The book opens with Florens telling her story from the beginning of her memory: "A confession, if you like." It ends with the answers to her longing, the full explanation for her life. Toni Morrison writes again about slavery and motherhood, about those events that call us into life and force us into death. She creates distinctive voices for each of the three enslaved girls, Florens, Lina, and Sorrow, that express the depth of humanity within each. The unconventional usage she chooses for Florens, especially, compels us to hear her story as urgently as she tells it. Florens is haunted by her story, and by bringing it to us, she is haunting us with it as well.
Florens is African, Lina is American Indian, and Sorrow is Caucasian. Each has her story, each her past, each a longing for friendship, motherhood, or daughterhood that drives her more deeply into herself. Only as others come into their lives are these longings known and fulfilled. Toni Morrison writes about the institution of slavery in the 1600's in North America, but by her choice of ethnicity for her characters and by the extension of their suffering, we recognize that slavery is more than a problem relating to a single race. We see that slavery binds a spirit, and freedom transcends bondage.
In theme and style, this book feels more like Paradise than Beloved, but in A Mercy Morrison's depictions of violations of humanity are not so detailed nor so soul-ripping. When I read Beloved, I thought my shredded heart would never be the same, and I was right. Paradise moved such horrors into other settings, making them more ordinary and therefore more terrifying. A Mercy brings us more gently into the story, and allows us to read ourselves there.
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