Toni Morrison's interview with Charlie Rose exposed many ideas that the author has regarding her books. She talked specifically about her book A Mercy, but also gave many insights that aid the understanding of all her novels. In her novel Song Of Solomon, we are presented with a different society. She sets this novel in the North, especially in the free slave part. Through the actions and ideas of her characters, she conveys her opinion on different subjects of concern in that society. Discrimination characterizes the relationship between white people and black people. Racial differences, the major concern of Morrison's novel, is also one of her major points in the interview.
Free slaves going to the North created a new group which was reluctantly accepted by white people. The idea of black people being equal to white people was rather new and the differences in opinions caused aggressions between them. According to Morrison: "A young negro boy had been found stomped to death in Sunflower County, Mississippi. There were no questions about who stomped him- his murderers had boasted freely" (Morrison, 80). Violent actions against black people seemed as a victory for the white people. After a murder a person will normally be ashamed. In addition, for respect of the dead person's soul he should definitely not brag about his actions. The extreme degree of racial discrimination shown by the white people describe the society in which a black person had to live in a world controlled by whites.
During the interview, Morrison's opinion regarding the discrimination of whites and society towards blacks, agrees greatly with the ideas shown in the novel. According to Morrison: "The interesting thing to me was the laws established after because what they said was any white can kill any black for any reason" (7:13, Interview). The laws that were enforced gave the upper hand to the white people. It shocks me that the laws were supposed to enforce equality between these two races, but when a dispute of any case appeared, the laws gave the white person the advantage. I really liked this interview with Toni Morrison because it gave me a real life experience of what it was to be a black person living in the North. Through the book she attempts to accomplish this as well, by showing how the discrimination of the white people affected her characters.
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