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Beloved Essay

Decent Essays

Oral tradition is used as a part of a culture to carry on previous events in order to pass on and preserve a part of that culture's history. It is used to preserve the culture as well as individual identities, more specifically a survival tactic. Incorporating oral tradition or “story telling” in postcolonial literature involves a heavy use of past tense language, whether in a dialogic or monologic form. This creates a contrast of the specific culture with the development of the modern western world, which does not rely heavily on storytelling as a preservation of their history. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, storytelling showcases the importance of the African-American culture. Perspective from African American character guides the structure of the book. Piece by piece the story unfolds of how Sethe escaped from Sweet Home and found herself at I24. Stories of slavery is a significant part in the history of black culture. Though it is not viewed a positive event, Morrison uses this piece of knowledge and creates a particular oral story in her novel to show her awareness on how slavery has shaped African-American culture. Storytelling is not a one time occurrence, stories are told over and over again, refining the details and passing along the parts that are crucial to tradition. The story of Denver’s birth is a story lived and retold through the experience of her mother Sethe. On page 36, …show more content…

In a culture, events passed on orally are not laid out all at once. Details go missing, are left out, or changed. An event for one person may be experienced entirely different for another person. The way the authors implicate different points of view is a way of mirroring the living tradition. Readers are being forced to learn the stories in the same way they would if practicing the

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