Who Is Joe in Toni Morrison's *Jazz*?
Joe Trace is a central and complex character in Toni Morrison's acclaimed novel Jazz. He is known for his deeply conflicted nature and for committing a pivotal act of violence that sets the narrative in motion.
Joe Trace: An Overview
Joe Trace is a fifty-year-old door-to-door salesman of beauty products in Harlem, New York, in the 1920s. He is the husband of Violet Trace, with whom he shares a long and complicated history.
Here are the key aspects of Joe Trace's character and role in the novel:
| Aspect | Description |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Joe Trace |
| Role | Central protagonist, husband of Violet Trace, and a beauty product salesman. |
| Core Nature | Despite his actions, Joe is presented as a kind-hearted and fundamentally good man. |
| Key Action | He shoots and kills his young lover, Dorcas Manfred, after she leaves him for another man. This act is the catalyst for much of the novel's exploration of love, obsession, and the past. |
| Motivation | His desperate act of violence is primarily driven by profound sadness and fear of abandonment and loss. |
| Background | Like his wife, Violet, Joe's considerable suffering and emotional turmoil largely stem from an unstable and painful childhood, marked by a quest for identity and belonging. |
The Catalyst: Joe's Act of Violence
The narrative of Jazz largely unfolds in the aftermath of Joe's shocking act: his murder of his young, eighteen-year-old lover, Dorcas Manfred. This event, born out of his overwhelming grief and emotional instability when Dorcas rejects him, reverberates throughout the lives of Joe, Violet, and those connected to Dorcas. His desperate search for her and the subsequent violence highlight his inability to cope with deep emotional pain, especially that which echoes his formative years.
Roots of His Suffering
Toni Morrison delves deeply into Joe's past to illuminate the origins of his internal struggles. His early life, characterized by uncertainty and a longing for a mother he never knew, shapes his adult vulnerabilities. This foundational suffering is a key theme, paralleling the emotional wounds carried by his wife, Violet, and underscoring the novel's exploration of intergenerational trauma and its impact on the African American experience in the early 20th century. His journey, alongside Violet's, becomes a quest for healing and understanding, moving from a place of intense pain to a nuanced, if fragile, peace.
