Breanna Thomas is an undergraduate English major with a concentration in Creative Writing. Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland and raised in the Park Heights Community. She has a passion for writing and hopes to receive her PhD and teach Creative Writing at an HBCU. Breanna enjoys learning and is excited for the future.
“There is no protection. To be female in this place is to be an open wound that cannot heal. Even if scars form, the festering is ever below.”― Toni Morrison, A Mercy
A helpful source to allow readers to explore and understand the purpose behind the words of Toni Morrison in A Mercy, this video will help readers understand from Toni Morrison’s point of view of the plot and understanding of the characters and why they go through these various situations.
Citation:
“Toni Morrison Discusses A Mercy”, NPR, YouTube. 29 Oct. 2008,
Chapters 4, 5 & 6 Plot and Biggest Takeaways:
Definition: Plot is a literary term used to describe the events that make up a story, or the main part of a story. These events relate to each other in a pattern or a sequence. The structure of a novel depends on the organization of events in the plot of the story.
Chapter 4
o In this chapter Rebekka is sick and Lina uses her native remedies to help her. She strays away from using the same healing prayers for Rebekka that she did for Jacob.
o Lina goes looking for Sorrow at the river and finds a group of campers she remembers as being other passengers of Florens’ wagon. She is asked not to mention seeing them to anyone.
Chapter 5
o Florens talks about her night in the tree, which is extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant experience. She goes to find a better sleeping place and eventually gathers branches of a tree and sleeps under them. Florens watches out for snakes, and also tries not to think about how thirsty she is.
o Florens thinks of her summer night with the Blacksmith to take her mind off of the discomfort from the tree.
Chapter 6
o While Lina is practicing native healing rituals on her, Rebekka begins to hallucinate figures and people hovering over her bed. Some are imaginary, like her daughter, some are real, like Lina whom she then recognizes as her friend.
o Later she hallucinates women who she met on the boat during her transatlantic journey.
Morrison, Toni. A Mercy. Alfred Knopf, 2008.