Jazz: Pain, and Healing

By Kayla W.

Toni Morrison, Pulitzer prize winner and Nobel Laureate for literature, is by no means obscure or uncelebrated. However, that doesn't mean her works, most notably Jazz, don't have a special, almost secret, glow to it.

Jazz is a period piece, set in the heart of 1920s Harlem. It delves into the lives of Violet and Joe Trace, and the girl he killed that he was having an affair with. With their minds fractured, the narrative swims through both the present and the past of them and those around them, both explaining how they got to where they are, and how to move on from it.

After finishing the unexpectedly short read, I stopped, and sat in contemplation. At least compared to Beloved, it was not severely heart wrenching or totally satisfying story-wise. However, I found myself thinking not only about the beautiful prose and delicate structure, but overcome with some deep emotion, of what must have been from the impact of the characters. I came to the conclusion: Toni Morrison's works are not what you read for entertainment. They are what you read in order to feel, to grasp at love and humanity, and to reach into yourself. Like the novel's characters, it allows you to approach your own past so that you can connect with the present, and see with new eyes. Particularly with Jazz, her writing can strike pain. But just as gracefully, it radiates spirit, and the power to heal.

Jazz, by Toni Morrison, published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1992, 229 pages.