The Contradicty Nature Of City Life In Jazz By Toni Morrison

Jazz, written by Toni Morrison, explores several themes related to the ways in which space is given individual meaning. One theme that is important, in my opinion, is the notion of the contradictory nature of city life. I intend to argue that within Jazz, Toni Morrison represents the city as a promised land that gives new meaning to life but, also as a place devoid of a real meaningful existence. The opposing heads of city life can be understood by examining the meaning city life has taken within the lives of characters Joe and Violet.

Prior to coming to the city, Joe and Violet could be characterized as: inseparable, wild-eyed love birds looking for a better way of living. The narrator describes how the couple travelled to the city by train using every bump along the track as an opportunity to share a dance. The narrator also notes that 20 years after arriving to the city, Joe and Violet were still a couple, if only in definition (36). The narrator goes on to describe how the city changes people and things:

But I have seen the city do an unbelievable sky. Redcaps and dining-car attendants who wouldn’t think of moving out of the city sometimes go on at great length about country skies they have seen from the windows of trains. But there is nothing to beat what a city can make of a night sky. It can empty itself of surface….go deep, starless (35).

In these lines, Morrison compares the changing relationship of the characters, Joe and Violet, to the changing landscapes. The beauty of the countryside is lost as the cityscape fades the stars away; it was as if Violet would unknowingly leave behind everything she loved as she left the countryside for a life that would become, ironically, as empty as the city sky.

The ways in which the...

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...ting to the North for better opportunities. These individuals may have envisioned the city as a promise land while not acknowledging the drawbacks of leaving a life of familiarity and migrating to a land that offered new challenges. In a sense, migrating to the city turned Joe and Violet into different people. When Violet freed her birds, she lost her self and replaced it with a acculturated version that would become hardened by the citylife. Meanwhile, Joe’s view of the city would continue to be one that is highly romanticized as he continuously reminisces about the city (Dorcas) and how promising things could be. In conclusion, Jazz represents the complex experiences of African American migrates who travelled north in hopes of a promise land and instead found a double-headed city that would bring promises to some and new challenges to others.