Digging in their heels

So, this week's novel in class was Toni Morrison's Paradise. It was sometimes hard to follow, but certainly had some hard truths to tell. The story takes place in the mythical Ruby, Oklahoma, a black community established in the wake of the further disenfranchisement of freedmen in the south. The founders of the community were push from Mississippi and Louisiana to their first "Haven." When things stagnate there, a splinter group eventually moves on to Ruby. But, in any closed community, stagnation and dissatisfaction are inevitable. A society that doesn't change is destined to fail. Humanity is meant to continue to grow, to learn, to adjust. Differences beget advancement. The danger in Ruby is not only physical inbreeding, which is beginning to produce deformed children, but the mental inbreeding which produces a deformed mind and conscience.