Sexuality and the Grotesque in Toni Morrison's Beloved

Sexuality and the Grotesque in Toni Morrison's Beloved

Grotesque images of rape, murder, and sexual abuse are recurring throughout Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. The ideals of the white oppressor, be it murder, rape, or sexual abuse were powerful forces that shaped the lives of many of the characters, especially the character Sethe.

Rape and sexual abuse are two grotesque instances expressed throughout the novel.

The most often referred to is the incident when Schoolteacher?s nephews stole Sethe?s breast milk but many other incidents included Paul D was forced to felicitate prison Guards on the chain gang every morning. Ella is locked up and repeatedly raped by a father and son she calls ?the worst yet?. Stamp Paid?s wife Yashti is forced to have sex by her enslaver. Baby Suggs is compelled to have sex with ?a straw? boss who later breaks his coercive promise not to sell her children. Sethe?s mother is ?taken up my many in the crew? and Sethe is put in the position where she must endure ten minutes of sex with the tombstone engraver so the tombstone could read ?Beloved.? ?This act is a key note for the whole book: in the world of slavery and poverty, where human beings are merchandise, everything has its price and the price is tyrannical.? (Atwood 39-40)

With all the sexual abuse throughout the novel, the most referred to and seemingly most atrocious was when Schoolteacher. ?The schoolteacher, he?s a sort of master-race proponent who measures the heads of the slaves and tabulates the results to demonstrate that they are more like animals than people.? (Atwood 40) ordered his nephews to steal Sethe?s breast milk. ?They used a cowhide on you?? ?And they took my milk.? ?They beat you when...

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...owards the oppressive slave owners.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. "Haunted by Their Nightmares." Bloom's Guides Toni Morrison's Beloved. Ed. Amy Sickels. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 2004. 39-42.

Atwood, Margaret. "Margaret Atwood on the Practical Uses of the Supernatural in Beloved." Critical Essays on Toni Morrison's Beloved. Ed. Barbara H. Solomon. New York: G.K. Hall & Co., 1998. 29-32.

Barnette, Pamela E. "Pamela E. Barnette on Images of Rape and the Supernatural in Beloved." Bloom's Guides Toni Morrison's Beloved. Ed. Amy Sickels. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 2004. 67-69.

Corey, Susan. "Susan Corey on the Grotesque in Beloved." Critical Essays on Toni Morrison's Beloved. Ed. Barbara H. Solomon. New York: G.K. Hall & Co., 1998. 106-115.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Alfred a. Knopf, 1987.