Responsibility of the Artist in The Bluest Eye, Faith in a Tree, and Conversion of the Jews
Toni Morrison, in her work, Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation, voices her opinion about the responsibility of the artist and proclaims that art should be political. I would like to examine Grace Paley and Phillip Roth's short stories and Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye. Each of these works can be considered political, and I believe they fit Morrison's idea of what literary fiction should be.
In both Paley and Roth's work, strongly political themes emerge. Paley's short story, "Faith in a Tree", deals with the Vietnam war and Roth's short story, "Conversion of the Jews", treats religious and moral questions in a public setting. Neither Paley nor Roth state that art must be political, or that it is the responsibility of the artist to create political work. Their work as illustrated in the short stories above, however, is decidedly political in nature as is Morrison's work as exemplified in her novel, The Bluest Eye.
Morrison's definition of the responsibility of an artist is limiting in terms of what sort of art is good and worthwhile.
" 'I am not interested in indulging myself in some private,
closed exercise of my imagination that fulfils only the
obligation of my personal dreams--which is to say yes, the
work must be political....It seems to me that the best art
is political and you ought to be able to make it unquestionably
political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time.' "
(Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation)
Here, Morrison not only states that political art is better than art which is simply beautiful, but also implies that it is the responsibility of the artist to create art whic...
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...rison's definition of art say about more speculative works, such as As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, or J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey? These works don't directly address any major political themes, so they are automatic lesser on the Morrison scale simply because they don't defend an ideal which isn't accepted by a majority of the public.
Although Morrison's, The Bluest Eye, was an incredible book in many respects, I must ultimately disagree strongly with her views on what art should be and the responsibility of the artist. To adopt Morrison's ideals would be to disvalue entire artistic movements and many important works and artists, without regard to their other merits.
Works Cited
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye, New York, Penguin Books Ltd, 1994.
Paley, Grace. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, USA, Harper C.Collins Canada Ltd. 1995.
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Religion and Its Effect on Stephen in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
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