She learned the intricacy of loneliness: the horror of color, the roar of soundlessness and the menace of familiar objects lying still.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the complex nature of loneliness and its unsettling characteristics.
In this quote, Toni Morrison explores the depth of loneliness as not merely a state of being alone but as a profound experience that alters one's perception of the world. The intricacies of this emotional state are highlighted through vivid imagery, such as 'the horror of color' and 'the roar of soundlessness', suggesting that loneliness distorts familiar aspects of life, making them feel eerie and unsettling.
In practice
During a literary discussion on the themes of isolation in Toni Morrison's works.
There is a certain kind of peace that is not merely the absence of war. It is larger than that. The peace I am thinking of is not at the mercy of history's rule, nor is it a passive surrender to the status quo. The peace I am thinking of is the dance of an open mind when it engages another equally open one -- an activity that occurs most naturally, most often in the reading/writing world we live in. Accessible as it is, this particular kind of peace warrants vigilance.
You looking good." "Devil's confusion. He lets me look good long as I feel bad.
What do you say? There really are no words for that. There really aren't. Somebody tries to say, 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.' People say that to me. There's no language for it. Sorry doesn't do it. I think you should just hug people and mop their floor or something.
An innocent man is a sin before God. Inhuman and therefore untrustworthy. No man should live without absorbing the sins of his kind, the foul air of his innocence, even if it did wilt rows of angel trumpets and cause them to fall from their vines.
Like friendship, hatred needed more than physical intimacy; it wanted creativity and hard work to sustain itself
One of my kids was born in 1968. There were going to be political difficulties, but they were never going to have that level of hatred and contempt that my brothers and my sister and myself were exposed to.
Nothing in life is ever as simple as we imagine.
Our economic approach to food and its distribution reflects our basic moral values.
In general, I agree with Socrates that what democracies badly need is the examined life, and we need to think critically about ourselves.
What would it be like if I had something to defend - a home, a country, a family - and I found myself attacked by these ghostly men, these trusting boys? How do you fight an enemy who fights with neither enmity nor anger but in submission to orders from superiors, without protest and without conscience?
See, ma'am, frankly speaking this problem can't be solved by us police or military. The problem with these tribals is they don't understand greed. Unless they become greedy there's no hope for us. I have told my boss, remove the force and instead put a TV in every home. Everything will be automatically sorted out.
We raise our voices in holy gladness to celebrate the victory of the risen Christ over the terrible forces of death.
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