Short Analysis 2 Paradise by Toni Morrison

 

In the beginning of chapter four Seneca, Morrison describes a scene in which the new generation and the old generation of the town Ruby have a disagreement on whether or not the words on the oven should be changed (86). The old generation wants to leave it with the words “beware the furrow of his brow” while the new generation wants to make it say “be the furrow of his brow” (86-87). The scene is set up in a way to show that the new generation wants to follow the principles and reasons that the old generation did when they moved the town from Haven to Ruby while bringing it “new life”(86). However the new generation’s change is a greater change than the old generations because it changes the interpretation of ideas on which Haven and Ruby were both founded on, and it challenges how people view the history of Ruby and Haven in regards to race.

Changing the inscription on the oven does more than just relocate Haven to Ruby it changes the symbol of the oven to the people of Ruby which makes it a greater change than to move Haven to Ruby. The old generation sees the oven as a symbol of what their “grandfathers built” when Haven was founded (85).  In fact this symbolism was so important to the old generation that when they moved to Ruby they made sure each brick was wrapped up so that nothing would break (85-86). This new change however forces a change to something that has been with the people of Haven and Ruby form the begging. Despite the fact that the new generation thinks that they are only bringing new history to the oven they are in fact changing something that the old generation can’t see needing change. In fact the old generation questions to why the oven would need to be changed thus destroying what their grandfathers built. (86). Changing the inscription changes how the town sees the oven not just moving it to protect it.

Another reason why the change is greater is the new generation sees the town as being the history of the slaves making a town and not just a history of the founders of Haven and Ruby, and the towns themselves (87). The old generation doesn’t see the town or oven as representing slavery or the history of their race. Deacon Morgan refuses to hear or see the history of the town as an ex-slave he only sees that his grandfather and a group of people set out to make this town he even keeps interrupting Destry when he tries to talk about race being part of the history (84). This change brings a whole new perspective to what Haven was and to what Ruby is. It takes it out of being a history of a group of people forming a town during the great migration to being a history of ex-slaves and African American history in America. This change is something that the old generation is not willing to see or believe.

 

Reflective Tag:

 

When Working on this paper I learned aobut how we fear people who are different from  us and that don’t share the same beliefs. This assignment also taught me how the new ideas of generations can cause a great upset because they are different than the previous generation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Morrison, Toni. Paradise. New York: Plume, 1999. Print.