Toni Morrison Reclaiming the dead girl in Toni Morrison’s Jazz

Basic Information African American writer Born Chloe Anthony Wofford, 1931 Did not start writing for real until divorced Needed to claim the “dead girl” inside Has 9 novels published 1993 Nobel prize in literature for Beloved Issues: Political, historical, racial, postcolonial, women – how women displace themselves

“And so it looked as though the world was going by and I was not in that world. I used to live in this world, I mean really live in it. I knew it. I used to belong here. And at some point I didn’t belong here anymore. I was somebody’s parent, somebody’s this, somebody’s that, but there was no me in the world. And I was looking for that dead girl and I thought I might talk about that dead girl, if for no other reason than to have it, somewhere in the world, in a drawer […] I was everybody [her characters]. And as I began to do it […] I fell in love with myself. I reclaimed myself and the world” (Morrison 1985).

The Trilogy Wrote a trilogy, Beloved, Jazz and Paradise Theme: Love Morrison was inspired by stories, articles and pictures Main focus now: Jazz Period: 1873 – 1926 – where Beloved leaves off Love theme: Romantic love

Jazz Nature versus the City (New York, Harlem) Narrator Violet and Joe Trace, Dorcas Violet’s “cracks” -Violet and that Violet Golden Grey - black and white Generations of motherless mothers & daughters

Jazz Destruction and healing -triangle Slavery – aftermath A connection between Beloved and Wild? My take on Jazz: Postcolonial with focus on identity or loss of identity, the female experience Reclaiming history/past

Jazz Encourages the reader to participate –to read and re-read the story – to reclaim the past of every African American Healing power of old and familiar love Violet reclaiming the dead girl inside

Thank you! Any questions?