According to A Brief Introduction to Critical Theory, “Feminism embodies a way of reading that investigates the test’s investment in or reaction to patriarchal power structures that have dominated Western culture” (226). Women were expected to conform to the traditional gender norms created by society. However, Toni Morrison’s Beloved takes place in 1837 and tells about a former slave, Sethe, the protagonist, who escapes slavery and goes to Cincinnati, Ohio. In the midst of her escape, Sethe makes the choice to kill her young daughter, Beloved, in order to save her from a life of slavery. Sethe is haunted by the memories of slavery through her deceased daughter. Sethe is depicted as a woman who is independent, strong, and able to make …show more content…
By escaping, it keeps her family together and prevented from her children being separated from her. According to Nancy L. Chick’s article, “Toni Morrison: Overview” writes, “She [Sethe was] determined to escape North to shield her family… and prevent her separation and estrangement from her children, the typical fate of slave families” (Par 8). Mothers were usually separated from their children, so in order to avoid that she makes the decision to escape. Another example would be when Sethe kills her daughter, Beloved, so she would not have to endure a life of slavery. Sethe’s choice was her way of refusing to comply and to protect her children from the life she lived. Nancy L. Chick also writes, “After escaping, she [Sethe] sliced her baby girl’s throat to prevent her from suffering the same violence that Sethe experienced as a female slave” (Par 8). By killing her daughter, she was protecting her from having to face what she faced.
Sethe is also the provider of the family. She works in order to bring home food for herself, Denver, and Paul D. “The rest I brought back from where I work. Least I can do, cooking from dawn to noon, is bring dinner home” (16). She assumes the masculine role by being the sole provider for the family. In order to bring home food she works as a cook which shows that she is self-sufficient. She does not need to rely on a man to provide for her and her daughter, Denver, when she is capable
Her mind is clouded with emotions and “rememories.” But in the ice skating scene this appears to change as Morrison writes, “Anybody feeling sorry for [Sethe], anybody wandering by to peep in and see how she was getting on would discover that the woman... was sailing happily on a frozen lake” (Morrison 174). Sethe appeared to be happy once again. At one point, Sethe takes on the qualities of some kind of wild animal, having four legs. After falling on the ice “Sethe rose to her hands and knees, laughter still shaking her chest, making her eyes wet. She stayed that way for a while, on all fours” (Morrison 175). Paul D also refers to her as being an animal and having four legs later in the novel. It is also interesting that Morrison writes, “Sethe couldn’t skate a lick...” (Morrison 174) Sethe did not know how to skate, just like she did not know how to be a parent. This inability later leads to the downfall of the family.
Yet another example of Sethe’s dependence on her own strength is the account of Sethe’s own escape from “the grips of slavery in order to protect her children from what Morrison describes as School teacher’s brutal empire”.(196) Sethe is married by fourteen and is a mother by fifteen; but she is older and pregnant with her last child before she has to become superior protector of her children. Twenty-eight days after being a free woman, Sethe is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice as a mother. Although she is jailed as a murderer, her attempt to kill her four children is done so that her children would never know the life of a slave, so they would never be acquainted with “what Baby Suggs died of, what Ella knew, what Stamp saw and what
While Morrison depicts myriad abuses of slavery like brutal beatings and lynching, the depictions of and allusions to rape are of primary importance; each in some way helps explain the infanticide that marks the beginnings of Sethe’s story as a free woman. Sethe kills her child so that no white man will ever “dirty” her, so that no young man with “mossy teeth” will ever hold the child down and suck her breast (Pamela E. Barnett 193)
This literary analysis will define the feminist challenge to the patriarchal motherhood as defined in the mothering methods of Sethe in Beloved by Toni Morrison. Sethe's mothering instincts are found in the way she kills her child in order to prevent a life of slavery and suffering on the slave plantation. This form of “good mothering” defines the horrific sacrifice that Sethe was willing to make, so that her daughter did not grow up to live as a salve. More so, the patriarchal system of marriage and reproductive roles on the patriarchal plantation define the slave system as a boon to Sethe's mothering skills. Sethe is forced to marry one of five male slaves, which defines the sexual abuse that women had to endure on the plantation, This is an important reason why Sethe did not want her daughter enduring the same form of enforced reproductive policies of the slave system. In essence, an analysis of the feminist challenge to patriarchal motherhood will be defined in Sethe’s methods of “good mothering” in Beloved by Toni Morrison.
Sethe’s relationship is in a balance at the beginning. She has the two poles of attraction, Paul’s desire to settle down and start a family, and Beloved’s desire to draw Sethe back into the past. Throughout the novel, acts of cruelty wind into her life and alter the outcome of her days. Cruelty in Beloved affects both the perpetrator and victim in that the perpetrator becomes consumed by such acts, and the victim simply devolves to be more and more vulnerable to such acts. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Beloved’s acts of cruelty reveal how one’s inner desires can overcome the perpetrator, and dehumanize victim in the long term.
In the novel, Beloved, Toni Morrison uses color to show the reactions of some of the main characters. Color represents many things in the book. Freedom is an example because once the slaves were free, they noticed the beautiful colors all over. They see that the world is not just black and white and two different races, there are many beautiful things that were unnoticed. When Baby Suggs was free, she was able to spread happiness and joy to the community. When the community did not accept that, she fell into depression, but still enjoys freedom, in a different way, more by herself than with others. It was when she wanted to see bright colors. She loved color. In his journey to the
Toni Morrison brings another surprise to the story of Beloved. The addition of character Beloved conceals whole meaning Morrison tries to conduct to the readers. So far, character Beloved is portrayed as an innocent, pure, yet egotistic girl. Beloved also presumably the incarnation of Sethe’s dead baby, whose tomb is engraved Beloved. Morrison offers supernatural element in the story to create mysterious and spooky atmosphere, which raise curiosity and excite readers even more.
In Beloved, Toni Morrison portrays the barbarity and cruelty of slavery. She emphasizes the African American’s desire for a new life as they try to escape their past while claiming their freedom and creating a sense of community. In Beloved, "Much of the characters’ pain occurs as they reconstruct themselves, their families, and their communities after the devastation of slavery" (Kubitschek 115). Throughout the novel, Morrison uses color to symbolically represent a life complete with happiness, freedom, and safety, as well as involvement in community and family. In many scenes, Morrison uses color to convey a character's desire for such a life; while, in other instances, Morrison
Through character development, the story also portrays the theme of escaping the past. Sethe’s actions are influenced heavily by her dead child, Beloved. When the “human” form of Beloved arrives while sleeping
Feminism in Morrison novels is grounded upon the structure of a culture which defines women, as worthless and invisible victims. Her fictional characters struggle for their liberation from kingdom manipulated by a corporate society
Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize winning book Beloved, is a historical novel that serves as a memorial for those who died during the perils of slavery. The novel serves as a voice that speaks for the silenced reality of slavery for both men and women. Morrison in this novel gives a voice to those who were denied one, in particular African American women. It is a novel that rediscovers the African American experience. The novel undermines the conventional idea of a story’s time scheme. Instead, Morrison combines the past and the present together. The book is set up as a circling of memories of the past, which continuously reoccur in the book. The past is embedded in the present, and the present has no
In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, how can we justify Sethe killing her daughter and showing no remorse?
In her novel, Beloved, Toni Morrison tells the story of a family and their lives after surviving slavery. In the book, the person who was most impacted by being owned as a slave was Sethe. Sethe managed to escape physical ownership as a slave but for the rest of her life she continued to be “owned” by her past. The psychological damage Sethe experienced from being owned as a slave caused her to be stuck in her past and resulted in her ruining her four children’s lives.
Toni Morrison’s powerful novel Beloved is based on the aftermath of slavery and the horrific burden of slavery’s hidden sins. Morrison chooses to depict the characters that were brutalized in the life of slavery as strong-willed and capable of overcoming such trauma. This is made possible through the healing of many significant characters, especially Sethe. Sethe is relieved of her painful agony of escaping Sweet Home as well as dealing with pregnancy with the help of young Amy Denver and Baby Suggs. Paul D’s contributions to the symbolic healing take place in the attempt to help her erase the past. Denver plays the most significant role in Sethe’s healing in that she brings the community’s support
By escaping, it keeps her family together and prevented from her children being separated from her. According to Nancy L. Chick’s article, “Toni Morrison: Overview” writes, “She [Sethe was] determined to escape North to shield her family… and prevent her separation and estrangement from her children, the typical fate of slave families” (Par 8). Mothers were usually separated from their children, so in order to avoid that she makes the decision to escape. Another example would be when Sethe kills her daughter, Beloved, so she would not have to endure a life of slavery. Sethe’s choice was her way refusing to comply and to protect her children from the life she lived. Nancy L. Chick also writes, “After escaping, she [Sethe] sliced her baby girl’s throat to prevent her from suffering the same violence that Sethe experienced as a female slave” (Par 8). By killing her daughter, she was protecting her from having to face what she faced.