what you thought you knew about Black folk, and their gardens of natural, US soiling.
The work of Toni Morrison made creative, mental therapy, a normality for Black American people. Her ability to highlight the psyche of Black America (i.e. religious, societal, or cultural); while making it presentable and authentic. She was, and is, a literary and psychological caretaker of Black America’s identity and culture.
You are forced to read, how WE saw us, not what you wanted to see.
And so, as a literary lioness has transitioned forward, those jewels of her treasure chest are left for infinite re-discovery. Black American maidens and mothers, still on Earth’s paradise, have the task of safeguarding the chest. Along with the fathers and young men in the garden. Presenting them in Love, so that our elder Toni Morrison is forever, Beloved.
