I think Durthy Washington's handout ' Defining Elements of Morrison's Fiction' is much more comprehensive and really useful. I just wanted to briefly touch on the themes mentioned in this piece that get teased out in The Bluest Eye. The third section of 'Unspeakable Things Unspoken' takes a look at the first lines of all the novels that were written up to that point ( Beloved). That idea is crucial for understanding The Bluest Eye. Readers are expected to embrace these stories and settings and styles and perspectives and values as universal, and 'normal,' and that can be very demoralizing for those whose experiences fall outside the realm of what is depicted. You might forget-or not even realize-that they are specific to the middle-class or upper-class white male experience. If all that you've read have been conventional Western texts, and these are all that have been validated as 'good' or 'literary' by being taught in schools, then you might make the assumption that they represent the entire world. He was unfamiliar with and put off by the inclusion of folktales and folksongs within the body of the narrative.

Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn-and one student said, 'This book is just bad.' That's very different from expressing the opinion 'I don't like this book.' When we, as a class, tried to tease out what the student thought made the book 'bad,' it turned out that he was unused to and confused by the nonlinear style. Just last semester I was teaching an American Indian novel-N. This idea of something that's very culturally specific and perhaps gender specific being represented as universal sometimes comes up in my classes. That is also brought up in 'Unspeakable Things Unspoken.' I often use that article as one of the beginning texts when I teach the Toni Morrison course. She still wants to hold your hand, though, take you through the 'bumpy ride,' and make it a welcoming experience. The voice that she's using is unflinching. In that passage she talks about the difficult nature of the topics that she's trying to bring to her readers and how she really wants you to hear them. The most important thing is that вЂ¦ learn something by the end of the book that, but for the book, they never would have learned. Sometimes we live so small-I mean in our imaginations (I donвЂ™t mean in wealth and status) we live small, frightened lives. The stories are funny, sad, odd combinations that reveal the complexity and the profundity and size of human life. This is not going to be an easy trip the journey is going to be bumpy but IвЂ™m gonna tell you the truth and you can hear it because IвЂ™ve already been there, and IвЂ™m holding your hand, and you can go with me, and itвЂ™s going to be alright. The voice is welcoming and doesnвЂ™t blink, and tells you very difficult things, but in a voice that makes it alright to hear. Interviewer: an you put some words to that style and to the stories that youвЂ™re trying to tell? Here's a clip from a 2001 C-SPAN interview with the author. I love hearing Toni Morrison speak, and I love hearing her speak about her work. She was a Conger-Gabel Teaching Professor from 2001-2004. Professor Anatol has lectured on the works of Toni Morrison to high school students, junior high and high school teachers, and delivered papers on MorrisonвЂ™s work at academic conferences. She has published an edited collection Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays (Praeger, 2003), and numerous articles on representations of motherhood in Caribbean womenвЂ™s writing. Her areas of specialization include contemporary Caribbean womenвЂ™s literature, African American literature, and childrenвЂ™s literature. Giselle Liza Anatol is an associate professor of English at the University of Kansas.

The bluest eye audio