Toni Morrison Jazz Essay

Jazz by Toni Morrison is set during the Harlem Renaissance, an era in which music, specifically Jazz music, was generating popularity, as well as controversy. Morrison incorporates the importance of music throughout the book in many ways, including, the style in which the narrator tells the story, for example, how characters were introduced and the way certain scenes were explained, as well as the language used. Although the structure of the novel is significant in understanding the role of jazz music in the novel, it is also important to understand the role that jazz had in the characters’ lives. Jazz music is defined as a type of music originating from traditional black Americans that is characterized by improvisation, syncopation, and a rhythm. In simpler terms, jazz is partly planned out and partly explosively spontaneous with improvisation. Patterns in jazz are similar to traditional black call-and-response patterns, in which one instrument, voice, or part of the band answers another. Jazz was becoming increasingly popular in the younger generation in the 1920’s. Dorcas, a younger character in Jazz, is important because this period in time sparked excitement in the younger generation. Morrison uses Dorcas as a vehicle to explain these feelings. Dorcas’ character is presented as the young daring women who enjoys going out to dance and listening to this rebellious music. The controversy surrounding the music can be seen through Morrison’s description of the music: “It was the music. The dirty, get-on-down music the woman sang and the men played and both danced to, close and shameless or apart and wild,” (Morrison 58). As exemplified in this quote, Morrison describes jazz as “dirty” and “wild”. These words go to show that jazz was thought of to be rebellious and vulgar at times, similar to the stigma around rock and roll from the older generation. Along with this, Morrison takes the music and uses it to determine the environment of the characters, as well as shape the characters lives. Specifically, Morrison expresses a change in seasons by speaking about music. Morrison says, “Up there, in that part of the City—which is the part they came for—the right tune whistled in the doorway or lifting up from the circles and grooves of a record can change the weather. From freezing to hot to cool,” (Morrison 51). It is evident that Morrison is attempting to explain that the change in weather is a result of the “right tune” whetting in the doorway. Dorcas, who was mentioned above, is not the only character Morrison uses to incorporate jazz. In the novel Jazz, there are many different characters telling bits and pieces of a larger story. In this way, the novel is very similar to jazz music. The different characters are constantly rotating between who is telling the story and because of this, the perspective is constantly changing. This structure is similar to that of jazz music because jazz music is constantly switching around the instruments and the singers throughout the song, to create one cohesive end product. Each character adds a little something to the story that in the end, all comes together …show more content…
Jazz begins with a fundamental form as the structure of the music. However, other variations are then added on to this original form. The structure of jazz is parallel to the structure of the novel, Jazz by Toni Morrison. The narrator is the backbone of the novel, however, other characters are introduced throughout the novel that retell the story and add their own twist, which is similar to the variations in jazz music as I mentioned before. The basic premise of Jazz is the love story between Joe and Violet, Joe’s love affair with Dorcas ending in her murder, as well as Violet’s aggressive outburst on Dorcas’ corpse. The fundamental plot line is explaining those three stories, while other characters are constantly being introduced to add different perspectives and transfer the story between different characters, similarly to the variations added in jazz music. The narrator in Jazz is not only telling the story, but they are expressing feelings that they have to events in the story. The narrator in Jazz attempts to transcend what a typical narrator is like, which is seen through the closing remarks of the novel when the narrators attempts to not be limited to the