Michael Argueta
July 23, 2014
English 1C
“Love is divine only and difficult always”
“Love is divine and difficult always” (Paradise, 141). There are many ways of
interpreting this quote, many of which help interpret Morrison’s critique on African
American history. We can dissect the passage into two parts. The first being “Love is
divine,” and the second “ difficult always.” Throughout Morrison’s writings, the idea
of love being “divine” seems to have a set meaning, which is that it is impossible or
unattainable in this society that we live in, the latter meaning the struggles of which
Morrison faces when writing about African American history or the struggles that
African Americans have faced.
Throughout Morrison’s writing one can interpret that she opposes the idea of
a race-free world. Morrison seems to have the idea that an idealistic race-free world
is impossible or using the language of the above quote, divine. Morrison writes, “My
work requires me to think about how free I can be as an African-American woman
writer in my genderized, sexualized, wholly racialized world” (Playing in the dark,
4). This tells us that she accepts the fact that the world isn’t perfect, that the idea
that race can be ignored is a divine idea, something that is not in reach in this world.
Morrison has to put extra effort into her writing because of this racialization that
exists.
Love is supposed to be a unifying power, a power that breaks the racial and
gender boundaries, but Morrison writes that Love is divine. This idea of love seems
to be out of reach, although it still exists, it is still just divine. Morrison realizes that
this human, carnal world that we live in makes the idea of love divine. This can
especially be seen throughout African American history. This lack of love creates a
lot of boundaries in our world, some which Morrison points out in her writings. For
example Morrison writes, “The United States, of course, is not unique in the
construction of Africanism. South America, England, France, Germany, Spain-the
cultures of all these countries have participated in and contributed to some aspect of
an ‘invented Africa” (Playing in the dark, 7). This passage helps point out the lack of
love for Africa from other countries. Africa was invaded and taken advantage of;
there were many changes in Africa because one race thought it as better than the
other. Throughout African American history and history in general there have been
