Some Unexpected but Conspicuous Shortcomings in Toni Morrison’s Last Novel

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.4332

Keywords:

Toni Morrison, God Help the Child, narrative form, shortcomings, child abuse, color consciousness

Abstract

In the last five decades, Toni Morrison’s fiction has covered such intricate topics as the impact of the past on the present, the damage produced on bodies and minds by different types of abuses, and the power and perils of small communities. She revisits some of those themes in her last novel, "God Help the Child" (2015), but this time zooms in more closely on the topics of child abuse and colorism – an internal racism of blacks against those with darker skin shades. "God Help the Child" proves innovative because the story is set in presentday fictional California, where the rate of child molestation – especially against black children – is just overwhelming. This article intends to show that, despite Morrison’s audacious narrative form and storytelling skills, there are some evident shortcomings in the structure and characterization of the novel that are not to be found in her earlier works.

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Author Biography

Aitor Ibarrola-Armendariz, Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao

Aitor Ibarrola-Armendariz is Associate Professor in the Modern Languages and Basque Studies Department of the University of Deusto, Bilbao, where he teaches courses in ethnic relations, diversity management, academic writing and film adaptation. He has published articles [in Atlantis, IJES, ABC Studies, Miscelánea, REN, etc.] and edited volumes [Fiction and Ethnicity (1995), Entre dos mundos (2004), Migrations in a Global Context (2007), On the Move (2016)] on minority and immigrant narratives and processes of cultural hybridisation. He has been the Director of the MA Programme in Migrations and Social Cohesion (2010-14) and Head of Department (2012-15) in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.

References

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Published

22-12-2021

How to Cite

Ibarrola-Armendariz, A. (2021). Some Unexpected but Conspicuous Shortcomings in Toni Morrison’s Last Novel. Journal of English Studies, 19, 123–142. https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.4332

Issue

Vol. 19 (2021)

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Articles

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