Prompt 3

"One likely reason for the paucity of critical material on this large and compelling subject is that, in matters of race, silence and evasion have historically ruled literary discourse. Evasion has fostered another, substitute language in which the issues are encoded, foreclosing open debate. The situation is aggravated by the tremor that breaks into discourse on race." - Page 1008

"Haply for I am black,
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have; or for I am declined
Into the vale of years—yet that’s not much—
She’s gone. I am abused, and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage,
That we can call these delicate creatures ours
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad
And live upon the vapor of a dungeon
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For others’ uses. Yet ’tis the plague of great ones;
Prerogatived are they less than the base.
’Tis destiny unshunnable, like death." -III.iii.267–279, Page 61

Through this quote in Shakespeare's Othello, one can see how Toni Morrison's argument for the scarcity of race can be seen. Despite the fact that Othello's argument for being black dates back to the fifteenth century, there hasn't been a whole lot in the way of showing race as a problem in literature. Even in Othello, this argument does not pose as a huge argument in the story, because there are other points to the story, and the story is certainly not all about race. Toni Morrison makes it known that there are not a lot of novels that use race as a theme throughout the whole books or novels, instead, they beat around the bush, or just pass by the problem completely. She poses that a huge problem in novels, especially American novels, written by white men, never seem to touch on the subject of race, and this idea is jarring to her. This quote from Othello, helps prove to Morrison that race is not a common theme amongst white men, and that Othello is an example of a book that touches on the subject, but there aren't very many books that look at race as a problem.