SOURCE: “The ‘Sweet Life’ in Toni Morrison's Fiction,” in American Literature, Vol. 56, No. 2, 1984, pp. 181-202.

In the following essay, House explains that Morrison relies heavily on food metaphors to convey images of an idyllic life and dreams of success in the lives of her characters.

In each of her novels, The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1977), and Tar Baby (1981), Toni Morrison juxtaposes two categories of people's dreams and aspirations, visions of how life should be lived. The first dreamtypes are idyllic, for their proponents' chief aims are to live in concord with people and nature while remaining true to their own heritage. In contrast, dreams in the second category advocate not brotherhood but the competitive acquisition of power or money. Based on values of an American society which cherishes outward “success,” these second-category dreams teach that happiness lies in attaining power, that personal worth comes from being...