Disallowing and Differentiation of the Same Race : Black Characters Dream of Indigenous Ethnicity in Toni Morrison ' s Paradise

| ABSTRACT This paper will address the issue of disallowing and differentiation of the same race (shadism) in a bid to create a pure race throughout their experience and the remembrance of their previous generation's history. The remaining founding families established a new town in Ruby, which had a strict racial code that had to be followed by everyone in the town. Failure to do this resulted in punishment. Also, it uses the characters in the novel Paradise to show how their dream of an indigenous ethnicity fails due to the same issues they had experienced at the hands of the whites in their history of resistance. Discrimination between light-skinned blacks and dark-skinned blacks is evident. The disallowing event proves that even the black community despised each other on the basis of skin color.


Introduction
The idea of disallowing is central to the way the people of Ruby differentiated themselves from other people in Toni Morrison's Paradise. The town was vibrant and well taken care of by the people, but there was simmering discontent. This discontent may be attributed to the disallowing, which made the town founding fathers dislike people who are not similar to them in skin color. The founding families were rejected by a town made up of light-skinned blacks. This forced them to think of reasons which would have contributed to their rejection. They name that event the disallowing, which reminds them of the events that happened during that time. This paper will address the issue of disallowing and differentiation of the same race (shadism) in a bid to create a pure race throughout their experience and the remembrance of their previous generation's history. The remaining founding families established a new town in Ruby, which had a strict racial code that had to be followed by everyone in the town. Failure to do this resulted in punishment. Menus house is foreclosed after he comes back with a light-skinned lady from Virginia. Also, the Convent is attacked after the founding families decide that it is harboring evil activities. The attack on the convent changes the way people in the town think as they come to terms with the massacre. Some of the characters enjoy favorable treatment because of the family they come from. For example, K.D is able to get away with slapping and impregnating Arnette since he was the heir to Morgan's property. This chapter will use the characters in the novel Paradise to show how their dream of an indigenous ethnicity fails due to the same issues they had experienced at the hands of the white in their history of resistance. Discrimination between lightskinned blacks and dark-skinned blacks is evident. The event of the disallowing proves that even the black community despised each other on the basis of skin color. All this racial segregation is based on the problems that their ancestors faced during their history, where mistakes committed by them were taken into account as lessons that remain for history in order to avoid ethnic mixing.

Plot Summary of the novel
Paradise was the latest book that Toni Morrison wrote immediately after receiving his Nobel Peace Prize in literature. The book has nine chapters, some of which are named after the female characters of the book. The first chapter is titled Ruby and is named after the town, which has its own rules that are intended at limiting outside influence. The people in the town believe that outside influence will result in chaos; hence they limit the number of new people who come to the town. The first chapter starts with the famous line, 'They shoot the white girl first' (Morrison, 1998, 1). A convent is a place located south of the city where victims of domestic abuse shelter themselves. However, due to disagreements and issues within the town, the convent is blamed for the problems of the city. The leaders of the town decide to invade the convent so as to save their town. Thus, the first chapter starts by explaining to the reader the invasion of the convent by a group of nine armed men. Judging by the conversations of the nine men, we can affirm that they are searching for a person called Detritus. The convent displays the opulence of the previous owner, who was an embezzler. Inside the convent, the group of armed men finds evidence that supports their assertion that women from the convent were engaging in sinful behavior.
Ruby is a purposively black town that is made up of around 300 occupants. The fear of the convent is born from the troubled past of the town and the presence of violence and racial bigotry in the town. The ruling families maintain a system of racial purity that strives to prevent outside influence. Therefore, they focus on the convent, which they feel is causing all the trouble that the town is facing. The next chapters are named after the women in the convent. Each of the women faced domestic abuse issues and used the convent as a safe haven. The chapters that follow present the life of each woman up to the point she comes to the convent. At home, the women face discrimination from their husbands and family, which force them to look for alternatives. The convent is presented as the place where women go to search for solace. In the convent, the women are able to interact with each other and live a happy life till the convent is broken into, and some of the women are killed. As the novel ends, the spirits of the Convent women appear to people from their pasts. Therefore, we see characters looking for a paradise in the town and in the convent, each with varying degrees of success.

Issues of Race, Racism, and Shadism in Paradise
Race within the town is defined by the founding fathers. The majority of the people in the town are 8-rock blacks. Due to this, there are cases of discrimination due to race, and much of it is based on the complexion of the skin. On one side, light-skinned blacks feel entitled to being superior hence discriminating against the dark-skinned blacks. On the other hand, the dark-skinned blacks come up with their town that is excluded from the outside world in a bid to achieve a society with no discrimination. The end result is a society that disproves of others highly and one which believes their race is purer than others. This results in the prevention of biracial people from accessing Ruby as the founding fathers feel that they may interfere with the composition of the town. Due to the rising cases of violence and other vices, the founding families decide to vent their anger on the Convent. The reason is that the Convent, which was located south of the city, harbored people all kinds of people; this is the reason why the town is in chaos. The decision to attack the Convent ends up being a costly one as the women living there perish. Morrison used this allegory to show the reader how people's decisions that are not based on facts are costly.
Ruby is a town that is discriminatory through black-on-black racism. Black-on-black racism is when two people who are black in complexion discriminate against each other on the basis of how dark or light one's complexion is (Schur, 2004, 277). The town was formed by dark-skinned blacks who had been expelled from public office in Haven and could not find decent employment opportunities. The founding fathers of Ruby believed that their dark-skinned signified racial purity hence fought to alienate themselves and prevent outside interference. This resulted in other blacks with light-skinned complexion being discriminated against. The disallowing also reveals the inherent racism that plagued the town. The disallowing is an event that involved the darkskinned blacks being disallowed from accessing the town of Fairly by the light-skinned blacks. They, in turn, formed their own town Ruby which was founded by nine founding families who were dark-skinned blacks. The believed that they had a duty to maintain the purity of the town by disallowing biracial people from accessing the town. This shows that racism experienced by the founding fathers later became their tool to dominate others. The founding fathers built their town with the aim of having a society with no outside interference and which was peaceful. However, they achieve the opposite as the town is full of violence, especially to women who must escape from their homes to the Convent to find peace and solace.
In essence, shadism is a form of discrimination where members of the same race are treated differently because of the social implications attached to skin color. In Paradise, we find the town Ruby where the founding fathers have established a system that discourages biracial people from accessing the town. They believe that by doing that, they are preserving the racial purity of the town. Additionally, the founding fathers ensure that Colorism is used to define hierarchy. Before these, the original nine families were dark-skinned and believed that racism was a result of the gap in wealth and slavery. However, after the civil war, they realized that they were facing new discrimination from light-skinned blacks. The dark-skinned blacks are denied jobs and are shunned socially. "…that colored men would be embarrassed to be seen socially with their sisters. The sign of racial purity they had taken for granted had become a stain" (Morrison,194).
The quote above illustrates the realization that what the original founding fathers thought to be racial purity had changed to be a problem for them. They were surprised that fellow blacks would enforce a similar system of hierarchy according to skin color. In the town of Ruby, that realization forces some of the new founding fathers to change and start marrying light-skinned blacks.
She wrote: "Daddy, they don't hate us because Mama was your first customer. They hate us because she looked like a cracker and was bound to have cracker-looking children like me, and although I married Billy Cato, who was an 8-rock like you, like them, I passed the skin on to my daughter, as you and everybody knew I would. Notice how a lot of those Sands who married Seawrights are careful to make sure that their children marry into other 8-rock families. (Morrison,196) This creates division within the town, where characters such as Patricia and her family are hated due to her mother being lightskinned and her father dark-skinned. The town people believed that they had a duty to maintain the system of racial purity where dark-skinned blacks were the dominant group. So, this injustice makes Delia treated unfairly because she is in-between. Therefore, shadism can be attributed to have led to the slow demise of the town.

Historical Background of Paradise
Paradise was written in the year 1997 and was the first novel written by Toni Morrison after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Toni Morrison indicated that the novel Paradise completed a trilogy that was started by Beloved (1987) and continued by Jazz (1992). The novel begins with the famous line 'they shoot the white girl first.' It rearticulates the African American concept of nation-building by showing the violent history of Ruby. Ruby was formed by descendants of former slaves who wanted to forget the racial and economic suppression they underwent during the slavery and reconstruction era. The people of Ruby guard themselves against further oppression through the establishment of an isolationist code of behavior that hinders the introduction of new ideas, beliefs, or ethnicities. The reason is to prevent interference of their sense of racial pride and community. The isolationist code is rigid, and most of the time, it results in conflicts within the town as people try to introduce new ideas. The novel also includes the issue of religion and how it impacts the way we think. There is a convent where a group of women who have been marginalized by the strict code of behavior in Ruby stay. The founding fathers feel threatened by the presence of the convent, which results in the invasion of the convent. The use of the convent by Toni was a way to show the plight of women in America during the period of slavery and the post-civil war era.
Morrison broadens our understanding of life in America for blacks and how women suffered at home silently. Also, it broadens our understanding of the concept of isolationism and exclusion and how the two concepts were essential in the development of slavery. The connection between Ruby and the united states can be seen explicitly when the author links the history of the citizens of Ruby to that of America. The text offers a better and alternative view of the official American history that includes the black's experience.
In 1949… Before first light in the middle of August, fifteen families moved out of Haven-headed not for Muskogee or California as some had, or Saint Louis, Houston, Langston or Chicago, but deeper into Oklahoma, as far as they could climb from the grovel contaminating the town their grandfathers had made. (Morrison,16) The author locates the introduction of the principles of exclusion for the black community to the Exoduster movement. This is because, during that movement, many blacks migrated to Kansas and Oklahoma due to failures of the Reconstruction period to bring equality, rights, and security to African Americans (Finkelman,489). The Exodusters movement hoped that by establishing over 60 all-black towns, they would be safe and would have access to voting rights, land, and education. The book suggests that it is impossible for a community to create a new beginning until it comes to terms with the traumatic past. As shown in the novel, the town repeats the same exclusions similar to those experienced before moving into the new town. The movement in large numbers from the south towards new areas shows that African Americans desired a better life and wanted to change their conditions. However, they were not prepared adequately for the new changes. When the first founding fathers move to a town known as Fairly, they are dismissed and told that them being poor is the reason that they won't be accepted in the town. They come to a realization that it is not their wealth status that is the problem; it is the fact that they are dark-skinned blacks. They came to believe that in the town of Fairly, light-skinned blacks had adopted a system similar to that of white dominance. This influences the decisions they make for their new town called Ruby.

Previous Studies on Paradise
A study focused on the issues of women characters and how they faced discrimination masked as protection. In Ruby, women were given freedom such that they would walk any time in the day and night without being bothered. However, that freedom was in a way a restriction, for they had to conform to stringent ideas on how they should behave. The stringent rules were set by men, and the intention was to control them so they could behave in a particular way (Parvaneh, 2011). Parvaneh gave a good explanation of the issues of women and how they did get their freedom but did not focus on race, racism, and shadism at all. It may help in some cases of my analysis to show the effect of male characters on female one in terms of priority of the same race on the other.
Additionally, Toni uses the novel to explain the nature of freedom and what it meant to African Americans. The differentiation of blacks from whites based on their wealth and social standing influenced the development of slavery and racism; The plan to allocate the blacks a low social standing in order to use them as cheap labor influenced and continues to influence the perception of African Americans by most people (Armengol, 2017, 480). The blacks in the town of Ruby create a society where blacks are free and can carry out any economic activity they want. However, they enact restrictions that are aimed at helping the town remain pure, which creates divisions. Some of the families are favored due to their place in history. Favoritism brings disunity to the town, which ultimately contributes to the decline of the town. This study shows the unity of the black community and how did they create their own places, but it does not show the intra-racism among blacks (whether they are dark-skinned or light-skinned). In addition to that, it did show the importance of isolation.
The novel is based on the black migration in the 1930s when they were freed from being slaves. The migration was meant to find new areas to settle where they would live peacefully without disturbance. History is used by the founding fathers to explain to their grandchildren what the experience of being a black man was like. The stories are used to instill into them a fear specifically for the white man. The use of history to change people's perception of things has been widely used within the book. Pat reconstructs her lineage and learns that there is a part of the history of the town that is hidden from the official version (Rico, 2019, 64). We learn that there is an alternate history that most people in the town are not aware of. The founding families use history to manipulate the people into doing what serves their interests. Thus, the town people experience shadism in the hands of the people who had sworn to protect and respect them. Morrison's use of the phrase "They shoot the white girl first" talks about the nature of the book and what issues will be central to the discussion. In Paradise, Morrison shows a different kind of racism that of blacks against blacks themselves (Xu and Liu, 2020, 68). In Ruby, it was forbidden for people to marry a white or light-skinned person because they believed in racial purity. Racial purity is a way for the members of the 8-rock families to discriminate against other people who were non-8-rocks (Xu and Liu, 2020, 70). This study is very helpful to connect the incidents that happened in the novel and the US history; still not studied the issues of shadism.

Black Sufferance from the White Community and the Prospects of Independence from Colorism and Inferiority
Paradise expounds on the plight of the freed slaves who had to find somewhere to call home after they were given freedom. Most of the freed slaves went south to cities such as Kansas and Oklahoma. The black community had long endured suffering during the slavery era and eventually the post-civil war era. The basis of the discrimination started first as based on wealth, but over time it changed to their skin color. To make matters worse, fellow blacks would be discriminatory to blacks who came to settle in towns that had already been set up. The freed slaves had to trek for long in their caravan as they moved from place to place until they settled on a place they named Fairly. However, in this instance, they were chased away, for they did not have the economic power to be able to start life in some of the towns. The founding fathers, who had trekked for long until they settled on a place, they named Haven to explain how the journey was complex to their children at the Oven. The Oven was a communal place where people came to discuss issues and enjoy a hearty meal. During that time, access to electricity was for towns that were predominantly white. New towns made up of blacks lacked enough facilities for the community to use, but they were content with what they had as long as there was peace (Read, 2005, 530). The freed slaves were in search of a better place and were escaping the ordeals of suffering as slaves at the hands of the white man. This shows the nature of freedom to blacks and how even after being freed, they found no support even from fellow blacks.
Another issue that the black community encountered was the refusal to settle in the already established black-dominated towns by the black inhabitants. Toni explains how freed slaves went on to form new towns after attaining freedom.
Denied and guarded against, they altered their route and made their way west of the unassigned lands, south of Logan County, across the Canadian River into Arapaho territory. Becoming stiffer, prouder with each misfortune, the details of which were engraved into the twins' powerful memories (Morrison,14).
This shows the hardships that the black community has had to endure. Forming the towns was not an easy task as most of them did not have enough money. In Haven, for example, only a school, one shop a bank could be referred to as facilities. The community came together to create the Oven, which was symbolic of bringing people together. Also, Toni expounds on the plight of black women under the hands of both white and black men. Women have been discussed at great length in the novel, and most of the time, it is because of their suffering. Mavis, the first woman who joined the Convent, runs away from her husband after the realization that there were plans to kill her. She goes and meets Connie, who leads her to the convent, where she stays until the day of the attack. The Convent is symbolic as it is a meeting place for 'damaged women.' The head of the convent strives to make the life of fellow women better and to help them find themselves again. Most of them had drug abuse problems which makes it even hard for Sister Consolata to help them. Therefore, the black community in Paradise strives to end their suffering at the hands of the whites by moving away to areas where they feel safe. However, moving to new towns does not guarantee that the sufferance will end. Instead, they establish the same system of a hierarchy similar to that they were running away from.
The prospects of the black community obtaining freedom and independence from Colorism and inferiority are well presented in Paradise. For starters, the act of trekking for long distances to find a better place to settle in the first act by the black community to move away from the suffering and discrimination (Jenkins, 2006, 272). In the white-dominated towns, blacks couldn't have access to some of the facilities as the white did not want to do business with them. In the novel, we find that the black community in Haven and Ruby used to trade farm items for things they needed. This does not mean that they did not have access to banks or money; instead, it shows how low the economic position of the new black towns was. Connie illustrated this when Mavis came to ask for help.
"Did you think up anything about how I can get me some gasoline?" "Wait a while. Today maybe, tomorrow maybe. People be out to buy." "Buy? Buy what?" "Garden things. Things I cook up. Things they don't want to grow themselves." "And one of them can take me to get some gas?" "Sure." "Suppose nobody comes?" "Always come. Somebody always comes. Every day. This morning already I sold forty-eight ears of corn and a whole pound of peppers" (Morrison,40).
Building new towns meant that they had to come up with facilities for the community such as a school, bank, and shops. The main economic activity was farming, as there were plenty of lands to till. This situation may have made blacks feel inferior since, in other white-dominated towns, the difference in terms of economic status was huge. The black community had to come together and create similar facilities without assistance from the government. Creating the towns was a way of showing defiance to the system that was in place. Also, this move enhanced their chances of being viewed differently. Freedom is important as without it; the freed slaves would not have been able to move to new places and settle down.
As the black community succeeds in setting up new towns, they encounter several problems that hinder their prospects of achieving independence and being seen as an inferior race. "From the beginning when the town was founded, they knew isolation did not guarantee safety" (Morrison,12). However, the first town, Haven, did not succeed for long. After the start of the war, most of the young men left to fight in the war. The town left behind did not do well since the people keeping it together had left. Most of the men who returned decided to abandon the town and search for a new place to settle down. The town people don't forget to leave with the Oven, which was a symbol of unity for them. The development of Ruby took time since most of the new founding fathers were not wealthy. However, the town is deemed safe enough for women to walk around at any time without being disturbed by anyone. " Sometimes, if they were young and drunk or old and sober, the strangers might spot three or four colored girls walkdawdling along the side of the road." (12). This was important as it showed that in that town, people valued women and worked to ensure their safety. However, this all changes when the Convent is started, and new people start coming into the convent. The town had s dislike for new people as they felt that their town would be sucked into the troubles that exist out there. The town people believe in racial purity, which makes them dislike anyone who is different than them. This hate is similar to that which was meted against their parents before the end of slavery. Thus, the black community adopted a similar approach to that of the white people, which is ironic as that was what made them disenfranchised (Hilfrich, 2006, 330). It became real racism from the same race when they treated other parts of the race (light-skinned people) as inferiors from their town.

The Idea of Disallowing
The black community in Ruby attempted to maintain law and order within the community through the idea of disallowing. The founding fathers of Ruby installed a set of guidelines that were to be used to maintain and preserve the bloodline. The founding fathers believed that by disallowing women from getting children with outsiders, they would preserve the blood line and thus maintain racial purity (Jessee, 2006, 82). This idea of disallowing came up when the initial founding fathers of Haven reached a town called Fairly and were disallowed from accessing the town by the members of the town who were fairly light-skinned. They felt they were discriminated against because of their skin color. This made them more determined to create a community that was devoid of influence from the outside. The disallowing resulted in a more authoritarian system. In Ruby, women are disallowed from various things by the founding fathers, who consider them as their subordinates. The leadership of the town is predominantly male who exert control over everything that is happening in the town. They adopted a policy of negotiation when something happened instead of negation. Negotiation meant that they decided what was wrong and right depending on the situation. This system of living was not different from that applied to them by the white man during the years of slavery. The system showed how racism between fellow blacks divided the black community. The people of Ruby thought they were creating a pure town, but it was the type of racism where people from the same race treated each other differently, unlike the town Fairy. They created a kind of racism equal to that they were suffered; white and light-skinned people treated in a discriminated way, unlike 8 rock (dark-skinned) who feel a priority. They treat them as "outsiders" with the idea that light-skinned people are enemies too, which will break the hardness and unity of blackness. Moreover, the racism of white people on black seems stereotypical to look at them as inferiors, but adding the racism among blacks will make their life worse.

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The town's strict racial code was an instrument used to offer guidelines on what to do and what not to do. Marriage was closely monitored by the founding fathers so as to prevent damaging the blood line.
The generations had to be not only racially untampered with but free of adultery too. "God bless the pure and holy" indeed. That was their purity. That was their holiness. That was the deal Zechariah had made during his humming prayer. It wasn't God's brow to be feared (Morrison,217) Through their created low, they thought that Ruby was going to be pure and free from ethnos. This act itself is a form of shadism where the light-skinned people will be treated differently from them and from the white community. The town founding fathers believed that women should not engage in relations with any person from the outside or else they bring trouble to the town (Fuqua, 2012, 50). This shows that the town people had been programmed to believe that people from the outside were different and did not mean any good to the town. Thus, when people discover the Convent, they grow suspicious and blame it on the evils befalling the town. The convent accepted women who ran away from their homes in search of a better place and peace. The women at the convent were not doing anything that would harm the community, which makes the attack on the Convent surprising. The people feel that the convent goes against their idea of exclusivity. The agreement to go and attack the Convent is made at the Oven, which had changed from a symbol of unity to a symbol of what was wrong with the town. The strict racial code helped convince the people that invading the Convent was the right thing to do. The town's use of the racial code was meant to construct new meaning and identity for the people of the town. The exclusivity practiced by the town people became their undoing. The new identity would have resulted in a race with a pure blood line.
The two towns of Haven and Ruby were different in many ways. People who first settled in Haven believed in the sense of community where people did things together and helped each other where necessary. Also, the Oven was more important in Haven as it served as a meeting place where people would come together and roast full animals for the community to eat. The people of Haven only needed a small common stove for their cooking needs; the oven served the community at large. It was at the Oven where the founding fathers told stories of how they trekked for long distances and how they were disallowed from accessing various black towns that they found on the way. The disallowing events stick into the mind of their grandchildren. These events serve as a reminder of what the outside world holds for the black person (Fuqua, 2012, 54). Thus, when they move to a new place, they enact strict guidelines that limit what the town people would do.
In Ruby, the new founding fathers had more power over what happened and often would be the ones to solve an issue that arose. The inhabitants of Ruby prefer to stay indoors most of the time, which is a big change to what happened in Haven; they concentrated on the idea of being far from the 'other' or, as it is mentioned in the novel "out there" (Morrison,16). The Oven changes meaning in Ruby as it is now seen as a shrine for the town. Few people visited the Oven, which is in contrast to the situation in Haven. The effects of losing their town force them to be more cautious in the new time. This shows the level of fear and trust that the people had over the white people.
The community of Ruby also practiced internal disallowing. It happens when the community excludes inhabitants of the town for failing to follow the unspoken blood rule. Patricia's father, Roger Best, was the first to break the unspoken color rule. This made the community hate his family and distrust them.
They hate us because she looked like a cracker and was bound to have cracker-looking children like me, and although I married Billy Cato, who was an 8-rock like you, like them, I passed the skin on to my daughter, as you and everybody knew I would (Morrison,196) Patricia thinks that the reason they were hated was that Delia was light-skinned and would have gotten good-looking children. Since they had set up a strict racial code, everyone was supposed to follow the code. In order to construct a racial identity that suited what they wanted, the people in the town of Ruby practiced avoidance when it came to issues that affected the whole community. The community practices both racial purity and moral superiority. They were of the view that within the town, morality couldn't be questioned due to the strict code established for the people of the town. Racial purity was a way of trying to revenge against the discrimination they encountered during the disallowing at the town of Fairly (Jessee, 2006, 84). The people sought to have a town where the bloodline would be strictly black. Their attempt to rename the town Ruby is ironic as they name it after a woman who died due to lack of access to better health services. Also, the Ruby community considers their place as "Unique and isolated" (Morrison,8). This was another indicator of the community's rejection, exclusion, and endangerment of the white and light-skinned people.

Effect of Shadism on the Black Community
Female characters are given prominence in the novel. During the era of the novel, the women don't have many rights, and they depend on men " Nobody, I mean nobody, is going to change the Oven or call it something strange. Nobody is going to mess with a thing our grandfathers built" (Morrison, 85). In addition to that, the oven. Morrison uses every female character to show a type of discrimination that was meted on them. Mavis is one of the women in the novel who experiences discrimination based on race from his fellow community members. Mavis was married to Frank, who was the laughing stock of the town for buying a Cadillac, yet their family was living in poverty. Mavis is seen as uneducated and not worthy of bringing up children. When being interviewed by a journalist on the accidental death of her children, Mavis senses that the journalist does not believe her story. Also, she comes to the realization that even though the neighbors offered their condolences, they were pleased when they heard of the death of the twins (Jessee, 2006, 93). It's not clear why she thinks this, but we can infer that she felt a level of distrust of the people who were around her. She even thinks that her children intend to kill her, which is why she runs away and finds herself at the Convent."The neighbors seemed pleased when the babies smothered. Probably because of the mint green Cadillac in which they died had annoyed them for some time" (21).
This quote indicates that the neighbors were not pleased with Mavis and her family, although she is one member of the community and the family itself; this means that racial discrimination or shadism still applies there between black people. The death of the twins compounded the hate as even her own child Sal looked at her differently as she also thought her mother was responsible for the twin's death. Morrison may have used this moment to show the reader the family dynamics in most of the black families. Mavis had been left with the sole responsibility of taking care of his three grown-up children and newborn twins. Losing the twins while going grocery shopping indicates how she had to juggle different tasks all by herself. Women had little control over their lives yet had so much to do during their lifetime. This treatment of women shows that the patriarchal system had taken root even in the new black communities.
The Morgan family enjoyed control over the town due to their ownership of the bank. K.D was the last surviving Morgan; hence he was treated with care and was left to do anything he wanted. The Morgan's run the only successful bank in the town. This allowed them to maintain a grip on the town and were involved in all the major decisions. They act in a selfish way by setting interest rates to as high as they want so as to gain more money (Romero, 2005, 422). These acts of selfishness and greed ensured that they continued to be rich. These acts can be a reaction of them because they suffer from white people to gain justice: "No colored people were allowed in the wards. No regular doctor would attend them" (Morrison,113). This quote shows the way blacks dark-skinned were treated even they described them as an animal when they said the girl needed a veterinarian. As we mentioned that they own the bank (their economic situation is better than other citizens), so they accept the superiority low of the 8-rock.
The situation with K.D worried the family members as they felt he would make a mistake at any time. K.D impregnates a lady by the name of Arnette and forces her to keep it a secret. On one occasion, he slaps Arnette for saying that he is interested in Gigi (Grace). This situation forces Morgan to negotiate with Arnette's family, for K.D had brought dishonor to Arnette by slapping and impregnating her. The family of K.D presents a united front and makes sure that the issue is sorted without other people knowing of the details: "However, disgusted both were, K.D. knew they would not negotiate a solution that would endanger him or the future of Morgan money" (55).
The quote above shows the arrogance that K.D had, which made him do anything without care. He was sure that nothing bad would happen to him even if he committed a crime in the town. This shows that preferential treatment was accorded to some of the people in the town on the basis of their 'family name' (Romero, 2005, 420). Arnette's family is forced to make a deal which includes Arnette being sent to college by the Morgan's. This shows the power the rich people have over the poor people. Also, it shows that the same principles of racism were being applied by the Morgan's against their fellow black counterpart. Additionally, Morgan abused their position as the owners of the banking institution to enrich themselves at the behest of the community.
This was a common theme in America before banking regulations were passed. The town people may not have been aware of the intentions of the Morgan's since they had perfected the art of having parallel agendas to confuse the community members. This case of racism within the same race can be found in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. When Geraldine, who is a light-skinned, middleclass woman, tries to teach her son that he is different from his colleague Pecola because she is from a poor family, although they are from the same race where the issues of shadism can be seen from the perspective of the intersectionality of some of the identity's aspects such as gender, class, education, are, ability, reputation..etc. In Paradise, Morgan's economic situation led them to make preferential treatment against their follows black.
In the novel, the woman called Ruby experienced consistent discrimination when accessing segregated hospitals. Ruby was a woman who belonged to the Morgan family and was K. D's mother. Ruby fell ill and was taken to several segregated hospitals where they refused to treat her. She dies while waiting for a veterinary doctor to arrive to treat her " When the brothers learned the nurse had been trying to reach a veterinarian" (Morrison,113). This shows the prejudices that the black community experienced back then. Lack of medical access is detrimental to every society as it means that people will die of things that can be cured. It seems that the white-dominated society of America did not want African Americans to live for long. Research shows that the African American people were denied health access as they were not considered citizens of the country (Gauthier, 2011, 79). This level of hate forces the people of Haven to create a society that is different from one they had known. They created a town that is prejudiced against outsiders in a bid to revenge what happened to them in Fairly. The whole point of creating a town that has a specific code of conduct affects some of the characters who suffer discrimination due to the rules of the town; they tried to create a town where they can reverse what they suffered. The girls at the Convent are among the people to be caught between the towns fighting for morality and racial purity. They consider the Convent a haven of evil and are prepared to kill the occupants. We noticed that in the midst of the attackers, there was a man who had an interest in the land occupied by the Convent. This was a hidden agenda that he did not share with the rest of the group (Rico, 2019, 102).
The word 8-rock is used by Patricia to denote the eight families that were the founders of the town. The name 8-rock represents the deepest level of a coal mine, " An abbreviation for eight-rock, a deep, deep level in the coal mines." (Morrison,193). This word was used to show how extremely dark-skinned the founders of the town were. The founding families strive to maintain that system of racial purity by disallowing anyone to marry outsiders such as light-skinned blacks and whites. In one case, Menus is forced out of his house after he arrives with a light-skinned lady whom she intended to marry. His house was foreclosed as a punishment. The house is then given to Dovey, which becomes his second house. He even wonders why they never allowed Menus to keep the house. Additionally, Billie Delia has to live in fear as the founding families despise her since she was born by a light-skinned mother. The issue of racial purity was important for the town more than anything. It makes them forget what brought them together, which in turn causes the decline of the town. The need to be different was the ultimate cause of the decline of Ruby. The more the founding families insist on racial purity, the more there are disagreements in the town. Morrison uses irony to show how racial purity and morality are the foundations of the town, but in the end, the two issues end up being what divides the town (Xu & Liu, 2020, 6). It was impossible to enforce the guidelines even though the town was isolated as new people still came in. However, the founding families still maintain their standards by enforcing the rules selectively to others.
Deacon and Steward were twin brothers who corroborated to maintain a firm grip on the town. However, the two have disagreements based on some decisions that were made regarding the Convent. Also, Deacon is angry due to losing Connie, whom they had an affair with. Deacon goes to Reverend Misner for a confession; he even walks barefoot to the house of the reverend "rather than dance" (Morrison,301). The conversation between them reveals that Zechariah Morgan, his grandfather had a twin whom he disowned after an incident with a white man. The incident involved Zechariah and his twin and a white man. The white man told them to dance or else he will shoot them. Zechariah refused to dance and was shot in the foot, whereas his twin obliged and was not touched. This changes the way Zechariah views his twin brother, where he even abandons him.
This story shows that standing up to the white was seen as an important aspect of a black person's life. However, this decision by Zechariah is intriguing as he chooses to lose a brother instead of reconciliation. Morrison intended to show the dilemma that was faced by most male black youths as they had to decide whether to fight back or be humble and accept to be discriminated against (Armengol, 2017, 475). Zechariah discriminated against his twin brother for showing fear to the white man, something that should not have happened. The pressure to stand up to the white man may have led to many innocent deaths for the black community. Zechariah may have been right to abandon his brother, but his actions were not different from what the white man wanted. The whites were happy to break down black communities as they gave them a sense of togetherness. The idea was to make them fragmented so they would not be able to come together again (Jessee, 2006, 81). This worked well in some places, while in others, it did not work. Also, Mavis had two children before meeting Frank which is an indicator of the family issues that plagued black women. Also, a look at the family status of most of the people in Ruby shows that women don't have a say in what is happening around them. The men think that because of the safety provided for in the town, the women are moral. They link women's good behavior to the strict code they had established, noting that were it not for such a code, there would be immorality in the town. This shows how men viewed women as people who couldn't make their own decisions.
The Disallowing continued in Ruby as long as the twin brother did not forget about the refuse of the light-skinned to them: "Between them, they remember the details of everything that ever happened-things they witnessed and things they have not." (Morrison,13). Thus, show the social injustice and discrimination among blacks, whether they are light-skinned or darkskinned.
After a long period of suffering, fighting, and disharmony, hopes started to appear where they started to think about the real haven where no injustice and racial purity existed. They started to think about the reason behind their isolation from society. So Lone shut up and kept what she felt certain of folded in her brain: God had given Ruby a second chance. Had made Himself so visible and unarguable a presence that even the outrageously prideful (like Steward) and the uncorrectable stupid (like his lying nephew) ought to be able to see it. (Morrison, They gave themselves another chance to reconcile and gave the town the pure meaning of a dream that they gathered for. So, ethnic segregation will no longer appear in the town; life does not depend on race or any differential norms such as class, education, abilities, age, and others. To reinforce the idea, at the beginning of the novel, that shows the insignificance of the race, whatever it is, especially for women: "They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time. No need to hurry out here." (Morrison, 3). The indication of the word white shows that colored people are important, but for girls, it does matter if it is located in a patriarchal society where the men controlled women regardless of their race. Morrison intentionally said to Paul Gray that where he wrote: "I did that on purpose," Morrison says. "I wanted the readers to wonder about the race of those girls until those readers understood that their race didn't matter. I want to dissuade people from reading literature in that way." And she adds: "Race is the least reliable information you can have about someone. It's real information, but it tells you next to nothing." (2001)

Conclusion
The differentiation that occurred between light-skinned blacks and dark-skinned blacks resulted in blacks being disallowed from some towns due to their skin color. Shadism happens in many instances in the novel and is the cause of the creation of the two towns, Haven and Ruby. The founding fathers were aiming to create a community where their dark skin color was considered pure. This is a replication of how racism was created; the white people considered themselves more superior to the blacks. The replication of the ideals of racism in Ruby may be an attempt by the writer to show us that discrimination within the same race was similar to racism meted against blacks. The black women of Ruby suffer the consequences of shadism by living a life that is highly controlled by their men. Male domination is seen as the reason women of Ruby are well behaved as compared to other places. It is for this reason that women are prohibited from being in relationships with people from the outside (whites and light-skinned blacks). The Convent is seen as a place where evil things happen, and the council decides to invade the place. The invasion was preplanned, with some of the people having ulterior motives. Pearson is able to get the lands that the Convent leased him for free, which helps him expand his farming enterprise. The Morgan's participate in the disenfranchisement of the black community by setting highinterest rates so as to increase their earnings. This makes them powerful individuals such that every decision made they had to be consulted. The isolation that Ruby's citizens create is to live in peace, justice, and without differentiation; at first, they did not understand each other through creating racial purity, but they end up seeing that they did not create the haven that they dreamed of and started to reconcile and forget about race. In her novel Paradise, Morrison shows that racial purity is not important for her and race does not matter. Besides, the acts of shadism cannot build a solid, united, and justice-based society.