This document discusses Toni Morrison's novel "Paradise" and how it explores African-American history and culture. The novel is inspired by two towns in Oklahoma - Boley, which was founded by African Americans seeking freedom, and Langston, which was settled by blacks after the Civil War. "Paradise" tells the story of the fictional town of Ruby, Oklahoma and how its residents deal with pressures and destructive forces. The novel examines how religion affects people and how love of religion can influence behavior. Morrison wrote it as an exploration of these themes rather than a linear narrative.

1. Traces of African-
American Culture
in Toni Morrison`s
“Paradise”
By
Sara Vahabi

2. African-American History
American Slavery in the
17thcentury
 To strip the slaves from their
African culture
 To repress independent
political or cultural
organizations

3. African
Cultures ,Slavery ,Slave rebellions
Civil right movements
cccc
African-American
Religious, Familial, Political &
Economical behaviors
Had impact on many elements of
mainstream American culture.
Creolization

4. In1920s-1930s African-American
literature, music & art gained wide
notice.
Literature:
The slaves used stories &fables in
much the same way as they used
music. These stories influenced the
earliest African-American writers
&poets in the 18th century.

5. Paradise
• Is based on a thorough
research into a period of
African- American history.
• Is inspired by two particular
city of Boley and Oklahoma.
• Is the story of how the people
in the fictional town of Ruby,
Oklahoma, dealt with a variety
of pressures and destructive
elements.

6. Boley & Oklahoma
• Boley
{ Booker T. Washington, 1905 }
“ It neither had nor needed a jail.”
( Paradise:Chapter1)
• Oklahoma
{ Langston City }
“ Come Prepared or Not at all.”

7. Life Events:
 Blood
 Property
 Death
 Neighborhood

8. Critics' Overview
• Brent Staples:
“ Paradise is an archaeology of strong
black communities like the ones
Morrison was born in.”
“ Ruby is based probably on the real
town of Langston, OK, settled by
Blacks seeking escape & a future
during Reconstruction in the 1890s.
• Gunnar Myrad( sociologist):
“ African-Americas had lost most
cultural ties with Africa.

9. • Melville Herskovits(anthropologist):
“There has been a continuum of
African traditions among Africans.”
• Other critics:
“Paradise is a book that is about
religion.”

10. Toni Morrison
“ People`s anticipation now more
than ever for linear,
chronological stories is intense
because that’s the way
narrative is reveled in TV &
movies.”
“We experience life as the present
moment, the anticipation of
the future, & a lot of slices of
the past.”
She wrote the book as an
exploration of how religion
affects people and how love of
religion makes different
people act.

11. “we have always been
imagining
ourselves…we are the
subjects of our
narratives, witnesses
and participants in our
experience.”
Toni Morrison