My American Author Research Project by Elizabeth Bruening

Thesis

ebruen1487 — 2024-02-29 01:35:01 UTC

Toni Morrison's famous works, The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved support the American Dream because her novels demonstrate how with sacrifice and perseverance, you have the ability to achieve whatever you desire. Her novels also explore the racial inequalities and hardships in our nation that African American's faced.

Beloved

ebruen1487 — 2024-02-29 13:40:34 UTC

Toni Morrison's historical fiction novel, Beloved, supports the American Dream by examining the impact of slavery in America and the enduring hardships faced by African Americans. She writes "Denver began to see what she was saying and not just to hear it herself - walking through the dark woods to get to her children who are far away. She is tired, scared maybe, and maybe even lost. Most of all, she is by herself and inside her is another baby she has to think about too. Behind her dogs, perhaps; guns probably; and certainly mossy teeth. She is not afraid of the night of the night because she is the color of it, but in the day every sound is a shot and or a tracker's quiet step." The narrative explores the atrocities of slavery and the struggles faced by the characters, offering insights into the resilience and perseverance required to overcome adversity and pursue a better life, therefore aligning with the elements of the American Dream.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Beloved/ppfYf0K6fcoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA9&printsec=frontcover

The Bluest Eye

ebruen1487 — 2024-02-29 13:45:25 UTC

Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye, supports the American dream because it relates to the social standards of beauty and perfection among African American women. She writes in the perspective of a young black girl and states, “I only had one desire: to disember it. To see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability, that had escaped me, but apparently only me. Adults, older girls, shop, magazines, newspapers, window signs- all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured.” She writes this to talk about the stereotypes and standards of women in America and the inequality among female African Americans. Therefore, Toni Morrison writes The Bluest Eye to convey her support of the American Dream by writing about ideal beauty social standards.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Bluest_Eye/y8g1EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA20&printsec=frontcover&dq=slave

Sula

ebruen1487 — 2024-02-29 13:45:44 UTC

Toni Morrison’s realistic fiction novel, Sula, demonstrates her support of the American Dream by targeting the idea of the book towards racism in a large society. Morrison states in her novel, “Exhausted, his feet clotted with pain, he sat down at the subside to take off his shoes… The nurse had tied them into a double knot, the way one does for children, and Shadrock,... could not get them loose. He fought a rising hysteria that was not merely anxiety to free his aching feet; his very life depended on the release of the knots… He cried soundless at the curbside of a small Midwestern town wondering where the window was, and the river, and the soft voices just ordered the door… By the time the police drove up, Shadrock was suffering from a blinding headache, which was not abated by the comfort he felt when the policeman pulled his hands away from what he thought was a permanently entanglement with his shoelaces. They took him to jail, booked him for vagrancy and intoxication, and locked him in a cell.” She writes this in order to convey the oppression of African Americans and the inequality in America's society. In conclusion, Morrison’s realistic fiction novel displays her support of the American Dream by explaining how African Americans are affected by racism in a vast society.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sula/ozQcu_ADXiAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA4&printsec=frontcover

Song of Solomon

ebruen1487 — 2024-02-29 13:47:43 UTC

Toni Morrison's novel, Song of Solomon, demonstrates her support for the American Dream by telling a coming-of-age story that explores the impact of racism and identity in America. Morrison states “See? See what you can do? Never mind you can’t tell one letter from another, never mind you born a slave, never mind you lose your name, never mind your daddy dead, never mind nothing. Here, this here, is what a man can do if he puts his mind to it and his back in it. Stop sniveling,’ the land said. ‘Stop picking around the edges of the world. Take advantage, and if you can’t take advantage, take disadvantage. We live here. On this planet, in this nation, in this county right here. Nowhere else! We got a home in this rock, don’t you see! Nobody starving in my home; nobody crying in my home, and if I got a home you got one too! Grab it. Grab this land! Take it, hold it, my brothers, make it, my brothers, shake it, squeeze it, turn it, twist it, beat it, kick it, kiss it, whip it, stomp it, dig it, plow it, seed it, reap it, rent it, buy it, sell it, own it, build it, multiply it, and pass it on – can you hear me? Pass it on!” She writes this in order to explain the inequalities and unfair racial injustices that African Americans experience in our nation. In conclusion, Toni Morrison's novel illustrates her support of the American Dream by exploring the racial injustices and identity in America.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Song_of_Solomon/RxkWfF2s7EUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover

Works Cited

ebruen1487 — 2024-02-29 18:03:39 UTC

ebruen1487 — 2024-03-01 01:14:21 UTC