Toni Morrisons Beloved - Essay Example

Toni Morrison’s Beloved Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a novel based on true counts of experiences and events that transpired after the American civil war of 1861 to 1865. An African-American slave, Margaret Garner, primarily inspired the writing of this book after she escaped from the shackles of slavery in 1856. The main idea of the book is to manifest the condition that existed after the American Civil War and the impact it had on both the society and the individuals. This essay primarily aims at investigating how slavery affected people’s names and identities through taking a review of Fredrick Douglas’ autobiography. Additionally, it also looks at how Toni Morrison uses and reworks the slave narrative to tell Sethe’s story. Name and identity were major problems among the African-American slaves. Slavery stripped away any form of name identity in addition to the torture that damaged their physical identities. The majority of slaves significantly suffered from stress and trauma that resulted from slavery. This is something that had considerable negative effects in their lives. This condition of slaves is evident in the book when Sethe struggles to protect her children from slavery and goes as far as killing one of them in an attempt to ensure her safety (Douglass 13). The African-Americans had literally stopped living, lacked a sense of belonging, and struggled to escape from the ghosts of their past lives. Their spirits were shuttered, and they had no hope of having better lives in the future. They had lost their distinctiveness or uniqueness and replaced it with fear of the unknown and utter paranoia in their life (Douglass 14). Denver, Sethe’s daughter, is a perfect example of this situation. She decides to live a life of isolation after she locks herself in a room and loose a contact with all her friends and relatives. This is something that causes her lack clues of her purpose and identity in life. It is not until Denver reaches out to the black community that she starts to realize her true self. She discovers her identity and purpose of life, and this relieves her from the york of the past. This is evident from the book when she discovers her name and identity. Sethe, driven by the guilt of murdering her daughter, is also confused and separated from her identity. She goes out of her way to spoil Beloved whom she believes is her 2-year-old daughter that she killed (Douglass 36). Additionally, she also gets affected when the community rejects her because of her ill deeds. These two factors play a paramount role in shaping her name and identity. Her lifestyle then takes a different dimension when Paul D comes into her life. Paul seems to be the bringer of sanity and reality in Seth’s life. His influence is catalytic in restoring Sethe’s name and identity. She finally avoids thinking about her past and starts a life free of guilt, regret and psychological torture. Toni Morrison’s story is successful in revealing how slavery had highly damaged the name and identity of the black society. All that they had gone through had essentially destroyed their personalities and restricted them from moving on with their lives (Bloom 74) Toni Morrison incorporates a number of literary work devices and elements in this book to narrate Sethe’s story. He asserts that certain unavoidable circumstances and factors drove Sethe to exhibit unusual behaviors. In this context, the author introduces the theme of family separation to tell Sethe’s story. He captures her actions when her owner tracks her down. Sethe is so afraid of letting her children fall victims of slavery such that she goes as far as trying to kill all of them. She only succeeds in eliminating Beloved. This makes her sons run away from home at the age of thirteen years to escape death. Sethe is so afraid of being separated from her family that she decides to become mortal. This fear is further established when the ghost of Beloved shows up. Driven by guilt, Sethe does everything her capacity to ensure that her daughter does not leave again. She gives her anything she wants to an extent of forgoing her personal needs in order to recapture Beloved’s love. She does not want to let go and is even ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of Beloved. Sethe’s fear of separation from her family is further evident when a white man comes for Denver. Sethe is not aware of the arrangement between the white man and Denver. She reacts by attacking him with an ice pick, but the village women save him. She believes that the white man has come to enslave her daughter rather than offer her a job. Another element that shapes Sethe’s actions is the brutal physical and emotional torture she experienced as a slave. This makes her employ every means necessary to protect herself and her family from falling victims of slavery. She had undergone physical torture, which involved whipping and excessive labor. On the other hand, emotional torment that was characterized by separation from family led into all sorts of psychological anguish. Her painful past barred her from moving forward with her life. It literally guided her every action. This is the reason as to why she killed her daughter to ensure that she does not fall a victim of a white man’s brutality (Bloom 53). Female slaves were more exposed to slave owner’s brutality more than men were. They experienced all sorts of mistreats such as rape and sexual abuse. Sethe, being one of the victims of slavery, never wanted her children particularly daughters involved in slavery. This is evident when she was quick to kill her daughter and even attack the white man that came to offer Denver a job. All these actions were driven by her experiences. Therefore, it is clear that there are certain crucial elements that modeled the entire black community’s actions. These are some of the painful memories that psychologically affected black society after the civil war in America. It was not until Beloved showed up and intervened in the black community’s life that these people stopped to be led by their past experiences (Bloom 70). Beloved offered a chance to unearth and make peace with the past and embrace the future. The purpose of the novel Beloved is to persuade, explicate or explore the kind of lifestyle that the African-Americans endured during slavery. It looks at the social injustices and all the immoral actions of the white man towards the black community. The novel has the tenacity of showing and illustrating how slavery did not allow women to be mothers to their children. Sethe as an African-American woman was forced to make undesirable decisions that appeared ethical in the novel, but unethical in a real life situation. The purpose of the novel can, therefore, be summed up as a piece that portrays the experiences of African-Americans during the slavery period. Though the novel has some simple phrasing, it also accommodates some of Morrison’s creative works. For instance, he allows writing styles to blend in and allow smooth flow of the storyline. Some of the literary devices incorporated in the book include symbolism and metaphor. In symbolism, Morrison shows how the appearance of Beloved symbolizes the rebirth of a new and a better world. She also offers a chance not only for her family, but also for all the blacks to unearth and make peace with the past and embrace the future. Morrison employs metaphors to express ideas or feelings in compact images. For instance, he describes Paul’s heart as a thin box that signifies how fragile it was filled with emotions. He also uses Margaret Garner’s true-life experiences to develop and write the book’s plot. Morrison also illustrates a couple of themes with the main ones being mother-daughter relationships, the rpsychological impact of slavery, slavery, love, and guilt. In exemplifying the theme of mother-daughter relationship, Morrison shows how Sethe angrily reacts to every situation that threatens her daughters’ lives. For instance, she even kills one of her daughters and even attacks a white man with an ice pick when he comes near Denver. When Beloved shows up, she intends to spoil her to avoid rejection. The psychological impact of slavery is evident as it restricts the black community from moving forward with their lives. This theme shows how people are living in repression and dissociation and are afraid to move on. Another dominant theme is slavery. Toni shows its impact on the general lives of the black community. Love is demonstrated by a mother’s love for her children, Paul’s love for Sethe, and Denvor’s love for her sister. For example, Denvor says, “she drunk her sisters blood with her mother’s milk” (Morrison 11) in order to express the bond that exists between her sister and herself. Finally, the theme of guilt is evident when Beloved shows up, and Sethe is ready to do anything for her in order to avoid the guilt of murdering her. Paul is also guilty when he faces Sethe and cannot build up the courage to confess that he had sex with Beloved (Morrison 11). In conclusion, Beloved is stated as explorative, persuasive and explicative novel that seeks to enlighten the occurrences that happened after the American Civil War. It focuses on describing the role of a mother in safeguarding their children and ensuring that they can go to any extremes in order to guarantee their children’s safety. In summary, the book is an informative and detailed account of the incidents that characterized the slavery period. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Toni Morrisons Beloved. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. Print. Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. S.I.: Filiquarian Pub., LLC, 2007. Print. Marks, Kathleen. Toni Morrisons Beloved and the Apotropaic Imagination. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002. Print. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. London: Vintage Books, 2004. Print. Read More