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Symbols

Symbols can prove to be highly effective when it comes to literature. Toni Morrison is highly symbolic in her works, and she uses symbols generously to convey meanings that add more depth to her novels. Morrison is generally contingent on symbols and makes them fairly obvious for the reader to detect. She picks a symbol, or many, and threads it throughout the entire novel, which creates countless connections, and sometimes her novels share the same—or similar—symbols as well. This can be exemplified through three of Morrison’s works: Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, and Jazz, wherein characters’ names, the respective titles, and key objects play highly symbolic roles. By providing deeper examination of these novels, it will be clear the immense importance of symbols in Morrison’s literature.

One creative way in which Toni Morrison makes use of symbols is through her choice of character names, which reigns true in all of her novels. For example, in Song of Solomon, she gives several characters names with a biblical reference—like Pilate, Solomon, Reba, Hagar, and Ruth—to give those characters more depth and connect them to a well-known figure. Morrison also gives characters deliberate names that parallel their personalities. Such can be seen in The Bluest Eye with the character Soaphead Church: “Church” refers to the fact that he was possibly a former “guest preacher” and “Soaphead” refers to not only his personality, which is “intricate, symmetrical, balanced, and tightly constructed” (The Bluest Eye 166), but also implies the fact that he needs to “wash” his brain of the dirty thoughts he has of little girls. Yet another way Morrison takes advantage of the power of names is by altering the name to change its meaning, such as in Jazz. In this novel, the character Violet is introduced as having good intentions and is considered more as a “flower,” but as the plot thickens, she becomes known as “the woman people call ‘Violent’…because she had tried to kill what lay in a coffin” (Jazz 79). Clearly, Morrison demonstrates the importance of symbols by creating great meaning through the use simple use of a name.

― Toni Morrison, Jazz. Like “this is the it you've been looking for” ― Toni Morrison, Jazz. Jazz is a novel by Toni Morrison that was first published in 1992.

Another way that Morrison creates meaningful literature is through her effective use of her novels’ titles. For each of her works, she makes sure to choose an appropriate title that symbolizes some aspect of the novel, and she then heavily weaves that symbol into her writing. In Song of Solomon, the title is derived from the Bible and serves as the first of many biblical references, all of which hold great significance and symbolism to the overall plot. Also, Solomon was the great-grandfather of the novel’s protagonist Milkman Dead, and the “song” that the title implies is a song about Solomon leaving his family, a song which plays a crucial role in Milkman’s quest to find his heritage: “Solomon done fly…Solomon gone home” (Song of Solomon 303). Similarly, the title The Bluest Eye also has great significance in that novel. Pecola Breedlove, a little African American girl, finds her appearance repulsive and, therefore, wants to be like what has always been presented to her as “better”: white skin and, namely, blue eyes. This results in the rejection of her own brown eyes and self image. Thus, eyes are constantly mentioned throughout the novel to reinforce the idea that these thoughts are always on Pecola’s mind. Another example of a symbolic title is shown through the role of music in Jazz. This novel is set in 1926, a time when the popularity of jazz music soared. Music is woven into Jazz in many different ways: sometimes it conveys the moods or feeling of various characters, sometimes it is used to set the scene, and sometimes it serves as a reminder of African American culture. Morrison obviously put much thought into the titles she chose for her works, and they added significance and complexity to each plot.

Jazz Toni Morrison Sparknotes

Some of Morrison’s main symbols are simple objects, and she relies heavily on these symbols to express inner-meaning; thus she incorporates them often to remind the reader of their significance. For instance, there are many occasions in Song of Solomon when Lena and Corinthians are associated with artificial roses, which symbolize the pathetic and sad lives they are forced to lead due to their social class and family situation: “[they are] unfit for any work other than the making of red velvet roses” (Song of Solomon 187). Thus, instead of explaining these circumstances every time the girls appear, Morrison simply replaces that by mentioning the artificial roses, and all is implied. Yet another example of Morrison’s use of objects appears in The Bluest Eye when Claudia MacTeer receives a white, blue-eyed baby doll for Christmas. The doll represents the fact that society puts the “perfect” appearance of whites on a pedestal, and this nine year-old black girl, Claudia, is beginning to learn how to deal with ideals such as this. In addition, in her novel Jazz, Morrison uses different types of birds to symbolize separate meanings. For example, Violet has a caged parrot that says “I love you,” and there is significance in her action of releasing it, and there are also red-wing birds that represent freedom in a different context. Of course, there are several other objects that Morrison emphasizes, and it is all of these objects that communicate the deeper meanings of her texts.

Toni Morrison

Undoubtedly Morrison has mastered the ability to effectively use symbols in her writing. Through aspects such as character names, titles of her novels, and important objects, she has found a way to insert symbolic meaning into even the smallest amount of words. It takes a good author to explain the elements of his or her work, but it takes a great author to write abstractly and leave the reader thinking about what it all meant.