MORISON’S “PARADISE”
Bh. V. N. Lakshmi
Morrison’s
latest novel ‘Paradise’, the first after she won the Nobel Prize, deals with
the complexity of African-American life especially the women who are abandoned
or disappointed emotionally. This novel is of great interest to the social
scientists, philosophers as well as literary critics. Her mellowed approach of
feminism turned quite brashy and offers a radical solution to a desperate
problem. ‘Paradise’ is essentially a story of four women, Mavis, Grace, Seneca
and Pallas, who seek shelter and guidance of Consolata called Connie the
incharge of a Convent. She plays the guardian angel for these emotional
refugees. It is a multilayered novel and the interpretation of it depends upon the
intellectuality of the reader. The more the reader probes it the more meaning
and understanding he gets out of it.
Morrison is
essentially an explorer of the black experience and the interpreter of the
black life that is uprooted from the native soil and grafted to an alien
culture. So, it is of considerable significance even for an anthropologist. The
story of ‘Paradise’ begins in a freedmen’s settlement called Ruby, deep in
Oklahoma. The population of this settlement is around 315 and they are continuously
protested by the outsiders. So they naturally developed Xenophobia and
violently reacted to the activities of Connie’s Convent and its preference to
offer shelter to all the wayward girls.
The very
opening scene of the novel is quite flabbergasting and the reader is likely to
mistake it for a scene in Senecan tragedy. The technique, adapted by Morrison
in narrating this story, accommodates the end in the beginning. Like in
Milton’s ‘Paradise Regained’, Morrison’s story starts with the assassination or
ritualistic crucifixion of Connie, the central character and the harbinger of
the true Christian creed.
Mavis is the
first to come to the Convent after the accidental death of her twins. As she is
haunted by the journalists and frightened
by her lustful husband, she runs away in her husband’s Cadillac and
aimlessly reaches the Convent. In the nursing hands of Connie she regains her
self -image and even plans to start a business and this new found liberty
enthuses her to explore different options available for a woman who is
discarded and disdained from the society.
The second
woman, Grace, comes to the Convent when Mother Superior dies. Left alone at the
age of eleven she continues her life journey carrying the locket presented by
her father Manley Gibbon, a lifer. Misguided by her lover Mikey, who is
imprisoned for three months, she goes in search of Wish and sees the rock
formation that appears as a man and a woman making love eternally.
Disillusioned, she is guided by a stranger to Ruby to see the entwined trees at
the centre of a lake and to experience mystic joy. She comes to the Convent in
a hearse that comes to collect the dead body of Mother Superior. Under the
protection of Connie, Grace discards everything and feels happy in her nudity.
Never tried to hide anything, the graceful Grace becomes disgrace to Ruby.
Escaping from the assault and Ruby, she accidentally encounters her father at
the workplace of prisoners and surprises him in her army attire. Assuring him
to write letters she continues her journey. She slips into her nudity, reaching
the secluded part of the lake and enjoys swimming in it and dreams of her
eternal lover to come ashore.
The story of
Seneca, the third woman, is a classical case study of crumbling self image and
deliberate suppression of a woman’s morale. She is in love with a man who is
imprisoned and prefers his pets to her. And she honestly obliges his
meaningless demands at the cost of her job and stands defenseless at crossroads
of her life. Her encounter with Mrs. Norma Fox and the tempting offer and the
following puppy pampering emptied her emotionally. She also reaches the Convent
and is comforted by Connie. In the end she wipes off her past and discards her
present and basks in the warmth of promising future.
Pallas, the
last woman to come to the Convent, is caught between the devil and the deep
sea. She falls in love with her school janitor, Carlos and brings him to
introduce her mother who took a fancy for him and bears witness to their love
making. Disgusted with the whole affair she runs away only to become a rape
victim. When every thing fails her she too goes to the Convent and regains her
vocal strength in the miracle hands of Connie. After Connie’s assassination,
she stoically walks out of everything and vanishes into the paradise of
painless nothingness.
Connie is the
protagonist of the novel and life force of these four women. As a girl she is
‘rescued’ from the natives and brought to the Convent by sister Mary Magna. She
serves her all her life and continues His mission on earth. When Ruby played
Judas, she baptized these four women in her blood and opens the gates of
Paradise – a new emotional avenue and a new lease of life for these four women
in particular and humanity in general. Morrison’s rendering of this character
on the lines of Christ fulfils her wish of Tar woman. If the Oven in the novel
stands symbol of vicissitudes of the black life Connie offers serenity and
continuity for such human beings.
The canvas of this novel is
much wider in range and complex in theme. The fluid poetry from Morrison’s pen
directly appeals to the reader’s emotions and he feels relief in his new found
equilibrium.