Nobel Lecture in Literature, 1993

Rating:
Summary: A bird in hand: a metaphor for the mind and soul.
Review: Toni Morrison's 1993 Nobel Lecture in Literature has a potent message for any age. It is enabling because it directs a reader toward a means of becoming accountable for the well-being of one's own mind and soul.

The "lecture" is a tale of young people who visit an old, blind wise woman. They come with a mocking question emblematic of those whose pleasure is the discomfiture of others. Their question "Is the bird we have alive or dead?" tells her their souls are distressed. Yet she refuses to mock their condition and tells them a powerful truth. "The bird is in your hands, you know if it is alive or dead."

They respond that there is no bird and that her reply burns their hearts. She helps them to understand that there IS a bird.

The bird may be taken to be a mind, a soul, a life. It is symptomatic of the malaise of the '90s that people lack the courage to be accountable for their minds, souls and lives. To find the courage to inspect one's OWN life, to imagine how OTHERS might feel, is to unearth one's own intelligence and determination. Soul-enriching external social and internal spiritual connections are the treasure found in the discovery of the "bird."

It does not matter if there is no bird as a physical being. There is content in a spirit that always requires courage, intelligence and imagination to nurture. The act of inward seeing, the courage to face uncertainty and the willingness to experiment in the presence of others who may or may not understand you is the "bird" that will stay alive in the mind. The act of understanding in communion with others ensures a realm where souls may feel trust.

At the end of the tale, the old woman and her visitors have made a journey on which they found the "bird' and created a a comforting bond among themselves. That they might be "slaves" or "free" is irrelevant: their human condition allows them the conjoined energy to imagine and to create.

Rating:
Summary: A bird in hand: a metaphor for the mind and soul.
Review: Toni Morrison's 1993 Nobel Lecture in Literature has a potent message for any age. It is enabling because it directs a reader toward a means of becoming accountable for the well-being of one's own mind and soul.

The "lecture" is a tale of young people who visit an old, blind wise woman. They come with a mocking question emblematic of those whose pleasure is the discomfiture of others. Their question "Is the bird we have alive or dead?" tells her their souls are distressed. Yet she refuses to mock their condition and tells them a powerful truth. "The bird is in your hands, you know if it is alive or dead."

They respond that there is no bird and that her reply burns their hearts. She helps them to understand that there IS a bird.

The bird may be taken to be a mind, a soul, a life. It is symptomatic of the malaise of the '90s that people lack the courage to be accountable for their minds, souls and lives. To find the courage to inspect one's OWN life, to imagine how OTHERS might feel, is to unearth one's own intelligence and determination. Soul-enriching external social and internal spiritual connections are the treasure found in the discovery of the "bird."

It does not matter if there is no bird as a physical being. There is content in a spirit that always requires courage, intelligence and imagination to nurture. The act of inward seeing, the courage to face uncertainty and the willingness to experiment in the presence of others who may or may not understand you is the "bird" that will stay alive in the mind. The act of understanding in communion with others ensures a realm where souls may feel trust.

At the end of the tale, the old woman and her visitors have made a journey on which they found the "bird' and created a a comforting bond among themselves. That they might be "slaves" or "free" is irrelevant: their human condition allows them the conjoined energy to imagine and to create.