Symbolism Of Light In Beloved

“Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.” President Obama’s 2004 keynote speech gives a timeless message of hope that especially resonates with minorities who face an uncertain future. Similarly, in her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison develops the theme that hope in the face of forced dehumanization, through the relationship between darkness and light, gives the oppressed a purpose and the ability to overcome and thrive despite persecution. The Light-Dark relationship is prominent throughout the story and demonstratively uses the polar opposites hope and despair. The relationship between good and evil is the most basic example of this symbolism. In Beloved, it

When Paul D, Denver, and Sethe were walking back from the fair and their “three shadows...shot out of their feet to… [their] hands. Nobody noticed but Sethe, and she stopped looking after she decided that it was a good sign. A life. Could be” (Morrison 47). Through the use of light as a symbol, Morrison reinforces the idea that happiness and achievement came at a time least expected, yet most crucial. Sethe believes that avoiding her painful past may be the best present option, but acknowledges that she cannot hide from it forever. For the time being Sethe chooses instant gratification “to Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay. The 'better life'… she and Denver were living was better simply because it was not the other one” (Morrison 51). Morrison argues that through all of the agony of slavery, there is hope for the future. Despite the Darkness that may engulf a person, there is always a Light within reach. Arguably this is what makes life worth living – the hope for something