The relationship between mother and child is one of the most complicated in all of nature, whether the child is a son or daughter. The biological and emotional attachments that form during the time when the fetus and mother are connected, and when the mother begins raising the child after birth, are rich and wondrous, unlike any other bonds. Small wonder, then, that there are so many different mother archetypes that appear in literature. Whether one is talking about Mother Earth, Mother Goose, the Fairy Godmother, the Virgin Mother, the Voracious Mother, or whether one is thinking about one’s own mother, there are myriad deep undercurrents at work. No matter which mother archetype you have in mind, though, the act of creation is clearly at work. All of the things that mothers do for their children – or are supposed to do for their children – including providing support and nurturing come into play. Our mothers are supposed to be strong and never give up on us. Our mothers are supposed to protect us from the dangers out there, until we can protect ourselves from them. The dual process of empowering and sending us forth into the world may be the most crucial part of mothering. This archetype also has a dark side, as the fact that our mothers have such great power in our lives means that, if they misuse it, or simply neglect it, tremendous harm can come to us as a result. This dark side plays a large role in Toni Morrison’s story Beloved.
My own upbringing, as an African-American with a strict mother, was a difficult path for both of us. She saw her job as being very protective of me; as a young child, I appreciated this; as I grew older, I chafed against the limitations she placed on me. I thought that she did not trust me to make the right decisions in life – in many ways, she turned out to be wiser than I would have thought in the areas of personal relationships, education and my first steps out into the adult world. She saw the very best in me and would not allow me to perform below that level – whether it was in my music, in my learning, or even in the way I groomed myself and kept my room. The lessons that her discipline taught me stick with me today – and that is the sign that she prepared me for life on my own.
In the film adaptation of Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, starring Oprah Winfrey, Sethe has to commit the ultimate transgression that a mother can: murdering her own child. She kills her older daughter, so that she will not have to return to enslavement at Sweet Home. However, the daughter’s spirit comes back in the form of Beloved, interposing herself between Sethe and Paul D, with whom Sethe had formed a healthy relationship, even becoming pregnant with Paul D’s baby, after she sexually assaults him. Once Sethe realizes that Beloved is the incarnation of her murdered daughter, the guilt she feels for this ultimate violation puts Beloved in charge of the house, as Sethe stops working and spends all her money on gifts for her insatiable ghost-daughter. It is only when Denver, the younger daughter, becomes a capable young woman that Beloved is driven off – and none too soon, because Sethe is near death when Paul D returns to take care of her, reminding her that she is “her own best thing.”
The power of Beloved, as with the power of too many stories involving a mother gone haywire, comes from the violation of the archetype – followed by the suspense for the viewer, wondering how, or if, a family, or even a child, will recover from that violation.
Works Cited
Beloved. Dir. Jonathan Demme. Perf. Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton.
Harpo Films, 1998. Film.
