The Influence of Slave Life on Motherhood and Family Interaction Explored in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and Beloved

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In her 1987 novel Beloved, Toni Morrison explores the complexity of slave life and its influence on motherhood and family interaction. Morrison utilizes the some aspects of Frederick Douglass’s 1845 Autobiography to create her account of slavery but that is where the similarity ends. Beloved is a neo slave narrative and like other neo slave narratives it attempt to “rip the veil drawn over proceedings too terrible to relate” (Morrison, XV- XIX). Neo slave narratives expose what writers of slave narratives could not portray or wanted to forget. Slave narrative is a literary genre that sought to abolish slavery while neo slave narratives seek to reconcile with the past. The narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass and the neo slave narrative Beloved are two pieces of literary works that are an integral part of African American literature. Both books are similar in terms of subject matter, but they serve two very different and distinct purposes. The narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass was written to serve as a catalyst for change. Douglass wrote the autobiography of his life to persuade people that the abolition of slavery was necessary. On the other hand, Beloved is a memorial to slavery and those who endured it. Even though both books discuss similar conflicts such as the destruction of family, death and violence, Beloved does something that The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass is unable to. It deeply analyzes the intra-racial and inter-racial interaction between individuals in antebellum America. Unlike Frederick Douglass, Toni Morrison is not restrained by the society she lives in. As a fugitive slave Douglass is aware and cautious of his white audience. His writing is committed to appeasing white society. ...

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...gument that the only way to recover from the trauma of slavery is remembering and understanding it. ‘’ There’s a necessity for remembering the horror, but of course, there’s a necessity for remembering it in a manner in which it can be digested, in a manner in which the memory is not destructive. The act of writing the book, in a way, is a way of confronting it and making it possible to remember’’ (Morrison).

Works Cited

Andrews, William L. "Slave Narratives: An Introduction to the Slave Narrative ." Documenting the American South homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2013.

Douglass, Frederick. United States: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Print.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Vintage books, 2004. Print.

Morrison, Toni. Introduction. Beloved (XV- XIX). United States: vintage books.
Walters, Delores. "Margaret Garner." N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2013.

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