Beloved Research Paper

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Beloved is a story of life after slavery. Sethe was born a slave but escaped to across the river to Ohio. Physically, she reached freedom, but the horrible memories of Sweet Home never seem to let her go. Memories are not the only thing staying with her, Sethe is quite literally haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died by Sethe’s hand eighteen years ago. A nameless, already crawling baby was buried with a headstone that was engraved with the word “Beloved.” Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. She is known for telling the stories of African-Americans in her novels, her most notable being The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Jazz, Beloved, Love, and A Mercy. Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for …show more content…

At times, it may read like a horror novel, but really, it’s a love story. As screwed up as that love can be, it’s the foundation of this novel. Paul D starts out with what Morrison describes as a rusted “tobacco tin buried in his chest where a red heart used to be” (Morrison 86). But, by the end of the novel, he has a real, red heart. Romantic love really isn’t the focal point of this novel, instead, it’s familial love. Sethe loves her family, and she loves them “thick.” She tells Paul D “Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all” (Morrison 194). Sethe’s philosophy on love, although commendable, gets her into a lot of trouble. In fact, it sets the stage for the story to take place at all. Before the novel begins, Sethe attempts to kill herself and her children when slave catchers enter 124’s yard. She uses a handsaw to cut through her baby daughter’s throat until she is stopped by Baby Suggs and Stamp Paid. But, it was out of love. Sure, it wasn’t right at all, but Sethe truly believed that she was saving her children. She was prepared to end it all because she loved her children too much to let them endure the horrors of slavery. Sethe’s murder of her daughter embodies just how thick Sethe’s love really is. Beloved shows its audience the importance of love, but it does not fail to show how dangerous it can be

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