Margaux O’Nolan of Princeton
Toni Morrison has a new book? Oh joy, how does the kid get killed this time?
My introduction to Ms. Morrison’s oeuvre came by way of “Sula,” a book that asks the reader to believe that a sane woman would pour kerosene on her son and light him ablaze, killing him, rather than allow him to be a heroin addict. I remember feeling infuriated — not for the scene’s cruelty but because it is altogether unbelievable. No woman with half an ounce of maternal instinct could kill her sleeping child, let alone in such a grisly manner.
Against my better judgment, I read another of Ms. Morrison’s books, “Beloved,” and she pulled the same trick again. This time a mother kills her daughter rather than let it grow up to be a slave. The incident is based on the story of Margaret Garner, a fugitive slave who slew one of her children with a butcher knife and was reportedly happy to hear that her other infant had drowned. “Beloved” made for big-selling fiction. Read up on the real Sethe — Margaret Garner — and see if you don’t think she was certifiable.
I have a suggestion for Ms. Morrison’s next book. She should write a story about a woman who euthanizes her daughter — this time by impalement on a gigantic pencil? — rather than allow her to grow up to be a sly peddler of meretricious fables marketed as so-called serious literature.
Margaux O’Nolan
Princeton

