Write an analysis of any one major character in Beloved
Introduction
The novel Beloved is the work of Toni Morrison an African-American female writer. It is an interesting story that revolves around the period after the American Civil War which took place between 1861 and 1865. This narrative is based on a true story of a black slave called Margaret Garner who, during the slavery period, had escaped from Kentucky to Ohio which was then a free state. Margaret killed her two-year old daughter than have her face the horrors of slavery after state officials invoked the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and attempted to take her back to her master. The main character, Sethe, mirrors the actions of Margaret because she not only kills her daughter but also attempts to take the lives of three others of her children after her master and his posse follow her to Ohio with the intention of bringing Sethe and her children back to the Sweet Home plantation in Kentucky (Gillespie 78).
The novel’s title, Beloved, is derived from the presumed ghost of Sethe’s daughter, which returns to haunt Sethe’s former house (14 Bluestone Road in Cincinnati). The events inside the house and outside the house or those that involve Sethe’s family are weird and macabre. For instance, people report that items often fly from one section of the house to the other. Sethe’s children are also not spared as her daughter, Denver, withdraws from the public due to shyness and both Howard and Buglar (Sethe’s sons) flee from home at tender ages. Sethe’s mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, is not spared as she dies while asleep. Sethe emerges as a strong-willed person, a loving mother, an embittered individual, a passionate woman and a proud and noble character.
Sethe is depicted as a loving mother as can be appreciated from her action of killing her children to spare them from suffering as slaves like her. This is also the reason why she plans and is able to escape from her master to start a new life for her and her children. Perhaps this is also informed by the action of her own mother who had murdered her colored children to save them from the ridicule of the community because they would be labeled as children of illicit affairs while in fact they were products of rape. In essence, although her love is expressed in rather weird way (killing her own children) the ulterior motives reveals a woman who loves her offspring and would not countenance them being slaves. To her, this is the ultimate evidence that she loves her children.
Another trait that emerges from a keen reading of Toni Morrison Beloved is that Sethe is an embittered person (Andrews and McKay 120). This owes to the fact that her late mother is responsible for some of the problems that her daughter is undergoing. Sethe had not known her mother much and their relationship had been ambiguous to say the least. Her mother’s face had been deeply scarred by the brutalities of slavery and little Sethe was not able to see the former’s face well. Moreover, Sethe was not able to have the connection between mother and child which is very essential and this left her feeling neglected and denied of maternal love. In addition, although her mother saved her from death and opted to kill her other siblings, this denied Sethe a family. The mother’s intention in killing her two children may have been good. However, in the process, she leaves Sethe with no family especially after her (Sethe’s mother). Moreover, she feels bitter towards her mother because the latter is hanged after she is caught trying to escape. Sethe feels that her mother was determined to run away from her daughter which makes the latter feel that her mother did not love her enough. Similarly, by apparently abandoning her daughter, Sethe’s mother essentially condemns her to facing slavery and its brutalities. This may explain why Sethe is determined not to abandon her children and puts her life at peril to follow her children to Ohio.
Sethe also emerges as being a passionate person (Bloom 13). This means that she believes in certain issues and sets her mind to achieve her dreams in spite of the obstacles that might come her way. For example, she is very passionate on the need to save her children from slavery. It is evident that this owes to her own experience of being abandoned by her mother and being left to fight her battles against slavery alone. However, this passion for her children becomes a dangerous obsession because it leads to their death. Ironically, this mirrors the action of her own mother who murders her own children although for other reasons. Sethe also contributes significantly to the reclusive life that her daughter lives which implies withdrawing from even the black people they belong to. The initial life of Denver is one full of over-protectiveness from the mother as the latter fantasizes about a future in which her children will no longer be slaves. Sethe is also passionate on the need to avoid the issues that were negative in her mother’s life. For example, since she feels that her mother abandoned her before and she (Sethe) is not willing to do the same to her own offspring. She wants to give the maternal love that she did not get from her mother, to her children. This trait, however, is responsible for the negatives in her daughter’s life because it becomes an obsession to escape her troubled past and burry the ghost of her problematic upbringing. One can therefore understand the actions of Sethe in the context of her passion for her children and her hatred of slavery.
Another important character trait of Sethe is that she is proud and noble (Roberson 12). From the novel she is depicted as a person who can hold her head high in spite of being a slave and being expected to be subservient and timorous. For example, from her romance with Halle, we see her going to great lengths to ensure she has a special wedding garment for the sake also of her husband, Halle. Sethe is also not impressed by her teacher’s insinuations that she has tendencies that resemble those of an animal. The teacher tells his nephews, in relation to Sethe, that they should, “put her human characteristics on the left; her animal ones on the right” (Morrison 193). One can, however, argue that Sethe’s pride sometime goes overboard. For example, Sethe avoids lining up with other blacks to collect rations and prefers to steal instead. She also mistrusts men and generally does not ask for help. However, she does fall in love with Paul D.
Conclusion
Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved has woven together a rich tapestry of characters chief among them being the protagonist, Sethe. In most literary works, writers use the main character to embody the thematic concerns that such works raise, like racism and slavery in this novel. Sethe has quite a number of both negative and positive traits. The most significant include the fact that she is a strong character who holds her ground and fights her battles against both black and white stereotypes of black slave women. Sethe is also a loving mother as evident from her efforts (though macabre) to protect her children from slavery. She is also embittered because most of her actions spring from the negative memories of her mother’s treatment of her (Sethe) and the fact that she would want to give her children a different and better life. The protagonist is passionate about the direction she wants her life and that of her children to take especially in ensuring that they live a life devoid of oppression as slaves. Sethe is also depicted as being a proud person especially because she attempts to live differently from the subservient life that other black people live. Sethe emerges as an embodiment of inner strength, passion, determination, bitterness and motherly love and the negative and positive implications of each of these inherent and acquired traits.
Works Cited
Andrews, William Leake, and Nellie Y. McKay. Toni Morrison's Beloved: A Casebook. London:
OUP, 1999. Print.
Bloom, Harold. Toni Morrison's Beloved. London: Chelsea House, 1999. Print.
Gillespie, Carmen. Critical Companion to Toni Morrison: A Literary Companion to Her Life and
Work. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2008. Print.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Plume, 1988. Print.
Roberson, Gloria G. The World of Toni Morrison: A Guide to Characters and Places in Her
Novels. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. Print.
