LITR 5731: Seminar in
American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake,
fall 2001
Student Research Project
Jennifer Thurik
LITR 5731: Seminar in American Minority Literature
Fall 2001
Magical
Realism in Minority Literature
as defined by Morrison and Anaya
Minority literature is a class that I have been waiting to take at UHCL.
Because I am an English teacher, getting the students to read is difficult,
regardless of their race; however, by finding texts which speak about their
experiences, I can encourage them to read something that they normally would not
have access to. Because of my Hispanic heritage and the predominance of Hispanic
and African American students I teach, I wanted to research those issues that I
would more likely come in contact with. Keeping that in mind, I began the
reading for this class and was astonished at Toni Morrison’s talent. I had
never read nor seen any of her stories. I knew she would be good, but I didn’t
realize I would enjoy Song of Solomon as much as I did. I loved the power
of women in that book and the fact that they were very mystical. Morrison’s
use of mysticism and magic reminded me of the term magical realism that
my UIL Literary Criticism Team utilized when we had to review the book Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Although on a literary level, the two
cannot compare in power, they can compare in appeal and level of enjoyment.
As I was trying to decide what approach to
take in compiling this assignment, I decided to use the journal option because
it would allow me the greatest deal of freedom in exploring the use of magical
realism present in Latin literature and its transfer to African literature.
Because most of the information on magical realism is apparent in Hispanic
literature, I will focus on African literature and Toni Morrison specifically.
The use of the internet will be a strong ally in my journey through magical
realism as I browse several sites. Several books will assist me in my
understanding of magical realism in Latin American literature and the applicable
qualities when transferred to African American literature. Morrison’s
background itself will shed light into the creation of her Solomon story,
especially when I look at what was occurring at the time she was writing.
Magical realism is able to transcend cultures, genders, ethnicities, and
cultures. The availability of this information will help me understand, teach,
and learn how the oral tradition carries itself through time.
I.
Website Reviews
I had to begin my journey somewhere, so I started at the Internet. By
starting here, I could simply gather information about all aspects of magical
realism present in literature. While browsing the web for information on magical
realism, I found a large concentration of explanations from Latin American
literature, specifically Gabriel Garcia Marquez. To enlighten my learning, I
found the most beautiful site. It is located at http://artcon.rutgers.edu/artists/magicrealism/magic.html
and is absolutely gorgeous as well as informative. The home page opens with a
beautiful title of Magic Realism. As you scroll down the page, you encounter
several pieces of information from the origin and definition of magic realism to
photographs of Latin American cultural images. These pictures help visitors
glimpse into the culture of Latin America and the images associated with it. One
picture that is particularly interesting is an American man pulling Christ
through a courtroom in handcuffs. There was no explanation about the picture,
but I thought there might be an interesting connection to people’s lack of
understanding the foundations of magical realism and those who don’t
understand the mysteries of Christ. That could be reaching though.
After gathering information about what magical realism is, where it
began, and browsing through the various pictures, the visitor gets to the bottom
of the page which holds a very ornate card with an intricate web of gold
surrounding mirror images of a woman’s head. Underneath the picture are the
words "realismo magico." Clicking on the image of the card, the reader
is taken to another page with the same title, only it is now in Spanish. At the
bottom of this link are five beautiful tarot-type cards with the Spanish words
for definition, origin, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Alejo Carpentier, and Latin
America. Unfortunately, clicking on those sites gets you to explanations in
Spanish. However, I believe the information is the same as the opening page that
was in English because some of the pictures on the Spanish page were the same as
on the English page. Regardless, the pictures on the page are worth a look into
this site. Although they are not works of art, they are a great way to get into
the Latin world of Magical Realism.
The above website concerned itself with only Latin American images;
however, magical realism functions in several cultures of literature. In further
searches, I located a website which explained a corresponding book that a friend
had given me. It is called Magical Realism: Theory, History, and Community
by Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. The website is located at http://www.uta.edu/english/wbfaris/MagicalRealism.html.
This website is an outline of their book, complete with unit outlines and
summaries of the book. The website begins with a definition and the purpose of
writing the book. It also goes into details about the authors which are
contained within its pages. There are also several quotes from university
professors who praise the work that these two women did in editing this text.
There are few links to other sites from this home page. At the bottom of
the page is a link to Wendy B. Faris’ home page. Here she lists her position
and responsibilities within the University of Texas system. Several links exist
here that take the reader to other points of interest in her research. This
website had little to do with the link that took me there, but it was
interesting to see what one of the editors of the book and website was
interested in. Wendy Faris is the web master at this site. If you look at the
address, her name is within it. Later in my research journal, I will explore the
book in greater detail as the information contained within it is very valuable
to me in my exploration of magical realism in minority literature.
When doing web searches, I always use Jeeves to help me find what I’m
looking for; however, I really felt like there was more quality information
available to assist me in my search than what I was finding, so I went to
MSN.com to find the answer. The site I found is the most incredible site I’ve
looked at. It’s updated very frequently by Evelyn Leeper who is a traveler and
lover of science fiction and reading. She writes travelogues and science fiction
convention reports. She also gives book reviews over the books that she reads.
This site is located at http://geocities.com/Athens/4824/magreal.htm
and it asks the question is magical realism just another term for fantasy?
Following that question are the responses from various readers. This might be a
good reference for you (Dr. White) to see how someone else posts responses. The
questions listed seem to deal with what magical realism really is from the point
of view of those who are interested in it. One bad thing about this site is you
don’t really know who the respondents are and what their background is, so I
will be careful when reading to keep out false information.
Having said that, in her Perspectives link, one reader creates a new term
called "Fabulation" which explores the question of whether the world
can be seen or told. I thought that was pretty interesting. It’s very
user-friendly because the page is quite long and there are links at the top to
jump you to various points of interest. At the end of the page are some really
great links to other sites to get further information about magical realism or
specific authors. She also has books that are good examples of magical realism
listed alphabetically by author. I can assume that she has decided these are
good texts in addition to the first respondent on that page who also gives a
list of books which he thinks are good examples of magical realism.
While exploring one link, I discovered her
home page, which is where she lists her articles that she has written, awards
she has won, and books she’s reviewed. Also included on this page are links to
her other web pages. She maintains and updates each page every month or so. I
like this quality in web pages so that the visitor can be assured the
information is up to date. Evelyn says she is a teacher; however, I did not see
any evidence of this fact. I’m not sure I can trust her information though
because she has been published in magazines such as MT VOID and has been given
an award for Best Fan Writing; though I may be expressing my ignorance, I would
take the word of a writer who was published in more main-streamed sources. I’m
not sure where her credentials stem from. This fact though would not deter me
from exploring her page because she does not exclusively maintain the links she
provides through her pages. I found this site to be extremely helpful in
gathering additional information for my exploration into the realm of magical
realism.
II.
Book Review
Zamora, Lois, and Wendy Faris, eds.
Magical Realism: Theory, History, and Community. Duke University Press:
London, 1995.
Magical realism did not just invent itself.
It was a trend beginning and occurring throughout the 1920’s and 1940’s. The
popularity of Harry Potter has revived this form of narration in the new
millennium. Millions of children are waiting in fantastically long lines when a
new series in released. This push to reading will only help magical realism
become a genre of its own. The key to magic realism is that at its heart, it
attempts to look at real life occurrences in an unusual or magical way. This is
very appealing to an audience with short attention spans and an inclination for
video games and television. However, as stated before, this trend did not invent
itself. Franz Roh first coined this term in 1925 as he was trying to come up
with a new term to describe a group of Post-Expressionist painters who were
deviating from the civil and restrained manner of the Expressionist tradition.
Although originally applied to only art, the transfer to literature became a
staple in Latin American literature. The magic realist narrator creates the
illusion of "unreality" where reality becomes magical to all except
the characters themselves who normally do not seem surprised at these strange
events.
One theory behind the reason that Latin
America adopted this magical form of narration stems from the European
colonizers who encountered strange beings and sights when entering Latin
America. When writing about this strange new country, a belief that there was a
supernatural interpretation of Latin America developed. After Roh coined the
term in 1925, Alejo Carpentier realized in 1949 that there was no need to search
foreign countries to find examples of the supernatural because everything needed
to tell the story was already present in his culture. He identified the
uniqueness of Latin America by referring to a single characteristic which he
called "lo real maravilloso americano" -on the marvelous real in
America. His theory was that a writer could look at ordinary daily events and
witness something that was extraordinary. Because Latin culture is built upon an
oral tradition and the strength of extended family, both traits which lend
themselves readily to glorious stories told over generations, it becomes easy
and more interesting to apply mystical explanations. Sudden illnesses or cures
needed a reason behind them. Elders’ knowledge about history and the
supernatural was sought out to help bring about cures. Magical realism takes
everyday occurrences and sees the innate goodness and beauty within them, at
which point, the writer is able to draw upon the knowledge based from their
culture to create stories which embrace magical realistic trends. Even when
goodness is not available, the battle between deciding what is evil and what is
not is part of the draw to this form of literature. This text offers numerous
essays that support various points of magical realism. It also introduces
criticism from some of the best authors around. It was very helpful when
compiling my information on magical realism; though it was heavy information to
sift through to find what I was looking for. Parts of it get very wordy and
irrelevant to researchers looking for specific subject material.
Minority literature encompasses aspects of
magical realism, regardless of the actual ethnicity of the writers. Even though
most of the research shows this narrative form to be Latin in origin, the oral
and extended family traditions that are present in Latin American cultures also
exist in African American cultures. When African Americans were stolen from
their homes and sold into slavery, many were illiterate and most were
uneducated. This lack of education separates them from other cultures but ties
them together as one. They based their lives on speaking of their past and
combining and integrating other slaves into their family. This combination of
different people allowed their stories and beliefs to emerge and unite. When
Africans began writing literature, it was nearly impossible to separate their
literary stories from the magical elements present in their culture. The flying
African is a story that is repeated in African American literature. The book When
Africans Fly tells of the many stories, folktales, and myths gathered from
Africans. The number of stories about them flying away from oppression and
danger are numerous. These stories were undoubtedly formed by slaves who dreamed
of leaving their horrid lives. Images and messages of successful escapes only
encouraged the telling of such stories. Morrison knows of these myths and
integrates one into her story Song of Solomon.
III.
Morrison Background
Napierkowski, Marie Rose, and Debrah Stanley,
eds. Novels for Students. Vol. 8. Gale Group: Detroit, 2000.
One author who is a master at integrating
magical elements to common occurrences is Toni Morrison. She was born in 1931
and christened Chloe Anthony Wofford. She grew up with a close-knit family
during the Great Depression. She was part of a mass migration of southern Blacks
to the urban North. As she recalls her childhood, Morrison remembers it being
centered on the supernatural. She graduated from Howard University and received
her master’s degree from Cornell. She has taught at Texas Southern University,
Yale, and Howard University as well as being a chair at Princeton. She married
and had two sons; however, her writing career did not begin until after her
divorce as she began working as an editor for Random House. Her first novels
were The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Song of Solomon. Though each
one was well received, it was Solomon that established her as a major
American writer. She later published Tar Baby and Beloved, which
won her a Pulitzer Prize in 1988. Paradise is her most recent
publication. She was the first African American woman to win the Nobel Peace
Prize in literature. Several of her novels gained additional notoriety when they
were selected to be part of Oprah’s Book Club. Beloved was also made
into a motion picture when Oprah Winfrey bought the rights to it. These events
led to Morrison being highly regarded as a literary entity in America.
IV.
Post-World War I America and its effects on African Americans
Napierkowski, Marie Rose, and Deborah
Stanley, eds. Novels for Students. Vol. 8. Gale Group: Detroit,
2000.
Even though Solomon is set during the 50’s and 60’s, much of
the action results from events that happened at the turn of the century. The
Great Migration involved millions of Blacks living in the South who headed for
the North to find work, freedom, and acceptance. Morrison herself was part of
this movement when she was younger and her father moved them from their home. In
Solomon, she allows the reader to see the Migration of the Deads, Guitar
leaving the South after his father died, and the assumption that many residents
were not original inhabitants; this view is conducive to the integration of her
life into her literature. Morrison also explores this migration through the loss
of a traditional culture. For the Deads, Macon disowns and seemingly forgets the
extended family that he grew up with, which was a traditional experience among
blacks.
After the Great Migration, many blacks enlisted into the armed forces to
help fight for democracy during World War I as an attempt to elevate their
status in society. They thought that when they returned home, they would be
accepted by the dominate culture; unfortunately, the Ku Klux Klan gained
incredible power and violence against blacks was escalated. However, the war and
the unfairness that blacks felt upon its conclusion made them fight more than
they had in the past. They fought with fists and with activism. Many historians
say that the period following World War I was instrumental in the birth of the
modern-day Civil Rights Movement.
This is evident in Solomon when Guitar and Milkman hear the report
of the young black man who was lynched because he whistled at a white woman.
This event was a catalyst for the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the NAACP were working the system to get changes
implemented. Though they were gaining ground, the bombing of the Alabama church
which killed four young girls would prove to inflate the idea that freedom and
equality for blacks would never be achieved. Many of the non-violent movement
members disregarded that premise and became radicals within the Civil Rights
Movement. This sentiment is echoed by Guitar when he becomes a member of the
Seven Days and his violence grows more acute and misdirected after the young
girls are killed.
V.
Morrison’s Criticism
Napierkowski, Marie Rose, and Deborah
Stanley, eds. Novels for Students. Vol. 8. Gale Group: Detroit,
2000.
Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. Plume:
New York, 1977.
Many of Morrison’s novels have a strong
concentration of the supernatural, myth, or magical realism elements within
them. Song of Solomon is no exception. Her dilemma surfaces as she
struggles to make ordinary events appeal to people who do not identify with her
characters’ background or experiences, so she turns to the supernatural to
achieve that. Morrison’s skill is that she does not overload her story with
these images of pure fantasy, instead, Morrison succeeds in making one black
man’s struggle for identity universal by using mysticism to show man’s
constant search for reassurance in myths. People need to believe in myths to
explain human behavior, origins, destiny, and culture. Man has turned to
mysticism to explain the inexplicable. Magic and mysticism have traditionally
been accepted as traits in primitive societies; however, our sophistication
cannot prevent our including myths as more than a form of entertainment. Even if
we don’t look at myths as reality, we still believe in gods and heroes to
exist in our lives on a symbolic level to help us solve conflicts. Morrison
understands this and instead of creating a new world, she fuses the African
American myth with the cultural and religious Christian worlds and blends them
into the natural, supernatural, and historical reality to convince her readers
that her world is real. She even uses the basic human story of a man on a quest
to control her narrative structure- a story that exists in all cultures and
families.
In creating this narrative utilizing magical
realism, Morrison inserts a character named Pilate who is instrumental in taking
on the role of a significant influence in the birth of a mythical hero. A young
hero is usually born after a long period of barrenness where deceit is used to
conceive the child and the delivery of the child hero. Ruth Dead has not been
touched by her husband Macon for fifteen years, so she seeks the help of Pilate.
Pilate uses a love potion on Macon which results in the pregnancy and birth of
Milkman. Pilate is significant in keeping the unborn child safe due to the
hostility Macon shows towards his wife and new son. Involving Pilate in this way
at the time of the conception and birth of a child encourages and enables
readers to embrace the use of magical realism. Without the supernatural
involvement, the story would cease to exist because the mythical hero would not
have been born.
In the second stage of a mythological hero,
the hero must create order and bring understanding out of complete chaos. From
childhood, Milkman has known of no history of family. This dwells within his
soul and causes him to react without thought. He strikes his father for abusing
his mother, he breaks up with his lover and cousin of 15 years, he rejects
parental authority, family ties, and love, and he thinks constantly of escape.
He gets his chance when he tries to steal the gold which his Aunt Pilate and his
father stumbled across in a cave. It is this escape which allows him to discover
and accept his history and his family, and ultimately, to the final battle that
he has already won. Like other mythical heroes, Milkman must look into his past,
his people’s past, and his family’s past before he can go on with his
future.
Perhaps the most dominate myth in this story
is that of a song which Milkman hears children sing. As he listens to the
children as they are singing, he pieces his family history together; the song
begins to make sense. He realizes that the children are singing "about his
own people." This song is solely based on the myth of a slave who had many
children and failed in taking them with his as he flew away to freedom. That
slave was Milkman’s great-grandfather; the baby that was dropped was
Milkman’s grandfather. The mythical song is about his people. The song becomes
a celebration of a family’s and, by extension, a people’s past. Upon this
realization, "He was as eager and happy as he had ever been in his
life." Even the end of the story is mystical because like Beowulf’s death
and Achilles’ fall, Milkman has to face, within himself, the demons of
despair; he survives and is stronger because of it. When Milkman leaps towards
the antagonist Guitar, he has already fought and won the battle.
VI.
Conclusion
Magical Realism is a dominate force in
minority literature. It seems to me that the reason behind that assumption is
the majority culture does not take time to discover their histories and sit to
exchange stories with their family members. We are too concerned with getting
ahead and going faster than everyone else. One thought though, would I find
minority literature less interesting if it told stories I already knew? This
becomes an important question when dealing with why minority literature is
becoming popular. Is it strictly because Oprah Winfrey decided she needed
another spin on her show? I’m not sure. I do believe that reading minority
literature lends me to a greater understanding of a culture that is somewhat
unfamiliar. I have learned that magical realism is becoming mainstream. Harry
Potter is a prime example. As the UIL Literary Criticism coach, I was shocked
that Rowling’s book was the novel to be read that year. At the time, there
were only two books out and not much criticism about it; however, looking at
Rowling’s background and at mythology, folktales, fairy tales, and Biblical
passages, her story is full of references to magical realism- perhaps in its
truest form. The point of magical realism is to make everyday activities like
going to school special, but believable. That’s what I learned through my
journey on the path of magical realism. Its purpose is to allow the reader to
escape from the daily grind of normal happenings, yet not overdo the magic to
where it no longer makes the events believable. Although Roh coined this term in
1925 and it was revived later in the 40’s, more attention seems to be paid to
this narrative form than ever before. Maybe that’s incorrect though because
until last year as the UIL coach, I didn’t know what magical realism was, now,
it fascinates me.
The information available today is vast as
seen from the three websites and it is concentrated into Latin American genres,
though I think it works better in the African realm because they seem to have
much more depth as a culture. In fact, Morrison takes her childhood experiences
of the supernatural into her stories in addition to including modern day issues
like Civil Rights. Combining these images together really helps focus the reader
on the Magic and the Realism in the texts.
As a teacher, I can really use this
information to enlighten my students. The Hispanic culture is the biggest group
in my classroom. By bringing in poems and stories about their experiences, I can
really focus on getting them to read because they would be reading about
themselves. In my teaching, I will concentrate more on bringing in minority
writers and minority texts to appeal to all students. I will make sure I
personally have enough knowledge and background to answer their questions or
point them in the right direction. As a student, I will look for elements of
magic realism and mysticism in texts not written by minority writers to see what
is really out there. I will take some authors like Morrison, Anaya, Cisneros,
and Sapphire and seek out other texts by these people. I chose these authors
because those were my favorite books in the class.
In the future, I really want to discover more
information about the oral culture of minorities and how that is fed into their
stories and the origin of those myths and tales. I think it would be really
fascinating to trace a story back to its beginning. Obviously slaves did not fly
away from their prisons, so what happened to start that story. It would also be
neat to have my students share their family stories and see if they can’t
trace that back. Researching one’s genealogy is fascinating and maybe I could
open the door to some real growing experiences. I would also like to be more
open to homosexual literature and the problems they face on a daily basis.