Today we celebrate the birth of a legend, a superwoman, a fighter and a Nobel laureate.

Did you know that Toni Morrison wrote her first novel, getting up every morning at 4 am to write, while raising two children on her own? 

She described her first work, The Bluest Eye, as “history, sociology, folklore, nightmare and music”, depicting the dark side of humanity through the power of narrative.

If storytelling isn’t enough to change the world, it can at least open our eyes. In her books, fiction takes us to the cruel reality of the marginalized, the stigmatized, the despised, and the hungry for justice. Yet Morrison’s storytelling has the potential of making you thrive, appreciate freedom, and cherish life more than ever. 

“At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.”

– Toni Morrison

In her Nobel lecture, Toni Morrison honored the art of storytelling and paid tribute to “the voices that bespeak civilizations gone and yet to be”.

“I entered this hall pleasantly haunted by those who have entered it before me. That company of Laureates is both daunting and welcoming, for among its lists are names of persons whose work has made whole worlds available to me. The sweep and specificity of their art have sometimes broken my heart with the courage and clarity of its vision. The astonishing brilliance with which they practiced their craft has challenged and nurtured my own.”

Like most of the experienced storytellers, Morrison insists on the importance of narrative through metaphors.

A group of young people approach a blind, old, African-American woman and ask her if the bird in their hands is living or dead. “I don’t know”, she says, “whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that it is in your hands. It is in your hands.” 

Morrison chooses to interpret the bird as a language and the woman as a writer. She is worried about the survival of the language which is her most important tool. Language is susceptible to death, and young people are expected to nourish it and keep it alive. It’s hard not to link this story to the cultural genocide and racial prejudice that Morrison herself experienced.  

Morrison uses the voice of the young people to answer more existential questions through the metaphor of the bird:

“You trivialize us and trivialize the bird that is not in our hands. Is there no context for our lives? No song, no literature, no poem full of vitamins, no history connected to experience that you can pass along to help us start strong? Think of our lives and tell us your particularized world. Make up a story. Narrative is radical, creating us at the very moment it is being created.  […] Passion is never enough; neither is skill. But try. For our sake and yours forget your name in the street; tell us what the world has been to you in the dark places and in the light. Don’t tell us what to believe, what to fear. Show us belief’s wide skirt and the stitch that unravels fear’s caul.”

Morrison is a true inspiration to people who want to write, but don’t know where to start.

Toni Morrison proved that fiction and reality do mix. Humans were made to tell stories. Language was meant to “protect us from the scariness of things with no names”. 

Ultimately, Morrison’s stories allowed her to raise her voice and defend human dignity.

“I wrote the first book because I wanted to read it. I thought that kind of book, with that subject—those most vulnerable, most undescribed, not taken seriously little black girls—had never existed seriously in literature. No one had ever written about them except as props. Since I couldn’t find a book that did that, I thought, ‘Well, I’ll write it and then I’ll read it.’ It was really the reading impulse that got me into the writing thing.
– NEA Arts Magazine, 2014

The perks of living in the 21st century: you can hear Toni Morrison’s Nobel Lecture on YouTube. 😍

Now that you’ve read the entire article, I have a little handcrafted gift, especially for you!
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