Morrison On Race

Race is like God. They were both created to generate a sense of security. In the interview with Charlie Rose, Morrison describes racial hierarchy as a "fantasy." She continues to affirm people permit race to exist because "it is safer to feel superior," and I totally agree. The only way to feel you're worth something is for there to be someone worse to compare to. It's kind of a logic issue: if there has to be light for there to be darkness, there has to be "inferior" for there to be "superior."

When Charlie Rose asks Morrison about Bacon's rebellion and it's importance, She describes it as "a kind of people's army that got together to overthrow the government." "The interesting thing," she says, "were the laws that were established after [...] because what they said was, any white can kill any black for any reason. So that poor whites, indentured whites, have a reason to have contempt and feel superior to the blacks." Racial division, Morrison adds, became "the theme of the states." In other words, race was created the moment when superiority became a skin color issue.

Morrison barely mentions Song of Salomon in the interview but the racial divison theme is present throughout her whole novel. In the beginning of the book, when the Dead family are out on their Sunday rides, Lena doubts whether black people could afford to have a summer house. Although the reasons why black people can't buy summer houses are economical, the fact that Lena believes no black can afford one implies that all blacks are poor, thus supporting the statement that blacks are inferior to whites. During the course of the novel, Guitar makes big deal about how Milkman, although a "negro," lives both the white and black life. The white life Guitar talks about consists of nice parties in Honore, a red haired girlfriend, and a house in Not Doctor Street. It is represented as the rich life, again implying that blacks are worst off just for being blacks.

But race is a two way street. White's who believe they're superior to blacks because of their skin color are racist. Blacks who hate whites for being white are racist as well. They're all fools, fighting for something that doesn't exist.

"Soft Fried Egg"

The anecdote I am about to tell and the topic I am going to discuss have one thing in common: Eggs.

Two eggs to be specific. One was fried, the other wasn't. You want to know why this egg never had the chance to turn it's dark-transparent slime into crispy white yolk surrounding? The answer is colors. You see, eggs tend to be very simple when it comes to colors. Ask anyone how many colors an egg has and they'll most likely say two. The reason why the un-fried egg ended up in the siphon is because it had one more color than it's supposed to.

Mom was at work and she had asked us to make dinner. Due to talent and time restrictions, I decided to make a basic tortilla española. Crack the first egg, crack the second egg, whoa. What the hell? Is that? No, no, no, no, no. There's an extra color in my egg! And that extra color is dark red. And red inside an egg can only mean one thing: blood. And blood can only mean: fetus. And fetus means that that egg I was just about to feed my sister and I was fertilized. More than that, it was in the process of becoming a chicken. I've kept a dead chicken inside an egg in my fridge for who knows how long. I refuse to eat eggs now. Eggs bother me.

There are actually a lot of reasons why eggs would bother someone, I've learned. Guitar for example, dislikes "soft fried eggs" because they look like white people. He actually has a thing against eggs in general because " a negro ain't never been no egg" (p.115). Actually, Guitar only hates eggs when a negro claims to be one. You might think this is absurd, but Guitar's got a point here: "Eggs is difficult, complicated. Fragile too. And white" (p.116). I find those very valid reasons for a "negro" not to be an egg. But there's something that doesn't make sense in all this Guitar. When Macon says he's a "soft fried egg" you get pissed off. But you've called him Milkman all your life, and as long as I know milk is white. So how come this doesn't bother you? I'll tell you why. You're not mad at Macon comparing himself to an egg. You used that to make a point you've been wanting to make for a very long time. Macon's not as poor as the rest of you "black folks." He's a wannabe white with that beach house and that ginger girlfriend. And while he's having the time of his life in that limbo between "Not Doctor Street" and "Southside," there are blacks being killed by whites. Milkman's ashamed of being black. That's why he said he was a "soft fried egg" and not a "crow" or a "baboon." He's one of those "racial Negroes," that's why you're mad at him. You more than anyone know it's not about milk or eggs. It's about what's going on in the real world. All people want are white things. "White eggs," "white tea bags," "white lifestyles." Bunch of racists huh?

Mock, Mock, Mock And A Little Bit Of Irony

I have to admit that until high school, I took literature for granted. I thought novels were just imagination on paper. As it turns out, they're much more than that. Throughout these years we've read some really dense texts which I truly believe (let's hope Mr. Durrance never reads this) are actually more complex than physics. At first, it was hard to grasp every significant detail the author threw at you. Mr. Tangen would show us something and I'd seriously doubt whether the author had really done it on purpose. As my bookshelf started growing, I realized I was making conclusions I wouldn't have made five years before.

If you had 8th grade Laura read Song of Salomon, and then asked her what her first impression of the novel was, she'd say something like: "I thought the book was cool because I had never read a book that began with a suicide."

I wouldn't say 8th grade Laura was wrong. It is a "cool" book after all. But her comment was definitely shallow. There's much more to this novel than just a suicide beginning. In her Foreword, Morrison states that the sentence "The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance agent promised to fly from Mercy to the other side of Lake Superior at 3:00" was "designed to mock a journalistic style." This sentence doesn't stand alone. Throughout her novel, this unlike-Austen female author implements irony in order to mock certain aspects of society.

An easy one to catch appears on page four, where the narrator is explaining the whole Doctor, Not Doctor Street fuss. The first colored doctor happened to live and die on "Mains Avenue." Due to this, the street acquired the common name of "Doctor Street." It wasn't long before people changed their address to "Doctor Street" and send mail to this same place. However, "the city legislators, whose concern for appropriate names and the maintenance of the city's landmarks was the principal part of their political life, saw to it that "Doctor Street" was never used in any official capacity." For all of you greedy politicians who focus mainly on insignificant details like street names and ignore real problems like starvation and violence, you're being laughed at. Thumbs up to that.

But don't worry, you're not alone. It wasn't long enough before Morrison picked a next victim: jobs and roles in society. In chapter one, the author lets us know Macon Dead owned and rented houses. However, she confesses he owned mostly "shacks" and only four "real houses." His "office", or what he thought of as his office, was and would always be remembered as "Sonny's Shop." Macon had painted the word "OFFICE" on the door but hadn't bothered to scrape the last owner's name off since "he couldn't scrape it off anybody's mind" (p. 17). I don't know how you feel about this, but to me, this sounds like an awful job. Nevertheless, Mr. Dead loved to show off that dreamy lifestyle wanted by so many other colored folks.

The last aspect I'm going to discuss, and probably the most recurrent, is family. Morrison mocks that happy family image which we're expected to follow through the greatly disturbed Dead family. I'd like to start off with Macon Jr. and his mom's fishy relationship. The story behind "Milkman" says it all. The second thing to highlight is the lack of love and excess of hate that exists in this family. Whenever Macon thought of his wife, his emotions were "coated with disgust" (p.16). He had wanted a son for fifteen years, but once he did, he felt bitter about it. Ruth and Macon's daughters, Magdalene and Corinthias didn't seem to have a healthy relationship with their mother. When Macon Jr. stopped his father from hitting his mom, his sisters looked at him with hatred. And even though it is more than obvious that this family is dysfunctional, they insist on taking rides on Sunday afternoons. They drive around, looking at lake houses, pretending everything between them is all right, showing others what they want to see: a family that spends "quality time" together.

The suicide was an innovating way to start the novel but Morrison's mocking abilities and overdose of irony were exceptional ways of causing a first impression.

In His Shoes

I had the strangest dream the other night. I was on a ship for one minute but then I wasn't. You know how weird dreams can be... Anyways, I can't really remember where I was or who I was with, all I can recall is that there were three pairs of shoes on the floor. I tried the closest pair on. As I was tying my right shoe, I looked up and realized I was in an unknown place. I did, however recognize a few faces. Where had I seen them, I began to wonder. That's when it hit me. I knew them from my History textbook! I stood up and everything seemed smaller than I imagined. I was Abraham Lincoln. "Are you all-right Mr. President?," I heard someone ask. I nodded and sat down. Instantly, something changed and I was no longer conscious of the soul change I had just experienced. It felt like I had been the sixteenth president of the United States all my life. I remember saying "fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," and actually believing it. I was aware of slavery and wanted to fight against it, but I knew that first, I had to get the Union back together. Then I don't remember exactly how it happened but for some reason I started trying another pair of shoes on. My beard was gone, but I was still tall. I was more built than before actually. "Those inferiors serve no purpose!" I heard myself saying. It is now that I realize how awful that makes me seem. But when I said it it seemed totally fine. I really did see myself as superior. I looked at all those natives and thanked God I had been born in Europe. Suddenly my body started rocking from one side to the other. I looked at my feet and had the third pair of shoes on. I was on that ship again, the one from the beginning. Some men were surrounding me and I was telling a story. I was talking about how misguided the task of civilizing natives is. I thought it was wrong not because it was unmoral, but because I found it useless. I never thought those savages could learn anything and therefore found it to be a hopeless project. I woke up with The Heart of Darkness resting on my chest. I began to think about the different existing perspectives on colonization and equality. Sounds like blog material, I thought.

Yes, We Live In Trees.

Sometimes people say stupid things. I never thought I would say this but it’s not their fault. I blame imperialism for their stupidity. Imperialism is the reason why people write Colombia with a “U” and ask if we live on rainforests. Once people are taught they are superior, it is hard for them to realize they are not the only ones who live in cities and eat McDonalds.

We see a similar thing happening in The Heart of Darkness, where Marlow compares his experience in Africa to traveling back to "prehistoric earth." For some time, he has to travel with cannibals. Surprised, he remarks: "And, after all, they did not eat each other before my face" (PDF). For your information Mr. Marlow, and all of you out there who think cannibals eat each other, they don't. If they did, then they wouldn't live in groups. Otherwise, they would always be in danger and it would just be stupid. People seem to live without thinking. Marlow thinks the native people in Africa are prehistoric because imperialism has taught him so. This is a statement he has never questioned. Thankfully, in The Heart of Darkness, the cannibals prove to remain calm and obedient in times of struggle while the pilgrims, on the other hand react violently. Through the ironic behavior of these two groups of humans, Conrad criticizes how hypocritical and poorly sustained imperialism ideas can be. How’s that for “prehistoric”?

Equals?

In The Heart of Darkness, an obscure side of European colonization is exposed. One of the most shocking occurrences that are seen throughout the novel is the mistreatment of humans towards other humans. This is not the first time we read about human's cruel treatments. As a matter of fact, this topic has been present through most of history. It's interesting to see the variety of opinions on the subject. Those who believe all men are created equal, may have had ancestors who thought they were superior to other human beings. There are those who still believe their skin color reflects their status, and men who still hold women responsible for the sex of their child. Biology however, insinuates another reality which eliminates the validity of these affirmations.

Many texts focus on the equality of men. The Declaration of Independence, where Thomas Jefferson so expressively writes: "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," is the most evident example. Nevertheless, it's hard to acclaim this renowned piece of work when it's author wrote one thing but lived another, praised liberty but owned slaves. The idea of human equality is very romantic but also highly unrealistic.

Life is a competition and our main purpose is to survive. No, we are not born equal. We do not have the same skin or eye or hair colors. Some are smart, some are athletic, some are both, unfortunate ones are neither. We aren't born with the same opportunities or beliefs. If we were, then who would survive and who wouldn't?

Jefferson's utopic ideals can't explain this. Biology, on the other hand can. In fact, biology not only explains human inequality. It also turns the story upside down. The "superior" ones slide down the status triangle and those "inferior" human beings now find themselves on top.

Let's begin with the typical example: light colored people are superior to dark skinned individuals. Most History textbooks are full with stories where Europeans colonized and killed Native American tribes. American history beholds slavery as the perfect example. It was okay to exterminate a whole population because they were inferior right? In comes biology with a different story at hand. Dr. Susan C. Taylor, a Harvard-trained physician speaks about the advantages of having a darker skin color. "Our skin is made up of three distinct layers: the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutaneous layer. The only visible layer, the epidermis, is composed mainly of keratinocytes-cells that provide a protective barrier to the skin." The epidermis also contains cells that produce melanin, the pigment which gives skin color. The more melanin you have in your skin, the darker tone you have. "Our melanin has many significant health as well as beauty benefits," Taylor adds. Some of these include a natural protection from the sun, less risks of skin cancer and guarding the skin from long term damage associated with aging like wrinkles and age spots. So according to biology, not only are dark skinned people are less common to suffer from the harmful effects of the sun, they preserve their young complexion for a longer time as well.

Another common belief proved wrong by biology has to do with women being responsible for the sex of their child. All those men who mistreated, killed or left their wives for having baby girls instead of boys have no one to blame but themselves. Humans have two sex chromosomes represented by the letters X and Y. Women have two X chromosomes and men have one X and one Y chromosome. When a man and a women produce an offspring, each one gives one of his/her chromosomes to the baby. Since women's two chromosomes are the same, they will always contribute an X. It is therefore on the male's hands whether or not the child is a male or a female.

Even if you don't consider one race being superior to another, or hold females or males responsible for a particular event, you should question yourself if everything you believe in can be supported by some sort of evidence. It's easy to create stereotypes and easier yet to believe in them. Once you do, the words you say about certain subjects stop being your own.

Romanticism In The Heart Of Darkness

In times of darkness, when cruel colonizations are taking place and humans are constantly mistreated and depicted as inferior, nature shines a light of hope.

The Heart of Darkness is without a doubt very obscure. But the nature descriptions provided in the novel give it a hint of romanticism and make all the darkness bearable. "The sea and sky welded together without a joint" (PDF) is probably one of my favorite. Another good one: "The day was ending in a serenity of still and exquisite brilliance. The sky without a speck was a benign inmensity of unstained light" (PDF). It's interesting to see how in the novel, nature is many times related to "light" while human doings are often accompanied by "darkness". It gives the impression that nature is trying to fight against evil acts driven by imperialism.