Biography

Toni Morrison, or Chloe Ardelia Wofford, was born in Lorain, Ohio, 1931. According to Heinze and Lewis, Morrison endured economic and social hardships. Her father, George Wofford worked 4 jobs at one time: a shipyard welder, car wash, steel mill welder, and a construction worker; while her mother, Ramah Wofford worked "humiliating" jobs. Struggling, lower-middle class family striving their way in a world of poverty, hate and racism. However, Heinze and Lewis explain that Morrison had a strong family structure. Her grandfather, taught himself how to read and greatly encouraged his children and grandchildren to read and write. The family loved to recite and sing mysterious, fantastical stories. Morrison quotes that her family is "intimate with the supernatural". This seems to be a common theme in the Bluest Eye; encompassing Greek mythology and spirit like ideas of the seen and unseen.
While attending Howard University she received the nickname Toni. She soon lost her love for college because of the gripping female pressure of marriage, fashion and cliques. Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953, and then graduated with her masters from Cornell in 1955. In 1960 she married Harold Morrison, a Jamaican architect. She had 2 boys and in 1964 was divorced. 6 years later she wrote her first novel, The Bluest Eye.