English: Toni Morrison speaking at “A Tribute to Chinua Achebe – 50 Years Anniversary of ‘Things Fall Apart'”. The Town Hall, New York City, February 26th 2008 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dear Toni Morrison:
This communique serves to express my sincere gratitdue for the profound impact that your oeuvre has had on my life. Throughout my undergraduate and graduate training, I have used your works as the focus of my research and writing. My undergraduate and graduate experiences could not have been what they are without the challenges and satisification your works have offered me. I have had the opportunity to produce several publications on your works. Each time that I pick up one of your novels I discover a new detail that I had not discovered in past readings.
I want to thank you for writing The Bluest Eye, the first novel to really take the plight of the young Black girl in fiction seriously. I have written about this novel so many times that I know that my professors are exhausted with my essays about it. Pecola Breedlove’s desire to have the bluest eyes reflects the deep longing that many people have for things that seem unreachable for them. My professors and other reviewers of my reading of the rape scene in the novel have found it to be unsettling. What I have attempted to convey in my reading of the rape scene is it is a moment when Pecola begins to feel for the first time—it was the first time that someone had touched her. Although I know that rape is such horrible and violent act, I think there is a much deeper significance behind the rape than just the horrible act itself. I have argued that the rape evinced for Pecola that she was human—something she never had really realized prior to being raped. Would you mind providing some insights about the rape scene?
Moreover, I would like to know what were your motivations behind penning your latest novel, A Mercy. After reading this novel, it would be really beneficial to gain insights from you about why you elected to set the novel during the epoch you did.
Again, I would like to thank you for your great contributions to American literature and to enhancing the rich tradition of African-American literature in American literature. I eagerly await your response. Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Revolutionary Paideia 