Jazz by Toni Morrison

This story takes place during the roaring twenties, a time that was colorful, adventurous and dangerous all at once. The story is narrated by an unknown source, who observes the lives of Violet and Joe Trace. The story is disjointed, giving the barest details in the beginning of how Joe had an affair with a young girl named Dorcas. His affair ends with Dorcas' death and Violet's breaking down, and attempting to mutilate Dorcas at her funeral. The book continues telling the side of each person involved in the story, with each character explaining how they felt, and why they did what they did. The story also keeps flashing back and forth between what is happening, and what happened in the person's past. The telling of these events in this horribly beautiful city is as disjointed and confusing as Alice's adventures in Wonderland, but unlike Alice's tale, once you've read the book, there's a delicious moment of Aha! when you are finally able to put all the pieces together.

Really truly there is no hero or villain in this book. All the characters are guilty of something, be it infidelity, hate, madness, or ignorance. Joe is guilty of cheating on Violet, Violet is guilty of her hate towards Dorcas, and Dorcas is guilty of ignorance of herself. The conflict I suppose could be the loss of Violet and Joe's lost love. Of how they lost it by their own ignorance of themselves, and their longing for something more. Strangely enough this conflict is resolved by the unlikely source of Dorcas' best friend Felice, who tells them of Dorcas' stubbornness after she was shot by Joe, and let herself bleed to death.

I think the only real symbolism in this book was the city itself. In the beginning the narrator describes the beautiful city that the story takes place in. She describes the the beauty of the city, the brutality of it's people, their love, and the music that this book is named for. The city reflects the changes of moods of the characters, of how their personalities are complex, and terrible, and yet still beautiful. That's really the best I can describe it, to understand the poetry of it all, I guess you'd have to read the book yourself.

As I said before, this takes place in the 1920's, where Jazz and liquor ruled, and there were no rules. The story reflects the new morality by talking about the parties Dorcas goes to, and her attempt to be more stylish by shortening her skirt and letting down her hair. Jazz also takes a prominent place in the story, as Dorcas' aunt fears the wild new music that makes her force Dorcas to be more conservative, and ultimately pushing Dorcas to be rebellious and want to see the wild side of things. The book also briefly talks about slavery in the South, the difference between black and white lifestyles, and the forbidden love of interracial relationships.