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Theme Of Jazz

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In Toni Morrison’s book "Jazz" the setting is Harlem, New York in the 1920's. Joe and Violet are a married couple. Joe cheats on his wife and then kills a young girl, 18 year old, Dorcas. He is never convicted of the crime. The theme relating to this is infidelity.Violet never blames Joe for this. Instead she blame Dorcas. At the funeral Violet shames herself by attacking the girl's corpse. She is thrown out of the community because of her actions. Violet deteriorates mentally as time goes on. She is terrified of losing Joe.There is deeper meaning in the lives of the couple. Both have had childhood needs that had gone unmet. Their childhood issues have had a negative effect on their marriage.Towards the end of the book the couple is able to work …show more content…

Therefore, the day ’when they moved into the city’ is something they will always refer back to and will never forget. The city not only offered them to forget about the past, but also was a chance for them to make a new start, develop their personality and make their identity..
In general it can be said that in Jazz the city is shown from two different perspectives, a good and a bad view. For Joe and Violet the advantages of the city are, for example, the anonymity they have in the city.they were free to do all things that they wanted to do.nobody was there to judge them.For them the city also stands for emotional liberation and the chance to take part in a new culture. At the beginning they experience the city as more than perfect, but after they have spent some time there, they realize that there are also bad sides of the city. For example, they start getting annoyed by other people and the noises of the city. Furthermore, they realize that corruption and violence are inevitably linked with the city. This is also when they start developing a certain nostalgia and desire for the rural area they lived

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