Renaissance in Harlem City in the Viewpoint of Toni Morrison’s Jazz Essay

Jazz, a young by Toni Morrison, is a chronicle of the lives and struggles of the Afri sack Ameri toilettes during the Harlem metempsychosis in the linked States. The raw begins with an African-American community in Harlem New York in the year 1926. What wees it a credible commentary on that specific hitch in the business relationship of the United States and that of the African-American batch is the natural description of the causation of the glittering metropolis (Morrison 1992) of Harlem, the setting of the novel.Not and was the description dead-on(prenominal) and vivid in accordance to the diachronic account of Harlem Renaissance al whiz just about importantly it has force a novel that encodes the bearing of disembodied spirit of e genuinely African- American during the said diachronic period. In the novel, the metropolis has constantly been very important in the trifleation of the Black community, not lone(prenominal) as a urban center within the city mer ely the very essence of Black existence during the 1920s. The historical backdrop of this novel is the 1920s United States better known as the Age of Prosperity for most Americans because of the end of the First World War.Americans lead a clean way of living that is unbosom from German Imperialism. After the war, the African American soldiers looked in front for their license but never had one. nevertheless after slavery was abolished, African Americans cool off have to live on in cotton and sugar scold plantations. During this period, about 90% of the African Americans in the South were suffering and they viewed the due north as a specify of dignity, opportunity, and freedom. This period paved way to The heavy(p) Migration where African- Americans migrated from south to north en masse particularly Harlem, New York.Even when they confronted an other(a) kind of racism in their new community, they roughlyhow guide a better and more decent life. The rise of the Harlem Rena issance heralds a paradise that is discrimination-safe for the African- Americans. The Harlem Renaissance as Depicted by Harlem City in Jazz As stated earlier, the city has become the sole dick of the novel in making its account of the historical period vivid and interesting. The city represents many different aspects of the African-American life which makes this novel a credible account of the African-American life during the Harlem Renaissance.By using the Harlem City as the setting of the novel, it makes the novel more grounded to the historical period where it is establish from. This essay will examine the importance of the City in the exploitation of the novel as well as its effects to the readers indication of it. Our freshman account of the city is found in Chapter 1 of the novel. In the words of an omniscient narrator A city similar this one makes me ambitiousness t totally and feel in on things. Hep. Its the bright steel rocking above the shade below that does it.Wh en I looked everywhere strips of immature grass lining the river, at church steeples and into the cream-and-copper halls of the apartment buildings, Im strong. Alone, yes, but top-notched and indestructiblelike this City in 1926 when all wars argon over and there will be another one. The people down there atomic number 18 clever about that. At last, at last, everythings ahead. The A&P hires a colored work. bragging(a) legged woman with pink kitty tongues roll money into green tubes for later on then they laugh and put their arms or so apiece other. I like the way the City makes people sound off they can do what they want and get away with it.I try them all over the place wealthy whites and plain ones too, pile into mansions alter and redecorated by black women richer than they atomic number 18, and both argon pleased with the spectacle of the other (Morrison 1992). The first blame suggests that the narrator sees this city as different and unique among the cities that he has been as suggested by the article a. This city, he contends, makes him pipe hallucination striking things and actually keep in touch with it. Basing on the backdrop of the novel, the Harlem Renaissance has brought about changes in the lives of the African- Americans.The Harlem City in particular has become a new haven for the African-American migrants from the South to find a new and better life that is free of all the oppression and discrimination that they experienced. This dream is not specified by the narrator. However, I see dreaming (whether tall, big, or small) as something that is treasured by the African- Americans for provided in this city that they were subject to dream whatever dreams they have for themselves as an individual and as a group of people. To be able to dream is already a dream come true for the African- Americans who sought for another world for cultural actualization and egotism identity.Though the dream was not specified, it can be deduce d that this dream is that of the freedom to actually dream. Moreover, it is freedom to live in a place where they can be who they are. The second sentence further speaks of the African- Americans newfound life. The narrator speaks of the city as the reason of his strength. This presupposes the fact that the narrator felt that he was weak prior to his arrival in the city. In placing the novel into the historical backdrop of Harlem Renaissance, African- Americans especially in the South were treated as inferiors in relation to the Whites.They were seen as weak and a lesser class of universe by the Whites. Furthermore, they were reduced to slavery as if brandishing them that role as their only role in America. However, as the pass come along suggests, this inferiority and weakness has been replaced by pride and strength. As a matter of fact, not only was the city a haven where discrimination and oppression among the African- Americans were inexistent, it has withal become a place whe re they can dwell and live like normal Americans as suggested by an employment of an African- American woman as a clerk in A&P.The role of slaves as a uninspired job of African- Americans is already eradicated in the city. As a matter of fact, Blacks and Whites are in the city devoid of any differences and were living harmoniously with each other as suggested by the last sentence of the passage the Whites and the Blacks are pleased to just accomplish their roles (richer Black women decorating the houses of the Whites). The words top-notched and indestructible in the third sentence suggests the confidence that the African- Americans gain in living in Harlem.They see it as the end of their struggle for equality and the end of every possibility of oppression. As told by the narrator, even when he is alone he felt that the city is with him. Because of this, both of them (the city and the narrator) feel indestructible. The city has become a sanctuary for African- Americans from all t he oppression and discrimination. If we look back in history, the Harlem has been the place where most of the African- Americans from the south migrated for they found the city as a place of greener pastures.They find Harlem City as a place where they can start new lives and celebrate their unique cultural identities. Lastly, the fourth sentence sums up the real feeling and sensibilities of the narrator and the African- Americans in general on living in the City. The narrator says that the people are really happy not only with the end of the war and the struggles but also of their newfound freedom in the city. The phrase at last suggests that this happiness and freedom have unceasingly been yearned by African- Americans.They finally experienced the happiness that they perpetually sought for in Harlem City. In this sense, the city has become an embodiment of an liberate African- Americans from their battle for equality. The Harlem Renaissance has always been considered as the spir itual coming of age of the Black community where African-Americans were able to foster group recognition and self determination. The Element of Setting in Historical Fiction The difference amidst settings and events that are establish on historical facts and those based on the resource of the author is mainly objectivity.Events in a historical manufacturing are always patterned in real and hard facts of history. While other elements of the story such as characters and plots might be different, there would always be a cast from which the author will based his or her settings, characters, and plots. It is not a requisite that the whole set of facts should be accurately depicted such as writing histories, it is already enough that the facts are presented accurately to serve the purpose of a historical backdrop for the outgrowth of a work of art such as fiction.Historical novel need not lie in the historical worlds they create but in the relationship between the world and the chief actors. Historical novels can be meticulous in depicting the larger contexts of an era mend creating either the chief actors in that world or giving them undocumented thoughts and actions (Berkhofer et al 1997). In the novel, Morrison patterned the event to that of the Harlem Renaissance. From the beginning of The Great Migration as illustrated by most of the major characters moving from the South to the North.Moreover, it is also apparent(a) in the passage cited above that the narrator is new to the place which indicates that he is a migrant. He sees the place as something different and strange which suggests that he is new in the place. However, there is no indication that the characters were patterned into some particular historical figure. But it is apparent that even though there were no particular persons involved in the development of the characters, they are still patterned towards possibilities and tendencies of the people that lived in that particular era, that is, Afri can- Americans during the Renaissance.The sensibilities and actions of the characters are always influenced by the happenings and the circumstances of the times. For instance, the narrators attitude and feeling towards the city is a typical African- American reaction to a place that has brought freedom to their community. On one hand, events and settings that are based on the imagination of the author are highly subjective. They are basically unrestrained and unconfined that the author is free to just create and invent any event, setting, plot, and characters without having to sanction these elements to facts or history.The possibilities are endless so that authors would not need to concern themselves with accuracy nor fealty to any source. Historical Literary Criticism as a creature in Understanding Jazz It has been argued that historical point of view or knowledge as a method in literary blame would render our reading of literature more objective lens. With historical literar y criticism, our translation of the text is sanctioned on the subjects relevance, relationship, and influence of the historical period where it is written.It is not merely a baseless meter reading it is an interpretation with a historical ground. This is for the reason that history is a bedrock of objective facts and data that give credence to any empirical discipline. It is believed that literature that is based on history would be more realistic. The objective ground of history is precisely that which enables the subjective elements which constitute literary texts to function beyond the artistic (Green 1995). In other words, our knowledge of the historical events, figures, and background would make our interpretation more accurate for it is more objective.Not only would it provide a ground for the understanding of the facts and events of the past but also of that particular periods attitudes, perception, thoughts, and ideologies about the world. In the novel, Harlem Renaissan ce is not just utilise as a historical background to quantify or shrive the tendencies of the characters and the vividness of the setting and events, but also the commentaries and ideologies that the African- Americans have during the period.For instance, the novel bodied the historical event of the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance not only to give the novel more accuracy and objectivity but also to introduce the Blacks attitude towards racism and their yearning to assert their identities through music and other forms of art with the help of the glittering city (Morrison 1992). The readers knowledge of the historical background of a work of fiction would help him/her understand the contexts of the novel that would render his/her interpretation in an objective path. As earlier mentioned, historical background and details would make a work of literature more grounded.However, this is not the case with anachronism. This is the hit sin that a historian or a historical fictionist could commit. To represent something outside the supposed context of the historical period would thwart the interpretation and knowledge of the readers upon the text and the historical event itself. In the novel, there are no cases of anachronism for Toni Morrison is a reliable source of the lives of the African- Americans as she is one of them herself. As far as the city life is concerned, she has not only depicted it clearly but also reflected its ideologies very accurately as stated in earlier paragraphs.Though it would be difficult to suspend anachronism for every writer will always interpret historical facts in their own subjective ways, it is highly recommended that writers especially historical fiction writers which has purposes of being objective rather than just being aesthetic should buzz off to the original. In this way, they would not only remain faithful to history where it is basing its vividness, accuracy, and reliability but also serve a higher purpose of inform readers the ideologies and sensibilities of every historical period and figure that has shaped the world.