Toni Morrison Trivia

1. Who was once Sethe's husband?

From Quiz Beloved

Answer: Halle

124 Bluestone Road was haunted. Sethe, her mother (Baby Suggs), and her daughter (Denver) have all been affected by the ghosts of their house, and the townspeople know of the spectres that live therein. Both of Sethe's sons left the house because of supernatural events and Baby Suggs passed away shortly thereafter. When she died, Sethe and Denver attempted to contact one of the ghosts in the house, her own baby daughter, in order to reason with it and end the rage upon its soul. Sethe realizes that its anger comes from the fact that it was murdered by her hands. Paul D Garner, the last of the Sweet Home men, stopped in at Sethe's for a visit and she invited him in. Heading in through her front door, he immediately sensed the grief and sadness. During their reunion, Denver headed downstairs to meet the man who once knew her father. They talked for a little while before she began to cry; after bottling up her emotions for so long, she decided that she no longer wanted to live in this haunted house. Sethe said that they would be unable to leave. When Denver left the room, Sethe talked about the horrible events to befall her in the past two decades and Paul D embraced her before the entire house began to pitch. Paul fought back angrily, smashing furniture and yelling for the house to leave Sethe and Denver alone before it ceased. Sethe and Paul D went upstairs to spend the night with one another and both recalled their past together and apart. Paul D had never been with Sethe because she was already the wife of one of the other Sweet Home boys, Halle, who courted her on the farm many, many years ago and fathered her children.

From Quiz "Beloved" by Toni Morrison

Answer: 1987

"Beloved" won the Pulitzer Prize. Morrison also received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. She has also written some non-fiction works, including "The Dancing Mind".

From Quiz The Bluest Eye

Answer: So she can become a different, more loveable person

Claudia MacTeer, the novel's first narrator, unaffectedly states that the Breedloves' ugliness "was unique". Pecola understands that others revile her, but imagines that if her eyes were blue (like Shirley Temple's) she would become a different person. A blue-eyed Pecola would be loved, cherished, and protected. A blue-eyed Pecola would not be ugly.

From Quiz "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison

Answer: Hagar

The two first meet over Pilate's house as she makes an entrance with her mother, Reba, during Guitar and Milkman's visit.

From Quiz Toni Morrison's "Sula"

Answer: Elysian Fields

Elysian Fields is a very long road in New Orleans that connects the river front (Mississippi River) to the lake front (Lake Pontchartrain).

From Quiz Toni Morrison's 'Paradise'

Answer: Mavis

In my opinion, she's the white girl.

From Quiz "Beloved" by Toni Morrison

Answer: Margaret Garner

According to Morrison's foreword in "Beloved", she saw Garner's story in a newspaper clipping, and deemed the character of Garner "confining" to a novelist.

From Quiz The Bluest Eye

Answer: His mother dumps him in a junk heap

Four days after giving birth, Cholly's mother wraps him up in blankets and a newspaper, and leaves him by the railroad tracks. Fortunately, his Great Aunt Jimmy saves him and brutally chastises his insane mother.

From Quiz "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison

Answer: Macon Dead III

Named after his father, Macon Dead, Milkman earns his nickname after Freddie the Janitor catches Ruth breastfeeding him well after his toddler years.

From Quiz Toni Morrison's "Sula"

Answer: The Bottom

"The Bottom" was really hills, but the white folks convinced the black folks to take the land by saying that it was "choice land" and that it was "the bottom of heaven".

From Quiz Toni Morrison's 'Paradise'

Answer: Sweetie

You never know where motivation will come from

From Quiz Beloved

Answer: Outside the house

Returning home from the carnival, the three found a woman sitting on a stump outside 124 Bluestone and took her inside. They offered her water and it seemed as though she was unable to speak. Assuming she had cholera or croup, they set her up in Baby Suggs' bed and Denver spent her lonely days tending to her until she felt better. The girl said that her name was 'Beloved' and revealed next to nothing about herself. For some reason she seemed in good shape but in very poor health, and none of them could explain it. Beloved soon showed an interest in Sethe's stories about her past and Sethe found this to be flattering. As she began to tell tales about her marriage and her mother, Denver couldn't help but wonder how Beloved knew what questions to ask. Paul D didn't feel good about Beloved staying with them past the fifth week; even then she revealed next to nothing about herself. This spurred an argument between himself and Sethe which led to his speaking about why Halle left and the torturous events in his past. Denver, meanwhile, appreciated Beloved's company and asked where she came from. The response was cryptic, but it seemed she came from 'the dark'. Denver vowed not to tell her mother the truth behind this, especially after Beloved made it clear that she was here for Sethe.

From Quiz "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison

Answer: Guitar

The Seven Days is a pro-black group that assigns each day of the week to a member to kill a white civilian. The innocent victim is to die the same way a black civilian was killed.

From Quiz Toni Morrison's 'Paradise'

Answer: Patricia

The part where Patricia burns the town genealogies is believed by some to at least have been inspired by a real-life fire in 1997.

From Quiz Beloved

Answer: Beloved

Nine years after the death of Baby Suggs, Sethe began to long for words of wisdom. After considering the great things she did for the people of the area, Sethe decided to take Denver and Beloved into the woods. On the way, Sethe recalled her arrival at Bluestone with the baby and her reunion with her children and Baby Suggs. Halle hadn't yet arrived but she had and she and the newborn were attended to quite soon. Sethe led the girls to the clearing at which Baby Suggs spoke with the other ex-slaves and she sat on a stump. Sitting there, thinking, she felt a pair of hands wrap around her neck, squeezing tightly, before she was awakened by her daughter and Beloved. She rushed them home to begin dinner and think a little about what had just happened. Denver thought that it was Beloved who tried to choke her mother although Beloved denied this; she tried to save her. Nevertheless, Beloved has felt that Paul D has been keeping her from being around Sethe as much as he can. Denver is conflicted by the recent events; she loves Beloved and wants to avoid loneliness, but she's so sure of the strangling.

From Quiz "Beloved" by Toni Morrison

Answer: 4

She has two sons, and two daughters, one of whom she murders.

From Quiz "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison

Answer: navel

Born without a navel since birth, she blames this flaw for why she could never keep a man.

From Quiz Toni Morrison's "Sula"

Answer: Eva

Sula's grandmother, Eva, supposedly let one of her legs get run over by a train for $10,000 insurance money. Hannah was Sula's mother. Pearl was Sula's aunt and Plum was Sula's uncle.

From Quiz Toni Morrison's 'Paradise'

Answer: 9

How many times is the number 9 referenced ? Too many for me to count.

From Quiz Beloved

Answer: In the shed

It wasn't long before Paul D realized that he was being forced out of 124, and not willingly. It began with his sleep patterns in different places in the house and his lack of comfort on different nights. Soon enough, the only place he could sleep was in the shed adjacent to the house. Here, he realized that while he wanted to sleep inside, he simply couldn't; he was pushed out by something else. Beloved visited him in the night in an attempt to seduce him and while he tried to avoid her, it seemed as though he was in a trance. Denver began to believe that Beloved was the figure who haunted her mother many months ago, and she continued to try and remain under Beloved's gaze when Sethe was at work. On one occasion, she followed Beloved into the shed on a snowy, cold day and found her inside staring into the darkness. Beloved claimed she saw herself. Paul D stopped at Sethe's work to tell her the truth about what happened but he instead asked her to get pregnant again, something the two of them laughed over. This made him feel as though he could break the spell but it made her think that it was his way of solidifying his place in the family. She invited him into her bed for the night, much to Beloved's distaste. Denver, concerned, watched Beloved's actions for the rest of the night.

From Quiz "Beloved" by Toni Morrison

Answer: Buglar and Howard

"Beloved" was made into a major film in 1998 starring Oprah Winfrey as Sethe and Thandie Newton as Beloved.

From Quiz The Bluest Eye

Answer: She thinks she's "ruined"

Henry Washington briefly lives with the MacTeer family. He cavorts with prostitutes when the MacTeers aren't home, and bribes Frieda and Claudia with ice cream and chips. He makes the mistake of fondling Frieda, which leads to him being ousted from the home, beaten with a broom, and shot at!

From Quiz "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison

Answer: Pick a name out of the Bible with eyes closed

This is how Pilate, a female, earns her name at birth. The midwife of Pilate's mother tries to discourage her illiterate father from choosing this name.

From Quiz Toni Morrison's "Sula"

Answer: 10

After the wedding, Sula leaves "The Bottom" in search of something that is missing from her life. After ten years of not finding anything, she returns to rekindle her friendship with Nel.

From Quiz Toni Morrison's 'Paradise'

Answer: K. D.

K. D. Morgan is Steward and Deacon's nephew, Ruby's son.

From Quiz "Beloved" by Toni Morrison

Answer: No

She did not kill them. In fact they both ran away by the time they were thirteen years old, as they were too scared to live at the home they thought was haunted by the dead baby. Buglar ran away after a mirror shattered when he looked into it, and the final straw for Howard was two tiny footprints appearing in a cake.

From Quiz The Bluest Eye

Answer: The Fisher child calling Mrs. Breedlove "Polly"

Mrs. Breedlove experiences beauty and order vicariously through the Fishers' lives. When the MacTeer sisters visit Pecola and Mrs. Breedlove at the Fisher residence, Claudia is amazed by the cleanliness and perfection of the place. She later encounters a young girl with golden hair and a pink dress, who flippantly asks: "Where's Polly"? It enrages Claudia that this young slip of a girl calls Mrs. Breedlove by a mere nickname (short for Pauline), while all of the black children call her Mrs. Breedlove.

From Quiz "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison

Answer: sister

Ashamed of their past as children raised in poverty, Macon Dead disowns Pilate as his sister after achieving fortune and prestige among the rich white locals.

From Quiz Toni Morrison's "Sula"

Answer: Shadrack

Shadrack instituted "Suicide Day" on January 3rd. Each year on this day, he would ring a bell and tell everyone to "get all their killing out of the way" on this day.

From Quiz Toni Morrison's 'Paradise'

Answer: Lone Du Pres

While trying to warn them of their impending doom.

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