Freedom in Death

On Sunday I attended the opera Margaret Garner, written by Toni Morisson. The story reimagines the real life tragedy of a female slave runaway near the turn of the last century. When found by her slave owner Margaret chooses to end the lives of her family rather than return to slavery. In the opera Margaret succeeds in killing both children; in reality she only succeeded in taking the life of one child, thus sparing her from a life as a slave.

The opera raises many questions as did the real Margaret Garner. Should she be tried for murder or stealing the property of her slave owner? What is the moral implications of taking the life of another, particularly that of your child?

For me, watching the opera unfold I felt overwhelmingly that death is to be prefered over a life of slavery. Death frees the soul, the spirit to return to the formlessnes from whense it came. Surely this must be the sweetest ecstasy. I think Margaret Garner was a brave woman in full possession of the knowledge of her own divinity and thus her right to create which is the twin of the right to destroy.

Still, all philosophical and moral points aside, I think opera sung in English suffers from the lack of melody in the sound of the English language. If anyone can make the language sound poetic, it is the extraordinary Denyce Graves and her fellow cast. See it if you can. The run ends 11/9.
http://www.margaretgarner.com/