This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“The beginning begins with the
shoes. When a child I am never able to
abide being barefoot and always beg for shoes, anybody’s shoes, even on the
hottest days. My mother, a minha mãe, is
frowning, is angry at what she says are my prettify ways. Only bad women wear high heels.” – Toni
Morrison, Page 9
“When that “people’s war” lost its hopes to the hangman, the
work it had done – which included the slaughter of opposing tribes and running
the Carolinas off their land – spawned a thicket of new laws authorizing chaos
in defense of order. By eliminating
manumission, gatherings, travel and bearing arms for black people only; by
granting license to any white to kill any black for any reason; by compensating
owners for a slave’s maiming or death, they separated and protected all whites
from all others forever. Any social ease
between gentry and laborers, forged before and during that rebellion, crumbled
beneath a hammer wielded in the interests of the gentry’s profits.” – Toni
Morrison, Page 14-15
“The soft fingers fumbled for the absent haft. Jacob raised his eyes to D’Ortega’s, noticing the cowardice of unarmed gentry confronted with a commoner. Out here in wilderness dependent on paid guards nowhere in sight this Sunday. He felt like laughing. Where else but in this disorganized world would such an encounter be possible? Where else could rank tremble before courage? Jacob turned away, letting his exposed, unarmed back convey his scorn. It was a curious moment. Along with his contempt, he felt a wave of exhilaration.” – Toni Morrison, Page 26
Is This An Overview?
For those who do not want to properly compensate others for
their efforts, tyranny is applied.
Tyrants appear to have wealth and status, but are terrible people. Terrible people who are dependent on those
who they oppress. They cannot fight nor
are efficient workers. But the oppressed
have little choice but to submit. Laws
made to justify keeping a people oppressed.
This is an era when the oppressed can be murdered or sold without any
recourse. The oppressed need the
political protection that tyrants provide.
How do people survive?
Caveats?
The book can be difficult to read. The writing style has the benefit of putting
the reader into how people of the era would have thought about the events that
were transpiring. The consequent of the
writing style is making the content appear to be a stream of unfiltered
thoughts, which can cause the content to appear confusing.
