It has been quite some time since he last read a literary novel. He couldn't pretend that he wasn't deeply perturbed by the world portrayed by Morrison's words.
The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison... It is an achingly beautiful yet damning story. The plot revolves around an unloved, abused black girl who wants blue eyes just so that she can be seen and loved. She wants not just blue eyes, but the bluest eyes.
The white shopkeeper dare not touch the girl. Her mother's first thought upon seeing her, on the day of her birth, was how ugly she was. Every little hurt inflicted on the girl's frail soul is individually bearable but, collectively, the ache, it is simply too much for her to handle. She, in all naivety, equated blue eyes with admiration and love. Eventually, she got her blue eyes. She went crazy after being repeatedly raped by her dad and imagined herself to have not just blue eyes - but the bluest eyes.
Waiting for Barbarians, by J M Coetzee, condemns the intrusive, colonial forces. He has flinched after reading the first twelve pages of this book, put it down and decided not to touch the book for a good long time. For one night, he tossed and turned, sleeping only fitfully. By page twelve, the plot was centered around the torture of a little Native boy - by stabbing him slightly but repeatedly and maliciously in his stomach and groin.
Why must art be ugly? Is it a reflection of the world gone awry?
There's this part of him that wishes fairy tales are true, that fairy tales are still occuring within the modern world. There's also this childlike - childish? - part of him that wishes everyone would live happily ever after.
The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison... It is an achingly beautiful yet damning story. The plot revolves around an unloved, abused black girl who wants blue eyes just so that she can be seen and loved. She wants not just blue eyes, but the bluest eyes.
The white shopkeeper dare not touch the girl. Her mother's first thought upon seeing her, on the day of her birth, was how ugly she was. Every little hurt inflicted on the girl's frail soul is individually bearable but, collectively, the ache, it is simply too much for her to handle. She, in all naivety, equated blue eyes with admiration and love. Eventually, she got her blue eyes. She went crazy after being repeatedly raped by her dad and imagined herself to have not just blue eyes - but the bluest eyes.
Waiting for Barbarians, by J M Coetzee, condemns the intrusive, colonial forces. He has flinched after reading the first twelve pages of this book, put it down and decided not to touch the book for a good long time. For one night, he tossed and turned, sleeping only fitfully. By page twelve, the plot was centered around the torture of a little Native boy - by stabbing him slightly but repeatedly and maliciously in his stomach and groin.
Why must art be ugly? Is it a reflection of the world gone awry?
There's this part of him that wishes fairy tales are true, that fairy tales are still occuring within the modern world. There's also this childlike - childish? - part of him that wishes everyone would live happily ever after.
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