Toni Morrison Research Paper

Toni Morrison, born Chloe Anthony Wofford, is an American novelist, editor, literary critic, and professor. Before her birth, her parents, George and Ramah Wofford, moved to the North to escape the problems of southern racism. Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio as the second of four children. Spending her childhood in the Midwest, she read eagerly from the works of Jane Austen to Tolstoy. Morrison's father was a welder who told her folktales of the black community, transferring his African-American heritage to her, which she transferred to her writings later on. She grew up in an integrated neighborhood but her parents ensured that she was aware of racism and its effects by the time she was a teenager (Leondis).

Morrison graduated from Lorain

It recounts the story of an abused young African-American girl who believes that her hardships in life would be better if she had blue eyes and met the criteria defined by white aesthetic ideals of physical attractiveness. She wrote many more books centered around issues with race and gender. One of the reasons she is so important is her refusal to conform to the storytelling norms of having white male protagonists. Her town in Ohio was home to many Southern migrants, like her parents, as well as European immigrants. Her awareness of culture outside of the American white patriarchal norm greatly informed her inspired fiction. Most of her works revolve around black women defining their roles and striving to survive in a male dominated society (Frost). All of her characters were black, making her a key figure for black readers. Susan R. Bowers describes her significance, “Morrison’s most revolutionary and most defining act was writing for black readers about black people. This singular and courageous act challenged white hegemony and simultaneously credited the complexity and originality of African American life by working within its intricate and real system of meaning, language, and