Critique [of Perception and Power Through Naming: Characters in Search of Self in the Fiction of Toni Morrison by Linda Buck Myers]

Authors

Neil Nakadate

Orginal Publication Date

1984

Journal Title

Explorations in Ethnic Studies

Volume

7

Issue

ees/vol7/iss1

First Page

52

Last Page

53

Abstract

In "Stranger in the Village" (1953), James Baldwin asserted that "the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it." In her article on naming in Toni Morrison's novels, Linda Buck Myers asks us to consider Morrison's insights regarding who does the controlling and how. In the end Myers offers us a number of useful and provocative observations regarding language and our uses of it as they inform ethnic experience.

Rights

Copyright, ​©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1984