The Theme Of Love In Toni Morrison's Beloved

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Love is arguably the most powerful emotion possessed by mankind; it is the impalpable bond that allows individuals to connect and understand one another. Pure love is directly related to divinity. Without love, happiness and prosperity become unreachable goals. An individual that possesses all the desired superficial objects in the world stands alone without the presence of love. For centuries love has been marveled by all that dare encounter it. Countless books and poems have been transcribed to explain the phenomenon of love, but love surpasses all intellectual explanations and discussions. Love is not a definition, but rather a thought, an idea. This idea, the idea of love, burns inside us all. Instinctually, every soul on Earth is …show more content…

Sethe’s desire to be loved provokes Sethe to become completely dependent on Beloved. Sethe’s lack of love incites her to believe that if Beloved is happy, all will be well. In an attempt for love, Sethe becomes Beloved’s prisoner, “Anything she wanted she got, and when Sethe ran out of things to give her, Beloved invented desire.” (Morrison 240) Sethe’s effort to satisfy Beloved, is an attempt to escape from her past, “Denver thought she understood the connection between her mother and Beloved: Sethe was trying to make up for the handsaw.” (Morrison 251) Sethe becomes so concerned with pleasing Beloved that she gets fired from her job and spends all of her time serving to Beloved’s needs. Sethe sinks as low as to stop eating to feed Beloved a sufficient amount of food, “The hungrier they got the weaker.” (Morrison 239) The reason that Sethe goes to such far measures to coexist through Beloved is because she feels that her life with Beloved will make her happy. Sethe is extremely vulnerable to any one who shows her any attention because she has never been close to love before. Sethe no longer wants to take part in a life where one can “hide in its breast, finger its earth, cling to its banks to lap water and try not to love it.” (Morrison 268) Sethe holds such a desire to love someone, that she abandons the rest of her life for the opportunity to take part in a loving relationship. Sethe’s loveless past places her in a love triangle. She does not know who to love; herself, Beloved or Denver. It is not until the end of the novel when Paul D tells Sethe, “you (Sethe) are your best thing, Sethe. You are,” (273) that Sethe realizes she must find love with in herself before she can learn to love anyone

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