The Bird Who Could Never Go Home Again.

The parrot should have been the main character of Toni Morrison’s Jazz. There is no character in Jazz that should be offered human sympathy. Their patheticness is overwhelming, and no character ever really just appreciates life as is. The parrot, with no human-given name cries out “Love you” even as he is thrown out from the only home he has ever known.

Morrison could have written Jazz as a Flannery O’Conner short story. And perhaps, with no in-depth understanding of the characters, the story would have garnished a more humanistic approach.

For all the displeasure main characters Joe and Violet have in life, neither perish by the end of the novel. I somehow wished that either died a horrible gruesome death. It is only fitting for two people so discontent with their lives. Instead…they find contentment…why?

This is why Morrison’s Jazz did not appeal to me. It seemed like a prolonged look into the dreariness of a 1920s country couple in the City. Understandably, it may be argued that it is a novel about the how the couple overcame their obstacles in the City.

But seriously, does anyone ever think there will be a film made about Toni Morrison’s Jazz?

There never will be. Even if it were superbly acted, it would still tell a tale of nothingness. A tale of selfish people who should have stayed in the country—perhaps then there would be a tale to tell.

But the parrot. The parrot was the vocal point in the novel. Because I personally felt more empathy for the parrot then I did for any “human” character in the novel. When Violet—angry about being Violet—throws out her parrot because she can no longer stand hearing “Love you,” one cannot help but feel for the innocent bird.