Writing Prompt: Toni Morrison Interview

Sonja Popovic
Writing I
Professor Jackson
November 25, 2014

Writing Prompt: 

Toni Morrison Interview

I thought that the interviewer was quite rude. He was ungracious, not funny at all, and undeniably dismissive of Morrison's work. He tried too hard to include humor in his interview, which makes sense since it was Comedy Central, but then the humor should be effortless and on point, rather than at the expense of the author's work. His comment about the midlife crisis was plainly dumb and served no purpose but to undermine both the author's experiences in her life up until she was 39 and her decision to start being an author - as though suggesting that it was an anomalous mistake. The other distasteful comment was when the interviewer said how he needs to pigeonhole everyone - but why? I don't understand his contradictory statement that he doesn't see race but that he absolutely needs to label Morrison as an African-American writer. Two things are wrong with his comment. Firstly, everyone sees race so the interviewer saying he doesn't is obviously dishonest. Secondly, why does he need to bring up race at all - especially when he claims that the concept is foreign to him? In this context, bringing up race undermines the author's literary success and by even including it in his show, demonstrates that he does in fact see race - very acutely even. He was repeatedly disrespectful and off-track...