The Final Dictum in Toni Morrisons Beloved - Essay Example

The author behind stories and novels wishes their contents to be more than merely an amusing read. In the case of Beloved by Toni Morrison, the moral of the story is related to the reader within the final passages of the text where the narrator states, “This is not a story to pass on” – though time heals all wounds and the townspeople have ultimately forgotten the heinous things tied to the family and its hardships, the narrator likens these instances to “an unpleasant dream during a troubling sleep” (Morrison 273). This tacit warning serves to inject a degree of ironic reasoning within the mind of the reader and asks them to question the events that have taken place up until this point as a means of drawing inference from the story and using the horrors that have been witnessed as a means not to forget about the story but instead to integrate a further understanding of culture and an appreciation for how history has developed as it has since the abolition of slavery within the United States. Ultimately, this brief essay will seek to trace how this directive acts as a false encouragement to the reader and underscores the importance of remembering and understanding the importance of the story as a function of explaining the world in which we currently live as well as the reason behind why many of the events that have shaped our the development of history that has taken place.

Although the quote that has been listed is short, it engenders the dichotomy that is presented between what the narrator tells the reader with regards to the way that he or she should interpret the text, its history, and the way that it likely impacts upon the future and the directive that it is best to just forget such a sad and miserable tale and move on. Whereas it may be convenient for the reader to merely forget about the harsh realities that have been relayed, the more appropriate action would be to engage a more complete understanding of how the reader integrates with slavery and the societal ills, familial issues, and ultimate destruction that such practice effects on nearly every party involved. By examining the evils of slavery and how this integrates with the overall narrative that the author is seeking to engage the reader with, a more powerful and appropriate exemplification of the action, themes, and understandings that greet the individual participants within the story is helped to be powerfully related to the reader.
Although the text listed an instance of a “good” slave owner, the majority of the text was concentric upon how the harmful effects of slavery worked to irrevocably destroy a family and impart severe psychological trauma on the survivors of the practice. Rather than approaching the issue from a one-dimensional point of view, the author can masterfully engage the reader’s attention with the fact that slavery and the racial tensions that existed between whites and blacks during this time was the determinant factor that shaped the hardships and horrors that were ultimately experienced. Read More