The Nobel Lecture in Literature

Toni Morrison, in her Nobel Lecture in Literature (1931), suggests a reform in the way the modern world uses language. Morrison uses an formal diction and analogy of a bird in a human’s hand to support this reform. She uses this unique word choice and analogy in order to show the unstable situation words are in and the idea that humans have the ability to bring words to life in a meaningful way. She hopes that her audience of writers and influential personalities will see language in a new light and be inspired to rethink their word choice to give off images and thoughts through the use of words.

1. Write a paragraph that discusses Morrison’s attitude towards language.

Morrison is greatly appreciative towards language. She recognizes the beauty of being able to put thoughts and images into words that can be vividly describe to anyone, even the blind. She believes it is even more exciting to be able to use the correct diction, syntax, and other rhetorical devices to give an artistic style to language. She is upset that the world has become so accustomed to language, and therefore misuses it. She sees that people rather just look at something than describe it. In a world where vision is the most popular form of communication, she wishes that society would return back to using carefully thought out language.

2. Do you think the use of the fable within the speech works? Why or why not?

I thought the use of the fable worked in the speech, as it drew the audience’s attention in while proving her point. As she speaks about the importance of language to describe a scene, she uses thought out language to describe a scene. She uses this fable of the bird, not only as an analogy for language, but as an example of how we can use language to describe a scene. She wrote a beautifully written fable that perhaps will inspire the audience to describe their own stories with thought out language.

3. Respond to the line “Word-work is sublime” (paragraph 25)

As humans, we have the privilege of being able to use language. Unlike animals who communicate through various sounds that say they want to mate, are hungry, or a preditor is coming, humans can use any words they want to describe thoughts, stories, or feelings. It is a sublime thing that as humans, we can have a feeling in us and then we can describe it to someone else through the use of words, and if we use the incorrect word, we are describing something completely different. We have to greatly appreciate how special it is that we can articulate our thoughts into a sentence and allow the rest of mankind to understand what we feel or think.