Uncovering the Dark Secrets Beneath the Surface in Matthew Morris’s The Tilling
The fragmentation Morris feels when it comes to his racial identity comes through in the many rhythmic tangents on which he takes his readers via anecdotes that introduce us to the people and places that have shaped him, including Virginia and Arizona, both states he has called home.
In “The No Longer” and “Not the Ghost Of” Morris reflects his experience through the lens of Imitation of Life, a 1933 novel by Fannie Hurst, film versions of which were released in 1934 and 1959, respectively. I will admit: as a reader less familiar with the story, I found myself pulled out of the essays on numerous occasions, and also deeply appreciated how Morris used his analysis as a way to zoom out to the systemic. “I am not myself tragic, but the racial gulf is.”
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