The Compass Wednesday, October 21, 1992 9
Winning hand
enjoy a gTro^cards while walling lor their class to start
in Johnson Hall. From the looks of things, Gibbs is holding the winning hand.
Morrison spins a turbulent love story in Jazz
By Sarah Beth Workman They both believe the dty is magical, dead girl, ar>d tries to find out all about half I see looking faces and it's noteas
... ... -11 « frr»m Vior aiini- Mrs Alirp ManfnpH tpll whirh arp nponlp anH whirVi are
"fazz" by Toni Monison. Published by
Alfred Knq>^, New York, 1992.229 Pages
Toni Morrison's novel Jazz is a love
story dealing with complex human emo
tions in the black urban life of the 1920s.
]azz tells the complex and violent story of
Joe and Violet Trace, who are hud>and
and wife, and Dorcas, Joe's lover.
Violet first meets Joe one night while
sleeping under a tree, after working hard
all day in the cotton fields. Sulking be
cause she has been slower than the other
women at picking cotton, she is trying to
decide whether she should go back to her
home town, when a man falls out of the
trce above her head and lands beside her.
This launches the beginning of a long,
turbulent relationship. Violet chose Joe
because she felt that if he fell out of the
sky,hewashers. 'ITi^courtforawhile,g^
^^^srried, and d^de to move to city.
They both believe the dty is magical,
and that they will have a good life there.
Joe becomes a door-to-door salesman for
Qeopatra beauty products. Violet be
comes a hairdresser but never gets her
license. She goes to people's houses or
they come to hers when th^ want their
hair done.
Joe and Violet Trace never have chil
dren, and they slowly beconne stuck in
the ruts of everyday life. By the time Joe
reaches his fifties, he feels he needs some
exdtenr«nt in his life, so he picks 18 year
old Dorcas to be his lover. During this
time Violet daydreamsa lot and hasa few
mental problems. She is content to talk to
her birds and escape into her reveries.
After several nvonthsofbeing his lover,
Dorcas is shot by Joe Trace. Violet then
finds out about her husband having a
lover, and in a fit of jealousy and rage,
attacks Dorcus' corpse with a knife at th«
funeral.,,, , . ,
Violet then becom^ obsessed with the
dead gjri, ar>d tries to find out all about
her from her aunt, Mrs. Alice Manfred.
Joe becomes withdrawn and does noth
ing but cry and look out the window.
They then meet Dorcas' friend, Felice,
and befriend her. Thenarratorseesthisas
a way for them to deal with their feelings
about Dorcas.
Toni Morrison nx)ves this story in and
outof the present, past,and future, switch
ing voices and, at times, tenses. Through
flashbacks and foreshadowing, Morrison
is able to tell this love story allowing the
reader to feel involved in the interactions
of the characters.
Joe Trace is a believable character and
what happens to him could happen in
today's world. It is often an everyday
occurerKetohearhowsomeoneshottheir
lover because they wanted to end the
relationship.
Toni Morrison is good at description.
She ,vyrites,_ '^Daylight sl^ts like a razor
cutting the buildings in half. In the top
half I see looking faces and it's not easy to
tell which are people, and which are the
work of stonemasons. Below are shad
ows where any blase' thing takes place:
clarinets and lovemaking, fists and the
voices of sorrowful women." Her de
scriptions often have a dreamlike, hallu
cinogenic quality. The mention of "sor
rowful women" is often one of Toni
Morrison's themes; she writes about the
hardships women have in life. This can
be seen in the character of Violet Trace.
Although this book is quick reading
and the characters are engaging,
Morrison's use of an anonymous narra
tor to tell much of the story is confusing.
Due to her reliaiKe on this technique, it is
often hard to imderstand where the story
is going and who is telling the story. Her
narration of the stoiy gets in the way of
the story. Therefore, Jazz might not be the
best book to introduce a new reader to
Mpn:i^n,authorpf^he.vyid^ly.accla^uved,
Song of Solomon, and Bdoved.