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| https://slate.com/culture/2019/03/toni-morrison-difficulty-black-women.html |
The DAD vacation caused me to fall behind, so quick shares and other features until I catch up.
Here's a good share.
https://medium.com/@sidika.sehgal/a-letter-to-toni-morrison-acb4d0a97237
A Letter to Toni Morrison
Dear Ms. Morrison,
Dear Ms. Morrison,
I’m not sure if writers are made aware of how they touch people’s lives as much as they should. I think it’s important that they be made conscious of the affirmative power of their words and hence this letter. Beloved changed my life. I can say that for few books I’ve read; The Book Thief and The Iliad are part of this list. Even as I make a statement like that, I’m not entirely sure of how it has changed me — I haven’t had enough time to process its impact. But while reading the novel I felt that I would not be the same person when I finish it, and I was right. Beloved made me feel so many emotions I didn’t know I could feel at the same time, and I often found myself unable to reconcile with all of them.
The first of those emotions was shame. How could I have ignored this period of American history? How could I have been so ignorant, having struggled with the colour of my skin as a teenager myself (although that struggle was an insecurity, and not a matter of life and death as it was in the 1870s and still remains so for some)?
Beloved is a brilliantly told story. It’s easy to romanticise the past, to glorify grief, to write a story where the victim-underdog overcomes hurdles and wins in the end. But Beloved is not that. There is no black and white in Beloved, it’s shades of grey throughout. The way you write pain evokes empathy, not sympathy. I have a bias against sympathy and for empathy, perhaps because whenever I’ve experienced sorrow, I’ve never wanted to see pity in someone’s eyes. I find it disempowering. What Beloved does is, it makes me see a bit of myself in all the characters. Paul D’s tobacco tin, Sethe’s fierce love, Denver’s need for a companion, Baby Suggs losing hope. I’m not in awe of Sethe’s ability to start a new life, I’m not angry at Paul D for having counted Sethe’s feet, I’m not disappointed that Baby Suggs gave up her vision and took to her room. I don’t feel this way because I understand the complexity of their emotions — they’re no longer characters in a novel, I’m a part of their story.
Beloved reiterates the human ability to move forward, the ability to remember and forget the past, both at the same time. For me, this is the novel’s single greatest achievement — it’s not ‘one’ story, of Sethe (or Margaret Garner), but the story of people who are just like us. Maybe in another part of the world and maybe in another century. But like us nonetheless. And I think you knew this when you dedicated the book to ‘Sixty million and more’. What you’ve created is not one story but multiple narratives in which we find ourselves.
The positive vision of Beloved is centred around the community, around a ‘collective’. I’ve always believed that the only thing which is of real value in life is family. Not necessarily the biological family, but the group of people who care for us and who we care for. I’m so grateful for the support I’ve received on many occasions and continue to receive everyday. I could not have gotten through my lowest moments and toughest times without my friends and family. Beloved reminded me of the need to foster this community of people, to give back to it as much as I take from it. It reminded me of the need to thank these people. To say ‘I love you’ to them every once in a while.
In an article by Hilton Als in The New Yorker, you spoke about women who would come over to your house and cook dinner, even though you hadn’t asked them too. I too am surrounded by such a community of women. I study in an all girls college and I’m surrounded by women who display strength everyday in standing up for the values they believe in and fight for what they believe they deserve. I have so much respect for all of them.
I’ve been brought up by a fighter and I look to her in admiration and awe everyday. My mother is my source of strength (and I hope I am hers too), and she inspires me everyday to make something of myself. I have been blessed with parents who’ve inculcated a sense of self worth in my sister and me.
I haven’t been able to articulate everything I wanted to say to you, so this remains an incomplete attempt. But I want to end this letter by telling you my favourite part of the book. It’s a description of Baby Suggs in the Clearing and you write, “She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not imagine it, they would not have it.” I don’t ever want to forget this message of hope and the need to believe in a better tomorrow. So thank you for this and for much more.
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- Days ago = 2560 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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