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Jazz Study Guide

by Toni Morrison

Jazz study guide contains a biography of Toni Morrison, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

The novel opens in the black Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, the year is 1926 and on an ice-cold winter morning, a woman named Violet Trace has thrown open her windows and emptied her birdcages of their flocks, including her favorite, lonely bird that always said "I love you." Violet is a fifty-year-old black woman, she is skinny and emotionally unstable. We learn that she has been living in Harlem for several years, but city life is difficult and the narrator hints that maybe the stresses of Harlem are finally wearing Violet down. On one afternoon, Violet began carelessly wandering the sidewalks and then, for no apparent reason, she sat down in the middle of street, surrounded by a few concerned neighbors. Violet is married and she lives…

Read the full Jazz Summary

• Jazz Summary
• About Jazz
• Character List
• Major Themes
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 1-2
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 3-4
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 5-6
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 7-8
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 9-10
• Related Links on Jazz
• Test Yourself! - Quiz 1
• Test Yourself! - Quiz 2
• Author of ClassicNote and Sources

• Jazz: Major Themes
• Jazz: Essays
• Jazz: Questions
• Jazz: Purchase the Novel and Related Material
• Toni Morrison: Biography