Nobel Prize Lecture by Author Toni Morrison.

¶ … Nobel Prize lecture by author Toni Morrison. Specifically, it will contain a summary and response to the author's lecture. Morrison's essay uses her medium -- language -- to convey the meaning of words and the importance of the people who keep language alive. Her lecture is a commanding look at the power of language, and how language can change the world -- for better or worse. Morrison's lecture begins with a parable about an old blind woman who is a wise leader of her people.

To challenge her, some young people come and demand to know whether the bird they hold is dead or alive. Her wise answer is the basis for Morrison's lecture, because she uses language and its nuances to answer the challenge, and to challenge the young people in return. Morrison goes on to decry dead language that is used for political and social gains, and urge people to do the best they can with language, because it, in the end, is all people truly have. She notes, "We die.

That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives" (Morrison). She goes on to show how language can be a tool, a weapon, and a device for change. It is also a medium of trust, and so it must be treated with respect and love. It is clear Morrison truly loves language, and she uses it so effectively, it is easy to see why.

Her lecture is a plea to people to use language wisely or not at all, because it is such a powerful medium. It records history, and it can change the fate of humankind. She continues in her lecture, "You, old woman, blessed with blindness, can speak the language that tells us what only language can: how to see without pictures. Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names. Language alone is meditation" (Morrison). Language can indeed help the blind see and the deaf hear.

Morrison's use of the language shows that, and illustrates how important language is to her. It won her a Nobel Prize, but more than that, it is a medium that she can use to reach large amounts of people with a message she believes is important, even vital to the world. She wants people to use language for good, and not bad, and that is the ultimate message of her lecture.

Finally, the old woman learns -- through language -- that she can trust the young people, and she recognizes they have changed their opinion after listening to her for a while. They have made a difference, and when they leave her home, they will continue to make a difference with language. Morrison's lecture is highly political, because she decries language used to start wars and in bureaucracy and crime. She calls it the "looting of language," and worries that language will suffer and even die because of it.

Beautiful, descriptive language is one of the most important gifts the people have, and to lose it would be a tragedy. Morrison sees language evolving into something less than art, and she is frightened by this "looting" and that it will continue. It seems that if people like Morrison continue to manipulate the language so effectively, that language, pure and beautiful.