The Importance of Ancestry

In Toni Morrison's essay, "City Limits, Village Values", she examines white authors' tendancy, be it explicity or implicity to deplore the progress of cities, and view the village as representing personal freedom and privacy, in its simplicity and purity. This revelation is juxtaposed with her notion that black fiction writers' affinity for the city, or pro-urbanism is a result for a desire for opposrtunity and progress; a city is only disdained when it is missing one integral element, (which Morrison exemplifies through citing evidence on the importance of this element in the works of several black writers): the ancestor. "The city is wholesome, loved when such an ancestor is on the scene, when neighborhood links are secure. The country is beautiful--healing because more often than not, such an ancestor is there"(39).
The ancestor is the voice of reason; the ancestor keeps the ideals of a people alive. "When the Black America writer experiences the country or the village, he does so not to experience nature as a balm for his separate self, but to touch the ancestor. When he cannot (because the ancestor is not there, or because he cannot communicate with him), then and only then is he frustrated, defeated, devestated, and unregenerated(39). The important word to note in this example is "regenerated": the ancestor provides a link to an identity that is shaped by the characteristics we have inherited from our kin. Understanding and revering your inherited characteristics leads one to an acceptance of the self, and subsequently the surroundings, rendering the city just as a wonderful a place as the village, as represented in black fiction, when that connection with the past can still be forged.
I absolutely agree with Courtney that in Naylor's "The Women of Brewster Place", Mattie, Ben and Miss Eva serve as the ancestoral links for the next generation of Brewster Place. Morrison notes that Harlem is, both in literature and reality, the closest thing to a "Black city" that still held a village quality. This is true of Brewster Place, though on a smaller scale. Brewster Place is the quintessential example of the "American Dream" as seen and lived through the lenses of Black Americans. Mattie represents the keeper of the village values for the women of Brewster Place; she a voice of reason, with her moral authoritiy resulting from her experience. She and Ben serve as the glue holding that neighborhood together, uniting the different women through a mutual relationship to themselves. Both characters are able to look at situations from the outside in, and serve as a guide to the generations who are experiencing life as they already have. I believe that Mattie's respect for the importance of such a person in the village comes from her time spent with Miss Eva, who was just such a guide to her in her young age and times of trouble. Brewster Place is a village that is its peoples' own, and the ancestors are the ones who teach its women to respect that: to appreciate the freedom that such resposibility and ownership entails, and what makes this black fiction uniquely pro-urban.

Discover yourself through your past

Morrison essay comments on the journey literature takes to find the self through individual liberation. White writers and black writers observe the city in different perspectives concerning the individual. He claims that American Black writer’s lack an ancestral connection in their writing. This claim is countered by the author Gloria Naylor.
Morrison claims that white writers are anti-urban and write about the individual freedom the city lacks. White writers observe and associate their characters with the country or nature. The character must be moved away from the urban surroundings and placed in the country to find himself. The primary objective for this character is to find satisfaction of self liberation in nature. Morrison claims, however, that this individual freedom cannot be fulfilled through the abandonment of the city. He claims the writers are not anti-urban, but rather anti-social. Morrison states the differences in black writers are in their observations with the city, but not as an urban setting, but rather a village.
The black writer’s view of the city differs. Morrison describes the writer’s intention and themes are based on the acceptance and integration of the black community into the city. He comments on Harlem as not a city, but as a village. He states, “ The hospitals, school, and buildings they lived in were not founded nor constructed by their own people, but the relationships were clannish because there was joy and protection in the clan” (38). It is through relationships the city becomes connective and alive.
Nature also has a connection to the Black writer as well. However, Morrison claims that unlike the white writers, the American Black writers lack an ancestral connection. He states, “ This missing quality in the city fiction is not privacy or diminished individual freedom, not even the absence of beauty…What is missing in the city faction and present in village fiction is the ancestor” (39). White writers believe that the self can be found in nature, but Morrison believes the self must be discovered in an ancestral character. There is a lack of connection to the root of the African America. Morrison claims that the wantonness of a character out of touch is the character out of touch with his ancestor (40). Morrison claims, “Contemporary Black writers seem to view urban life as lovable only when the ancestor is there” (40). This is not true, however, concerning the writings of Gloria Naylor
A counter to Morirson’s claim can be found in The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor. In her novel the character Maggie serves as the ancestral figure. This novel is far from a loveable perception of urban life. It allows the reader to experience the gruesome and harsh surroundings of a part of th city which is cut off from civilization. Maggie serves as a form of guidance and motherly figure. She embodies the past of these characters and attempts to direct them from their treacherous situations toward better choices. She is the voice of truth to the characters. Along with this ancestral model, Maggie, Naylor does not depict the city or the experiences of the characters to be loveable. They are quite the opposite. The presence of Maggie’s character is the presence of the past, but the author does not describe a utopia urban setting as Morrison claims.
The white writers created their characters and observation through a journey in self liberation of the city and social surroundings. This is the opposite view of the Black writer who demands that in society one can find his own individual freedom through the connection and relationships with the people around you. To do so you must discover yourself through a connection with your past.

Value Village

In her essay "City Limits, Village Values: Concepts of the Neighborhood in Black Fiction", Toni Morrison explores white and black writers' different approaches to how characters relate to settings, specifically the city vs. the village. According to her observations, black writers describe the village in a positive light, praising tribal values, while white writers dismiss the city as mechanized and insert their characters in suburbs where they can be self-loathing, disillusioned individuals. Personally, I think this is a very narrow interpretation of contemporary literature, but it did make me reconsider my own beliefs about writers' preoccupations. The things she says about John Cheever made me laugh because they are true to a certain extent, but I don't think it's worth criticizing him for his choice of setting and characters. Are a writer's preoccupations always directly proportionate to his/her race?

Morrison writes: "When a character defies a village law or shows contempt for its values, it may be seen as a triumph to white readers, while Blacks may see it as an outrage." (38). This is a conflicting idea for me, especially considering Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place. At the end of the novel, the women revolt against the imposed isolation of the wall by taking it apart brick by brick by throwing it into the street to cause a traffic jam and numerous car accidents. I guess the point could be made that the women won't prove their point until they act violently against their oppressors, but Naylor spent many pages convincing the reader that certain characters who were victims of violence deserve sympathy. Should we view this incident as defying the "village law" or as preserving the "village law"? I guess Naylor wants it to be the latter, and I don't particularly agree with her solution. Is Morrison then right? Is it right for her to be right?

If this village of women lives within a city, then the city as a whole should be its village too. By throwing the bricks into the street, it could be that they were asking the city to become part of their village or to let them become a part of the city's village. I just don't think that throwing bricks into the street is a very inviting way to create a community. In addition, what the women share has been brewing so long among themselves that no one else will understand why the transformation is occuring. Aren't they isolating themselves even more? Morrison doesn't seem to think so.

The Ancestor

As I read through Toni Morrison's essay, entitled City Limits, Village Values: Concepts of the Neighborhood in Black Fiction, I became aware of her emphasis on recurring themes contained in Black literature. She cites themes such as "individualism and escape" (38) and claims that there are indeed patterns in literature of both the village and city that define the two and make them unique. Morrison claims that the figure of the 'the ancestor' plays an important role in defining literature of the city versus literature of the village, among many other themes and characters. Ultimately, her conclusion is that "the city has huge limits and the village profound values" (43).

Morrison states that "what is missing in city fiction and present in village fiction is the ancestor. The advising, benevolent, protective, wise Black ancestor is imagined as surviving in the village but not in the city" (39). This bold statement seems an attempt to categorize Black literature of the ciy based on what is contained in literature of the village, and seems to be perhaps a generalization. She also states that 'The city is wholesome, loved when such an ancestor is on the scene...the country is beautiful" (39). She seems to trivialize the role of the ancestor when the setting is the city. Contrary to her views on urban literature, she states that when "the Black American writer experiences the country or the village, he does so not to experience nature as a balm for his seperate self, but to touch the ancestor" (39). According to Morrison, the village has a more solid connection with the ancestor than the city does. She seems to claim that any connection with the ancestor in the city is superficial and less meaningful than any connection in the village.

Morrison's critique of Black city literature is defeated by Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place. Naylor's character, Mattie, plays the role of the mother in the novel and is the ancestor that Morrison claims is lacking within literature of the city. She plays the role of mother when Ciel's baby dies, she is a friend full of wise advice for Etta Mae, and watches over all the other women of Brewster Place with an experienced pair of eyes. She is strong and courageous, a role model for all of Brewster Place, a mother that takes all women under her wings. Morrison states, "The worst thing that can happen in a city is that the ancestor becomes merely a parent or an adult and is thereby seen as a betrayer" (40). This is certainly not the case for Brewster Place. Mattie's character as matron is not characterized by betrayal because she acts as a parent. Rather, the women of Brewster Place admire her for the role she assumes within the city. Morrison says a city scorns an ancestor who is connected with the past, but Mattie's connection with the past is what ultimately secures her connection with the women surrounding her; without it she would not be so full of wisdom. Naylor's novel seems to be revolutionary if the trends Morrison speaks of are true. However, it is my opinion that the role of the ancestor in the city is present, but perhaps overlooked or misinterpreted. Morrison's view on the limits of city literature seems to be limited in itself.