Souls in search of freedom

As in novels such as "Sula" and "Beloved," the women in "A Mercy" end up alone, fending for themselves. The question Morrison poses repeatedly in all these books is: What are women without men? (The answer: sometimes better off.)

Another question is: What is the true nature of enslavement? The smithy provides part of the answer when he tells Florens that he's seen slaves freer than free men. "One is a lion in the skin of an ass," he says. "The other an ass in the skin of a lion." It's the "withering inside" that truly enslaves. Florens' problem is she has no constraint. No mind. And therefore no freedom. She is "wilderness," uninhabitable. "Own yourself, woman," the smithy tells her at the moment of rejection. This, of course, is the great existential task for all human beings. It's also the great theme of this book.

"A Mercy" is Morrison's ninth novel, a work of poetry and intelligence, and a continuation of what John Updike has called her "noble and necessary fictional project of exposing the infamies of slavery and the hardships of being African American." The story assumes even greater metaphorical power at this particular moment, with the election of Barack Obama as our first African American president. When, toward the end of the novel, Sorrow delivers a baby with the help of Scully and Willard, so powerful is her happiness that she looks into the child's eyes and renames herself Complete. We understand now how fully she's been delivered.