In the novel Beloved, memory plays a key role in the lives of multiple characters. Toni Morrison introduces us to Sethe, an escaped slave living in the 1870s with her daughter, Denver. The focus of this paper is to show that Morrison’s use of memory and flashback discloses more than just plot and character development. Memory reveals Sethe’s reasoning for trying to kill her children in an attempt to “put [her] babies where they’d be safe.” Using Sethe as the focal point in this narrative, it serves two purposes. For one, it centers in the mind of the main character and frames our understanding of motivation through her “rememory.” Sethe’s recollection of a motherless, “iron-eyed” childhood, her indentured time at Sweet Home, and her frightening run for freedom provided us a look into what her thought process was for her actions. Secondly, memory is arguably what creates our present selves. This can be either an positive or negative experience. In the case of Beloved, extreme and traumatic memories have resulted in actions that are as such. The memories, and the idea that Sethe cannot allow them to reform within the lives of her children is what ultimately
In other words, nobody can know exactly what they would do in a certain circumstance if fear is what framed their situation. For Sethe, I would argue that the memory of fear played an incredibly important part in what she ultimately did with Beloved – and what she tried doing to the others. Fear of going back to Sweet Home is what structures her comment, “I wasn’t going back there. I don’t care who found who. Any life but not that one.” Within this framework, we see that Sethe was adamant about providing a better “life” for her kids. It is interesting that Morrison chooses this word “life” – suggesting that death, removal from life, or the possibility of an after-life is preferable to what lies across the Ohio in the form of
Toni Morrison's Beloved Throughout the novel Beloved, there are numerous and many obvious reoccurring themes and symbols. While the story is based off of slavery and the aftermath of the horrible treatment of the slaves, it also breaches the subject of the supernatural. It almost seems like the novel itself is haunted. It is even named after the ghost. To further the notion of hauntings, the characters are not only haunted by Beloved at 124, but they are haunted by their past, and the novel is not only about ridding their home of the ghost, but releasing their hold on what had happened to them in worse times.
Sethe shows this love for her family throughout the novel even when her family is going through rough times. “She did not want children, she wanted me, just me, and she got me” (A Prayer for Owen Meany 2.3) John is talking about how even though his birth is unplanned his mom loves him utterly and the relationship that they have is one that John treasures and values. In the end of Beloved the ghost of Beloved
Sethe, a woman and mother who is trapped in slavery, believes that the only way her children can ever escape the hardships that slaves encounter is to be dead so that they are able to spend their lives in a place that is hopefully better than the one they currently live in. To give her children this opportunity, Sethe attempts to take the lives of her children. Her boys survive but her daughter, known throughout the book as Beloved, is killed (175).
From the beginning, Beloved focuses on the import of memory and history. Sethe struggles daily with the haunting legacy of slavery, in the form of her threatening memories and also in the form of her daughter’s aggressive ghost. For Sethe, the present is mostly a struggle to beat back the past, because the memories of her daughter’s death and the experiences at Sweet Home are too painful for her to recall consciously. But Sethe’s repression is problematic, because the absence of history and memory inhibits the construction of a stable identity. Even Sethe’s hard-won freedom is threatened by her inability to confront her prior life. Paul D’s arrival gives Sethe the opportunity and the impetus to finally come to terms with her painful life history.
In her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison writes about the life of former slaves of Sweet Home. Sethe, one of the main characters, was once a slave to a man and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Garner. After Garner’s sudden death, schoolteacher comes to Sweet Home and takes control of the slaves. His treatment of all the slaves forced them to run away. Fearing that her children would be sold, Sethe sent her two boys and her baby girl ahead to her mother-in-law. On the way to freedom, a white girl named Amy Denver helped Sethe deliver her daughter, who she later names Denver. About a month after Sethe escapes slavery, schoolteacher found her and tried to bring her back. In fear that her children would be brought back into slavery, Sethe killed her older daughter and attempted to kill Denver and her boys. Sethe, along with Denver, was sent to prison and spent three months there. Buglar and Howard, her two sons, eventually ran away. After about eighteen years, another ex-slave from Sweet Home, Paul D., came to live with Sethe and Denver. A few days later, while coming home from a carnival, Sethe, Paul D., and Denver found a young woman of about twenty on their porch. She claimed her name is Beloved. They took her in and she lived with them. Throughout the novel, Morrison uses many symbols and imagery to express her thoughts and to help us better understand the characters. Morrison uses the motif of water throughout the novel to represent birth, re-birth, and escape to freedom.
The stream of consciousness establishes a healthy confusion because all three women of 124, including Beloved, attempt to identity Beloved. Yet, Beloved’s identity becomes more complex. Sethe begins to identify Beloved by stating that “She my daughter. She mine” (236). Morrison includes possessive pronouns to show Sethe’s ownership over Beloved, thus identifying Beloved as her daughter. Morrison continues this idea by leading the reader through Sethe’s thoughts. “Had to be done quick. Quick. She had to be safe”(236). This is one of Sethe’s thoughts concerning her daughter’s death. Morrison includes the verb to have to show Sethe’s determination. If a person must do something, it implies that the person had no choice and the result was the only possible outcome. Just like Sethe’s decisions, the action was quick. Morrison uses short sentences and repetition of quick to express Sethe’s decision and lack of thinking. These devices provide a rushed mood. This quote shows Sethe’s reasoning behind her choice and allows her to connect adult Beloved to her Beloved. Morrison continues Sethe's idea, “but that’s all over now…and my girl come home” (237). This quote expresses Sethe's self-forgiveness and acceptance of the past. Moreover, it shows Sethe's belief that the adult Beloved is her daughter. Morrison shows Beloved’s thoughts last. “I am Beloved and she is mine” (248). Morrison includes this quote to make
In conclusion, the tenuous relationship Sethe shared with her mother led to Sethe’s inability to provide for her children. Consequentially, the murder of Beloved built an emotional barrier that added to the preexisting issue of concerning her stolen milk left Denver with too little milk and the primitive drive to live that at first seemed foiled by her mother’s overbearing past. Yet, against all odds Denver was able to break her family’s legacy of being engulfed in the past and began taking steps for a better future.
Although living her life in black and white for the longest time, she clearly remembers the headstone with the named "Beloved" engraved in pink. Morrison recalls "Every dawn she saw the dawn, but never acknowledged or remarked its color. There was something wrong with that. It was as though one day she saw red baby blood, another day the pink gravestone chips, and that was the last of it" (39). No matter what she does, the recollection of what she did is always in her mind, sometimes even clouding her judgment. Just like everyone in this world, Sethe has those days of sorrow where she just feels the need to punish herself for what she has done wrong.
Thesis: In Beloved, Toni Morrison talks about family life, mother-daughter relationships, and the psychological impact from slavery.
As much as society does not want to admit, violence serves as a form of entertainment. In media today, violence typically has no meaning. Literature, movies, and music, saturated with violence, enter the homes of millions everyday. On the other hand, in Beloved, a novel by Toni Morrison, violence contributes greatly to the overall work. The story takes place during the age of the enslavement of African-Americans for rural labor in plantations. Sethe, the proud and noble protagonist, has suffered a great deal at the hand of schoolteacher. The unfortunate and seemingly inevitable events that occur in her life, fraught with violence and heartache, tug at the reader’s heart-strings. The wrongdoings Sethe endures are significant to the meaning of the novel.
So often, the old adage, "History always repeats itself," rings true due to a failure to truly confront the past, especially when the memory of a period of time sparks profoundly negative emotions ranging from anguish to anger. However, danger lies in failing to recognize history or in the inability to reconcile the mistakes of the past. In her novel, Beloved, Toni Morrison explores the relationship between the past, present and future. Because the horrors of slavery cause so much pain for slaves who endured physical abuse as well as psychological and emotional hardships, former slaves may try to block out the pain, failing to reconcile with their past. However, when Sethe, one of the novel's central characters fails to confront her personal history she still appears plagued by guilt and pain, thus demonstrating its unavoidability. Only when she begins to make steps toward recovery, facing the horrors of her past and reconciling them does she attain any piece of mind. Morrison divides her novel into three parts in order to track and distinguish the three stages of Sethe approach with dealing with her personal history. Through the character development of Sethe, Morrison suggests that in order to live in the present and enjoy the future, it is essential to reconcile the traumas of the past.
In Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, Morrison uses universal themes and characters that anyone can relate to today. Set in the 1800s, Beloved is about the destructive effects of American slavery. Most destructive in the novel, however, is the impact of slavery on the human soul. Morrison’s Beloved highlights how slavery contributes to the destruction of one’s identity by examining the importance of community solidarity, as well as the powers and limits of language during the 1860s.
In her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison explores the paradoxical nature of love both as a dangerous presence that promises suffering and a life-giving force that gives the strength to proceed; through the experiences of the run-away slave Sethe. The dangerous aspect of love is revealed through the comments of Paul D and Ella regarding the motherly love of Sethe towards her children. Sethe's deep attachment to her children is deemed dangerous due to their social environment which evidently promises that the loved one of a slave will be hurt. On the other hand, love is portrayed as a sustaining force that allows Sethe to move on with her life. All the devastating experiences Sethe endures do not matter due to the fact that she must live for her children. Although dangerous, Sethe's love finally emerges as the prevalent force that allows her to leave the past behind and move on with her life.
Writing about any artist or author makes us more curious about the writer and his or her view of life. I believe every writer reflects his or her own perspective in their writings even if they did not talk about themselves; this will appear to the reader in one way or another.
Beloved is a story of heartbreak, supernatural forces, and love and hate and the balance between them. Beloved is one of Toni Morrison’s most highly recognized pieces of literature. Morrison accomplishes so much in writing the story Beloved. Morrison does not attempt persuade readers with this story. Beloved is a ghost story among other things. Morrison’s found a way to describe racism and slavery from an African American standpoint without having to completely bash white people. Foreshadowing is a common theme that Morrison uses. Sweet Home and 124 Bluestone are the only places that Sethe has felt to be a home.