A Mercy by Toni Morrison Book Analysis

In Tony Morrison's novel, A Mercy, Morrison separates the concepts of race and slavery to allow the reader to experience various forms of bondage, such as in relationships that are too superficial for their intense attachment or of the internalization in one's own mind of oppression. Florens emulates internalizing her status as a slave as she believes she requires a master to have a purpose and uses the Blacksmith to fill this void. Lina’s warning to Florens falls on deaf ears as she says, “You are one leaf on his tree,” (Morrison, 71) to which she replies, “No. I am his tree” (Morrison, 71). Florens is carelessly bound to the Blacksmith, losing sight of herself outside his life. By associating her desire for someone in power over her with her love for the Blacksmith, Florens confusingly defines everything about herself in relation to her feelings for him. This recurring notion that the characters in the novel define everything about themselves in relation to one purpose or entity echoes the idea that regardless of race or social status, anyone can be enslaved, physically and in their own minds.

Florens’ desperation for positive affirmation and security causes her to rely heavily on higher authority and on anyone who shows her affection. Following what she considers to be a painful betrayal by her mother, Florens experiences abandonment issues where she longs for someone to replace her mother's love and protection. As a diversion from developing a sense of self-ownership where she is her own person, Florens obsesses over a relationship with the Blacksmith. Florens even rejects the idea of being free, saying:

I don’t know the feeling of or what it means, free and not free…. It is though I am loose to do what I choose…. I am a little scare of this looseness…. I don’t like it. I don’t want to be free of you because I am live only with you... No need to choose. (Morrison 81-83)

By saying “I am live only with you,” Florens welcomes the idea that she does not need freedom as long as she has the Blacksmith. In this way, she has fallen victim to another form of enslavement: her mentality. Florens does not want to be free because she is afraid of being alone. She associates her comfort with having someone to watch over her and make decisions for her because she equates freedom with loneliness and abandonment. The Blacksmith addresses Florens’ mindset of dependency when he abandons her for harming the little boy he cares for: 

[Florens] I am a slave because Sir trades for me. 

[Blacksmith] No. You have become one…. Your head is empty and your body is wild. 

[Florens] I am adoring you. 

[Blacksmith] And a slave to that too. 

[Florens] You alone own me. 

[Blacksmith] Own yourself, woman, and leave us be…. You are nothing but wilderness. No constraint. No mind. (Morrison, 166)

The Blacksmith presents the idea to Florens that she becomes a slave by internalizing her status as one. The Blacksmith tells Florens, “Your head is empty and your body is wild” meaning that she blindly follows him without thinking for herself. This altercation leads Florens to understand how she uses her unhealthy relationship with the Blacksmith to avoid self-ownership. Unlike Florens whose mental escape from literal enslavement does not differ from her current lifestyle, Sorrow succumbs to creating a relationship that successfully allows her to be mentally free.

Sorrow’s fabricated relationship with Twin allows her to be free of her status of enslavement mentally while still depending on the hallucination for happiness. With Lina and Rebekka despising and slandering Sorrow’s name, she finds her only reliable relationship to be with Twin. Twin serves as Sorrow’s second personality that makes her happy and helps her make decisions. “‘I’m here,’ said the girl with a face matching her own exactly. ‘I’m always here’” (Morrison, 149). In the same way that Florens relies on the Blacksmith’s companionship to alleviate her fears, Sorrow relies on Twin as reassurance that she is not alone. Twin telling Sorrow, “I’m always here” serves as a reminder that even though she has no companionship with real people, she will never be on her own. In this way, Sorrow follows herself rather than one specific purpose and remains free of the harsh reality of her servitude. However, Sorrow’s mental freedom wavers as she gives birth to her second child. Twin disappears soon after because the child gives Sorrow’s life a real purpose. Sorrow observes, “Twin was gone, traceless and unmissed by the only person who knew her. Sorrow’s wandering stopped too. Now she attended routine duties, organizing them around her infant’s needs” (Morrison, 158). Although Sorrow finally achieves sanity and forgets about Twin, she becomes bound to her status as a slave because her child becomes her purpose. Sorrow’s new attachment prevents her from mentally escaping the conditions she lives with because she has a more important purpose. Sorrow loses her sense of independence as she fully submits to being a slave to provide for her child. 

Sorrow and Florens are examples of how freedom depends on mentality as well as physical state. Sorrow achieved freedom while remaining in captivity because she did not have a specific purpose for her life. She only lost this freedom once she became grounded by the responsibilities of motherhood. However, Florens achieved freedom when she finally let go of depending on others to fulfill her abandonment issues and began to think for herself. True freedom is only achieved by freeing oneself from the reliance on having a definite meaning in life.