Paradise By Toni Morrison

Paradise by Toni Morrison is about a small town by the name of Ruby, which consisted of all African American people. The people in the town are extremely religious and are trying to preserve their 8 rock culture which means “blue black people tall and … like them” (193). The town is basically ran by the men. Outside of the town of Ruby, a house by the name of Convent, held five women who were not from the small town. Those five women came from different places and found a home in the Convent. The women who lived in Ruby came to the Convent from time to time to receive help. The men in the town thought that the women at the Convent were devil worshipers and their women supported them even though they knew that was not true. Towards the end of

They changed from these weak women who seem to be searching for something in to strong women her can now stand on their own.

Mavis Albright was is of the first of the women to go the Convent. Her car had broken down and she needed gas. She ends up at the Convent were Connie helps her. In the beginning she was a very weak, isolated and abused woman. She struggles in her marriage and with her children. We learn that she accidently kills her twins because she went into a store and left her children in a hot car with the windows up and doors are locked. After the twins die, we see her slip into a depression and becomes somewhat deranged. At one point she thinks that her children are trying to kill her: “Sal had Frank’s old shaving razor unfolded by her plate and asked…eliciting peals of laughter from Sal” (24). This highlights the fact that Mavis cannot separate real from fake, but we have to stop and wonder if her children are actually trying to kill her. Even her mother questions her about the twins trying to kill her. Typically when a child dies you begin to feel guilty and things in your life become out of place. In Mavis case, it seemed like she was

Seneca is another woman who comes to the Convent and does not leave. She has had a rough childhood and when she becomes and adult, it becomes even rougher for her. It is clear that she is abandoned by her sister who is also her mother when she was younger. Jean leaves her sister a note; “Soaking with happiness, she folded…rest of her life” (128). She was so happy that her sister left her a note that she kept it for life. Even though she did could not read, she did not ask anyone to read the letter to her. She finally could read it in the first grade, but over time it became nothing but smudged lipstick. She keeps it for the longest in her shoe. This stresses that when she was younger, she had hope that he sister would come back to her. Seneca sister gives her strength, but she also feels like it is her fault why she left in the first place. As we get deeper into her story we learn she lacks self-confidence and likes to please others. While visiting her boyfriend in jail, she looks around and see all the happy families and children visiting their love ones. She begins to think that maybe Eddie will be like the other men that are jailed after he has been there for a while; “Not furious, victimized…they are outside” (132). He is making her feel like she is nothing. She tries to do everything to please him, but he does not care. It is clear that she is neglecting her own needs, happiness and fulfilment, in