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G_Writing Class I
Ms. Kate Liu
Book Review
Charity Liu
493206017
2004/11/4
Outline
Thesis Statement: Jan Furman surveys Toni Morrison’s novels and explicits
Morrison’s major responsibilities and keen concerns, focused in her writings, for
humanity, history, identity and community of the contemporary black.
I. Introduction
A. Theme of the book
B. Information about the author
C. The arrangement of the book
II. Summary
A. About Toni Morrison’s career
B. Six novels of Toni Morrison
1. The Bluest Eyes
2. Sula
3. Song of Solomon
4. Tar Baby
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5. Beloved
6. Jazz
C. Conclusion of language and narratives are important in culture and in future.
III. Evaluation
A. Recurrent concerned are focused
B. Morrison’s responsibility of reminding the black identity and examining the
interior lives.
C. Reader’s involvement is welcomed.
IV. Methodology
A. Close analysis on issues with examples in all works
B. Using Toni Morrison’s own quotes and explanations
C. New perspectives for me to learn and see
V. Conclusion
A. The book is informative and instructive.
B. Recurrence of major concerns
C. Characteristics of the book and my recommendation
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Review of Toni Morrison’s Fiction. By Jan Furman. Columbia: University of
South Carolina Press, 1996.
* Book Titles
Toni Morrison’s Fiction, a work of nonfiction(too general), appreciates the Nobel
Prize winner, Toni Morrison’s, works as well as illustrates her major concerns and
responsibilities in her writing career. Its author, Jan Furman, is actively involved in
slavery narrative studies and contemporary Afro-American Literature. She, with
concise language, surveys Morrison’s six novels chronically(spelling), a short story
and a book of criticism in this book to give readers the (article) adequate
understanding of Toni Morrison’s beliefs and thoughts.
Jan Furman brings Toni Morrison’s course of life as a child in Ohio, a young
wife, a single mother, an ardent editor and teacher in the opening chapter delineating
her striving writing career. Sequentially, Furman proffers her accounts of major
themes in Morrison’s novels: The bluest Eyes portrays the “Black Girlhood” and “a
critical gaze at the process and symbols of imprinting self in the childhood”(12). A
false value of beauty makes Pecola a miserable victim of reality. Sula handles with the
“Black Womanhood.” “By excavating an identity […] buried beneath stereotype and
convention is a wrenching endeavor, […] although recasting one’s role in the
community is possible, there is a price to be paid for change”(12). Sula, an
out-of –stereotype black woman, earns her “fight, the metaphor of freedom” and “free
fall” at the cost of her friendship, humanity, and communal attachment. Song of
Solomon, focusing on “Male Consciousness,” elicits the greater value of spiritual,
((Sentence
Constructio
n)
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historical, traditional and cultural coherence than the material success. Tar Baby pays
attention to “Community and Cultural Identity” with the danger of Jadine’s separation
with her cultural past. It reflects the crisis of the black contemporary generations.
Beloved comes forth the “Remembering the ‘Disremembered’” for “only by
remembering the past can there be liberation from its burden”(80). Jazz suggests the
“City Blues.” The New York as a place of dream forgetting “southern origins”(96)
brings with anguish and fading identity. Finally, “Playing in the Dark” explicits a
pre-conclusion of the book for author’s beliefs, interests and criticism engaged in her
writings. In conclusion, Furman uses Morrison’s Nobel Prize lecture and her fable
about a bird and an old man addressing “language as a symbol of culture” and
“narrative, stories, links the past with present and with a future”(113). (An example of
how this ¶ could be made more concise: In the opening chapter delineating Morrison’s
writing career, Jan Furman traces Morrison’s development from being a child in Ohio,
a young wife, a single mother, an ardent editor to being a teacher. Sequentially,
Furman proffers her accounts of the major themes in Morrison’s novels.
First of all,
the “Black Girlhood” of The Bluest Eyes is examined in terms of its process and
symbols, as well as its false social value of beauty to which Pecola falls victim. Sula’s
“Black Womanhood” and her fight against stereotype is then analyzed as “a
wrenching” endeavor at the cost of her friendship, humanity, and communal
attachment.
In Song of Solomon, Furman sees a continued but broader concern with
Afro-American identity in terms of spiritual, historical, traditional and cultural
coherence than the material success. Tar Baby extends this attention to “Community
and Cultural Identity” in contemporary society and has Jadine’s separated with her
cultural past.
Beloved, again addressing the issues of Afro-Americans’ identity in
relation to community and history,
focuses on the importance of “Remembering
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the ‘Disremembered’” history and bodies of slavery. As an urban variation of
Afro-American identity, Jazz, Furman argues, presents how New York city as a place
of dream and forgetting can cause anguish and a fading of one’s identity. Finally, both
in the chapter “Playing in the Dark” and in the conclusion, Furman discusses
Morrison’s literary visions, and her belief that narrative and stories link “the past with
present and with a future”(113).)
(Main idea of this ¶?) Furman emphasizes the recurrent concerns in Toni
Morrison’s writing: the importance of the past, the break from the stereotype, the
communal attachment, the racial, social and cultural identity and “Africanism is
inextricable from the definition of Americannes”(107). (How are these themes
connected logically?) Toni Morrison, as a novelist, has responsible concerns for
reminding(?) the black identity and examining the interior lives(?). Furthermore, she
always leaves spaces in her stories for readers to participate in and interpret actively.
(use active voice here)
Furman applies the methodology of focusing on a theme for each novel and
relating relevant examples from other works under the same author. It’s impressive
the keen concerns of Toni Morrison are corresponded and proved with Toni
Morrison’s own explanations. (?) With the book, I found some of my focuses of
analyzing Afro-American literature are challenged as well as advantageous. The racial
conflicts, though illustrate(?) in the stories, don’t have as much emphasis as I suppose.
Morrison’s novels, with mistreat by whites, are not accusing whites or merely feel the
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fear and terror but care about the internalized lives of people. In Beloved, we are not
to ask why Sethe’s kill her baby but who will do such a thing.(Why not?)
(Transition)Besides, the redemption and rebirth are mostly conveyed at the end of
Toni Morrison’s novels suggesting the hope for future.
Toni Morrison’s Fiction is informative and instructive. The concerns of gender,
community, past, contemporary values and life, humanity and identity are explicated.
Though the book cannot replace the direct appreciation of Morrison’s original novels,
it provides accessible ways for readers to read her works with various perspectives
and focuses. With close analysis and rich notes and supporting quotations from Toni
Morrison, Toni Morrison’s Fiction is greatly recommended.
No critique?
On the next page there is a review for your reference. This one is definitely not
perfect, but there is something to learn about its concise language and usage of quotes.
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Work Cited
Furman, Jan. Toni Morrison’s Fiction. Columbia: U of South Carolina, 1996.