"Do they still call it infatuation? That magic ax that chops away the world in one blow, leaving only the couple standing there trembling? Whatever they call it, it leaps over anything, takes the biggest chair, the largest slice, rules the ground wherever it walks, from a mansion to a swamp, and its selfishness is its beauty.... People with no imagination feed it with sex -- the clown of love. They don't know the real kinds, the better kinds, where losses are cut and everybody benefits. It takes a certain intelligence to love like that -- softly, without props."
Love by Toni Morrison

For more quotes go to: http://www.notable-quotes.com/m/morrison_toni.html

Nobel Prize in Literature

Toni Morrison was the first black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. She is recognized on the Distinguished Women of the Past and Present page.

To get more background on her childhood and her accomplishments go to:
http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/morrison.html

Discussion Questions

1. Why did the author choose Love as the title? How is the book about Love? What kinds of Love affect and afflict its characters? How can love be seen through the novel?

2. L claims she needs "something better" than an "old folks' tale to draw on... Like a story that shows how brazen women can take a good man down," (p. 10). Is this about love? Is Cosey brought down by brazen women? Would L think he was?

3. "But he knew who it was. It was the real Romen who had sabotaged the newly chiseled, dangerous one," (p. 49). Where is Romen torn between lust and compassion? What does he finally decide?

4. How does Mr. Cosey "contradict history"? What history is contradicted?

5. Why is family often considered a source of misery? Is this relatable in real life or other novels?

6. What hurts the friendship between Heed and Christine? How are they able to reconcile at the end of the novel?

7. What is the relationship between Mr. Cosey and Celestial, the prostitute? Why would he think of leaving everything to her?

8. Christine tells Heed, "…it's like we started out being sold, got free of it, then sold ourselves to the highest bidder." Heed says, "Who you mean 'we'? Black people? Women? You mean me and you?" (p. 185) Who do you think she means?

9. Morrison describes "police-heads" as "dirty things with big hats who shoot up out of the ocean to harm loose women and eat disobedient children" (5). What are these "police-heads"? Do they have a literal or symbolic meaning, or both?

10. Elaborate on the relationship that Christine's description of home as "a familiar place, that when you left, kept changing behind your back" (86) has with the novel's overall themes of change.

Fun Facts according to Barnes and Nobel

Chloe Anthony Wofford chose to publish her first novel under the name Toni Morrison because she believed that Toni was easier to pronounce than Chloe. Morrison later regretted assuming the nom de plume.

In 1986, the first production of Morrison's sole play Dreaming Emmett was staged. The play was based on the story of Emmett Till, a black teen murdered by racists in 1955.

Morrison's prestigious status is not limited to her revered novels or her multitude of awards. She also holds a chair at Princeton University.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Context: In Morrison's Own Words

In an article from a Princeton University publication, Morrison describes the influence of the Civil Rights Movement and other inspirations for Love. "I was always interested in efforts people make to thrive, to survive and to relate to one another," she says. Of the Civil Rights Movement in particular, she notes: "Even though I describe all of this as the paramount thing, it isn't. That is the background story. The people, the characters, are consequences of other people's actions as well as their own history." As such, the novel was meant to investigate African American culture before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement.

Morrison calls love a "mediating factor" in her novel, and says that love "eludes or drives or confuses or even destroys and, sometimes, enables the characters. Equally important, it is indeed the most empty, clichéd word in the language besides 'nice.' At the same time, it is the most powerful of human emotions and one of the few things that distinguishes us from other kinds of life on earth – the ability to love something or even search for love."

http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/03/q4/1022-morrison.htm
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Bibliography

http://www.amazon.com/Love-TONI-MORRISON/dp/B0007IN2W8/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205720909&sr=1-1

http://barnesandnobel.com/

http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/morrison.html

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1993/morrison-bio.html

http://www.notable-quotes.com/m/morrison_toni.html

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E7D91430F932A05753C1A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=toni+morrison+love&st=nyt

http://thebestreviews.com/review17623

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-77828276.html

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http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/2F55/post-mod-attrib.html

http://webdoc.gwdg.de/edoc/ia/eese/artic27/schaller/2_2007.html

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