Even though I love Toni Morrison for her brilliance, poetic lines, and spectacular word choices – I was not fond of Song of Solomon.
In this novel, Morrison fleshes out black men while focusing on self-image and self-discovery.
Although I was not keen on this book and would not recommend it, chapter 6 left me in awe. This is the first time I observe Morrison explicitly state her thoughts about racism.
Here are a few of these thoughts:
” What about the nice ones? Some whites made sacrifices for Negroes. Real sacrifices.
That just means there are one or two natural ones. But they haven’t been able to stop the killing either. They are outraged, but that doesn’t stop it. They might even speak out, but that doesn’t stop either. They might even inconvenience themselves, but the killings goes on and on”.
“The earth is soggy with black people’s blood. And before us Indian blood”.
“Slave names don’t bother me; but slave status does”.
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Bookish Naija Gal 