The Narrator and Their Impact

            The first section of Toni Morrison’s novel, Jazz, leaves the reader curious as to who is narrating this story. The narrator does not disclose their name, gender, or age, but the reader is able to get a sense as to who this narrator is through the opinions, personal likes, and dislikes that they reveal about the City. In the first eight paragraphs of the novel, the narrator spends time telling the story of Violet, Violet’s husband named Joe, and the eighteen year old girl Joe becomes involved with. In this section, the reader gets a sense that this narrator may be close to Violet and Joe since s/he states “Sth, I know that woman” and “Know her husband too” (1). But once the reader reaches the ninth paragraph, the narrator begins to talk about him/herself, and gives the reader reasons to speculate that the narrator is actually a spirit that roams New York City and has merely taken interest in the lives of this couple. In this portion of the text, in which the narrator takes over, s/he states “I’m crazy about this City” and just like the city, s/he is strong and “alone, yes, but top notch and indestructible” which makes it seem as though the narrator is immortal (7). As the narrator begins to describe the dangers that the City may be bring, s/he shares that s/he “haven’t got any muscles” and that “no one knows all there is to know about [him/her]”, and creates an image of a bodiless or rather invisible speaker (8). The narrator also reveals that s/he “watch[es] everything and everyone and [tries] to figure out their plans, their reasonings, long before they do” and though “the City makes people think they can do what they want and get away with it” s/he sees them (8). Since the narrator is all seeing and knowing, the narrator seems to hold a superior and supernatural standing. Though one may argue that the narrator may in fact be a human being since s/he is told to “come out more”, the spirit may be reflecting the ideals of the city’s people since the City makes the narrator “dream tall and feel in on things” (7-9). 

            The opening sentence of the novel begins with the pronoun “I”, which makes the reader believe this story will solely be told using first person point of view. However, as the story progresses, the reader begins to notice that the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of Violet and Joe, introducing a third person omniscient point of view. The narrator states that Joe’s relationship with the eighteen year old girl “made him so sad and happy”, indicating that s/he knows the feelings Joe had toward this person (1). When the narrator begins to talk about Violet and her attempt to punishing her husband by having a boyfriend, s/he states “She thought it would dry his tears up and giver her some satisfaction as well”, demonstrating that the narrator has access to Violet’s thoughts (4). Later on in this section, as mentioned previously, the narrator raves about the City for eight paragraphs in which she continuously uses first person point of view. S/he later returns to third person omniscient when s/he continues to tell Violet’s story and introduces other characters such as Armistice and goes into depth with Dorcas Manfred’s character for example. Since the narrator’s point of view interchanges throughout this portion of the novel, the reader gets more information as to who these characters are as individual’s, giving the reader the ability to make their own judgements about them. It also gives the text an intimate feel, as if the narrator was speaking directly to the reader about these events. It makes the narrator seem as a direct and trustworthy source since it seems as though s/he knows everything that happened, the characters’ thoughts, who was present at the time in which these events occurred, as well as the aftermath of it all. 

            For the majority of this section of the novel, the narrator remains neutral toward the story’s events. The most shocking event is revealed when the narrator states that Joe shot the eighteen year old “just to keep the feeling going”, though the reader might expect the narrator to say Joe was wrong for doing this, the narrator moves on to speak about Violet and what she did at the funeral without any commentary (1). However when s/he discusses the meeting of the Salem Women’s club, the reader hears the voice of the narrator when s/he includes in parentheses that Joe was “a more or less able husband (who needed to stop feeling sorry for himself)” (4). The narrator also comments on Violet’s actions at the funeral stating, “You’d think that being thrown out of church would be the end of it -the shame and all- but it wasn’t” (4). The narrator also speaks on Violet’s boyfriend and s/he knowing “that mess [that] didn’t last two weeks” (5). In all of these events, the narrator does not sympathize with Joe nor Violet. The narrator does not care for the feelings Joe is undergoing after having shot Dorcas and wants him to stop. The narrator also does not support Violet’s actions and finds her rather foolish. 

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