Beloved is a lyrical masterpiece authored by renowned and award-winning American writer, Toni Morrison. American has a long and complicated history. Since its inception, the country has undergone metamorphosis from one epoch to another. Some of these epochsare more significant to an American than others. The Civil War of 1861-1865 was one of the critical ones. The institution of slavery was still prevalent and acceptable within the American society. Moreover, women were viewed as inferior to men and the society held the view that a woman place was in the kitchen. In is in this historical context that Morrison decided to tell a story of an African American slave by the name Sethe and her daughter Denver. Sethe was a slave in Kentucky. She suffered a lot and when the struggle became unbearable, she decided to risk everything but escape the anguish. She was fortunate to fight refuge in the state of Ohio, which was by then a free state. However, fate was not on her side. The legislature of that time had passed a number of draconian and repressive laws that curtailed the freedoms of slaves. In fact, under the Fugitive Slave Act, a slave owner was empowered to go looking for their escaped slaves irrespective whether they went to a free state. Slaves were regarded as property and, therefore, the owner had every right to reclaim their property. Sethe had escaped with her three daughters. When she heard that a posse had arrived at her place of refugee seeking to extradite them back to Kentucky, she decides to take drastic measures to avoid such an eventuality. Her options are limited so she decides to kill her daughters to save them from the misery of slavery. In a rather twisting turn of events Beloved, a woman presumed to be a daughter of Sethe is introduced into the plot after a number of years. Indeed, the book immaculately articulates the historical reality of those unfortunate times. The author is able to synchronize the torturous history with emotions and excellent story telling ability. This is a story of the interior, the point where the blame lies. The author presents the past in a way that forces the reader to examine the present and realize that the ‘self’ had a critical role to play.
Morrison’s choice of the story’s plot is perhaps one of the cardinal factors that make the book exceptional. After their escape from slavery, Sethe and Denver built their home in 12 Bluestone, Cincinnati. Years after she successfully killed her daughter, a revenant, which the author makes one believe it to be a ghost of the deceased daughter return to haunt their home. The home has become deserted with time. Halle, the mother of Sethe’s husband died in her bed while her two sons, Buglar and Howard, ran away from home by the tender age of thirteen. Sethe is left alone at the expansive home with only her shy daughter Denver as the only family member she has left. The home is haunted by a ghost of Beloved, which in most cases meant that household things such as utensils were thrown all over the house. Fortunately for Sethe, Paul D one of the people who were slaves with her at Sweet Home arrives at her abode in 124. Her character, diligence and competency are instrumental in trying to figure out the challenges that have faced Sethe’s household. She tries hard to instill a sense of reality and sanity into the household and its occupants. She is determined to ensure that Sethe and her lovely daughter Denver are able to forget the ugly past and focus not only on what the present has to offer, but also what the promise of the future. She is successful, at first, but then a more powerful force her fails miserably and ultimately forces her out of the 124. However, she was able to make Denver come out of the house for the first time in years. Disaster struck on their way back. They fought a pretty young woman who seems docile. However, despite the fact that Paul D is suspicious, Beloved was able to charm her way to the house using the weakest link, Sethe. Soon afterwards, Paul D leaves the household. The household turns another page, a new chapter of their lives is about to begin.
It is vital to note that Sethe was regarded as an outcast by the community. This is because when she escaped from the plantation at Sweet Home, her master pursued her to Ohio. He was empowered by the law to reclaim what lawfully belonged to him. Indeed, he invoked the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Act in an unsuccessful attempt to take back Sethe and her children to Kentucky. Sethe had grabbed her children and taken them to the toolshed for slaughter. She threatened to kill all her children and herself in protest of attempts to take her back to Sweet Home. She slaughtered her eldest daughter with a saw by the neck. This unfortunate incident forced everyone to agree to let her stay. In the meantime, at 124, things were getting heavy between Beloved and Paul D. Despite the fact that he is cornered and involuntary made to sleep in the shed outside, they become intimate with Beloved. They engage in regular coitus. She becomes extremely influential in his life despite attempts from him to water down her effects on him. Takes of marriage begin gaining currency. While Sethe is extremely elated, his colleagues at work are scared of the relationship. When Sethe finally reveals about her unfortunate incident to Paul D, he is overwhelmed and cannot bear it all. He decides to leave the household.
In a rather rhythmic and emotional fashion, the novel gains pace. In riveting manner, the author sets the stage for the climax of the story. Sethe believes that Beloved in her daughter, the one she killed. Out of guilt, she spoils her with all manner of spending. Beloved becomes more irritating and demanding. Her lifestyle destroys Sethe’s life and the pseudo amelioration of her social aspects witnessed during Paul D’s presence.
Denver plays a critical role in saving her mother from her self-inflicted trauma. She seeks the support of the black community within the vicinity to help exorcise Beloved. At the same time, she had caught the eye of a certain white man who at one point came to the rescue of her grandmother. She went to the white fellow and asked him for a job. He was as kind to her as she was to her grandmother years before. He had given 124 to her grandmother after she bought her from her owner. He also offered Denver a job. During this epoch, things had really become bad at home. Sethe was obsessed with pleasing an irritant Beloved. When the white man was picking Denver at 124, Sethe saw him and attacked him. The black community came to his rescue. During this commotion, beloved ran away leaving from for Paul D to come back to the household and profess his love for Sethe.
The book has significant themes that are critical to the American society. The two most critical themes are the psychological impact of the institution of the slavery and family relations. To begin with the psychological effects of slavery, it is vital to note that their experiences were horrific and extremely traumatizing. In order to survive, most slaves repressed such memories never to be spoken of again. This helped them move on with their lives with a promise of a better future. This tendency to deny the past in what causes the major tribulations facing Sethe, Paul D and her young daughter Denver. They had to look inwards to the self for acceptance of the past which was instrumental in helping them remedy themselves from the psychological torment they experienced. Indeed, being enslaved was so cruel that slaves developed fragmented identities. The slave harbored within the ‘self’ painful memories and events that could not be articulated to the rest of the society. In order to hell one has to relive these events, however, traumatizing. The power is heavily invested in the language through the word. The characters in Morrison’s Beloved have complicated pasts; they all face the conundrum of the unmade self and have tremendous fear to relive their experiences. Indeed, these are some of the critical issues that the author brings to the attention of his audience. For a long time, the institution of slavery has been interrogated in terms of its economic impact, social impact and legal technicalities, but there have been few studies as to the psychological effects on the slaves themselves. History books have been written is a subjective nature and from the white man perspective, Morrison narrative, though a work of friction, attempts to make a critical illustration of this menaces from a different perspective. He presents his works from a slave’s perspective, her families and the challenges she endures. He charts the way into a totally new territory and he is able to bring his audience a nerve-raking must piece that is to insightful and well-though to be a work of friction. Indeed, the theme stipulated in this section best illustrates the challenges that the likes of Margaret Garners and women of her ilk experienced during the epoch of slavery. She was the person who inspired Morrison to tell this kind of story.
The other main theme in the narrative is that of family relationships. The author has given more emphasis to the relationship between a mother and her daughters. The story revolves around to main characters. All of them are women with a high likelihood that they arefrom the same family. They include Sethe, Denver and Beloved. Sethe openly displays a passionate maternal characteristic that causes her to go to great extents to protect her daughters in her own way. In order to ensure that her children to not suffer the tribulations of slavery she threatens to kill and actually slaughters one of her daughters. Furthermore, she uses all means possible to hide her youngest daughter Denver from not only the white man, but also the rest of the black community. She is forced to stay indoors for years and she is only fortunate to get some air when Paul D comes to live with them at 124. Sethe fails to realize that Denver had so much to learn from the rest of the community and the world at large, as much as she had to be protected. Indeed, she could only learn how to become a diligent young woman through taking control of her life and interacting with the rest of the community. Slavery creates a situation whereby the child and her parents are separated and thus become emotionally impaired. This is best illustrated by the relationship between Sethe and Beloved. This is because Sethe had suffered immensely while enslaved and the negative effects were beginning to show. However, her relationship with Paul D brings some light and promise into her life. This is briefly interrupted by the arrival of Beloved who takes totally control and attention of the Sethe. She is obsessed with a fact that her daughter has finally returned. Filled with guilt and an unstable conscious she does everything in her power to make up for her mistake. This shows how strong a relationship between a mother and a daughter can become. The baby needs the milk while the mother needs the child. The affection is mutual and if one party is denied the benefits of the mutual relationship, then it becomes a recipe for disaster.
Works Cited
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2007.
