Beloved Iron Chain

Toni Morrison’s main purpose of animal imagery throughout Beloved is to more deeply connect the underlying question of self-identity that African Americans experienced as a result of slavery. This question specifically relates from the widely accepted subhuman treatment of African Americans in the South even years following the emancipation of slavery, and it provides a deeper understanding of the brutal dispositions of white slaveowners. Characters in Beloved, including Sethe, Stamp Paid, and Paul D, who have directly experienced this type of animalistic dehumanization as former slaves find themselves frequently question their own fundamental self worth and identity. Through constant abuse and antagonization, these slaves unavoidably accept themselves as subordinate to animals. This sentiment derives from several instances throughout the novel where these characters directly confronted with comparisons to animals as a result of this sub humane treatment by former slave owners. Toni Morrison uses animal imagery to more effectively emphasize the relation between the brutal and dehumanizing experiences in the South with the actual barbaric dispositions of white slave owners.

The past comes back to haunt accurately in Beloved. Written by Toni Morrison, a prominent African-American author and Noble Prize winner for literature, the novel Beloved focuses on Sethe, a former slave who killed her daughter, Beloved, before the story begins. Beloved returns symbolically in the psychological issues of each character and literally in human form. The novel is inspired by the true story of Margaret Garner, a slave in the 1850s, who committed infanticide by killing her child. Barbara Schapiro, the author of “The Bonds of Love and the Boundaries of Self in Toni Morrison’s Beloved”, Andrew Levy, the author of “Telling Beloved”, and Karla F.C. Holloway, the author of “Beloved: A Spiritual”, present ideas of the loss of psychological freedom, the story being “unspeakable”, Beloved being the past, and the narrative structures of the story rewriting history.

In Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved there is a mother-daughter relationship in which Sethe out of motherly love, murders her daughter Beloved to free and protect her from the harshness of slavery. Through this, the ghost of her deceased daughter haunts her conscience and later further haunts Sethe about her act of love. From the time she slits the throat of her infant daughter and until the end of the novel, Morrison presents justifications of Sethe's actions and understanding of her use of this conflict to recreate history in relaying the harshness of slavery in this time period. Morrison uses tactics which incorporates Beloved and slavery making them synonymous and depicting the importance of the bittersweet ice skating scene.

It is certain that the novel Beloved was written to magnify the exploitation of slaves. To show the actual cruel details of the crimes that were committed. It is extremely hard to place oneself in a person’s situation and think about the decision that slaves made because of fear. It lets the audience feel the suffering slaves especially women went through.

After reading Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, I could not help but feel shocked and taken aback by the detailed picture of life she painted for slaves at the time in American history. The grotesque and twisted nature of life during the era of slavery in America is an opposite world from the politically correct world of 2016. Morrison did not hold back about the harsh realities of slavery. Based on a true story, Toni Morrison wrote Beloved about the life of Sethe, a slave and her family. Toni Morrison left no stone unturned when describing the impact slavery on had the life of slaves. She dove deeper than the surface level of simply elaborating on how terrible it is to be “owned” and forced to do manual labor. Morrison describes in detail, the horrors and profoundly negative impacts slavery had on family bonds, humanity of all people involved and the slaves sense of self even after they acquired their freedom.

Toni Morrison wants wishes to bring to the limelight; the pain of slavery cannot heal completely as she writes at the end of ‘Beloved’. Even though ‘Beloved’ is gone, her footprints remain. The ending implies

Slavery and its effects drive Sethe and many other characters in Beloved to deteriorate as people. Even after fleeing their plantations, slaves did not feel as if they were liberated because of the way they were exploited while enslaved. Beloved’s characters demonstrate that ex-slaves must first own their identity before truly being free.

Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, allows for one to experience slavery through three generations of women. The complex development of the horrors of black chattel slavery in the United States intertwined with a story a freedom helps the reader to understand the ongoing struggle of the Afro-American population after emancipation. Denver, although never a slave, is at first held in bondage by her mother's secrecy about her past and only sets herself free when her mother is forced to cope with her memories.

     Toni Morrison's Beloved - a novel that addresses the cruelties that result from slavery.  Morrison depicts the African American's quest for a new life while showing the difficult task of escaping the past.  The African American simply wants to claim freedom and create a sense of community.  In Beloved, the characters suffer not from slavery itself, but as a result of slavery - that is to say the pain occurs as they reconstruct themselves, their families, and their communities only "after the devastation of slavery" (Kubitschek 115).  Throughout the novel, Morrison utilizes color as a symbolic tool to represent a free, safe, happy life as well as involvement in community and

    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

Krumholz argues that Beloved is a mind healing recovery process that forces the characters to remember and tackle their past. In her essay, “Toni Morrison”, Jill Matus regards Beloved as a form of cultural memory that analyzes vague and possibly removed history. Furthermore, in his book, Fiction and Folklore: the Novels of Toni Morrison, Trudier Harris focuses on the issue of ownership and slavery in Beloved. In all, historical background is a huge player in understanding Beloved. Morrison set the novel during the Reconstruction era, after the Civil War, which sets the entire tone and plot for the main character, Sethe.

Beloved is a novel by Toni Morrison based on slavery after the Civil War in the year 1873, and the hardships that come with being a slave. This story involves a runaway captive named Sethe, who commits a heinous crime to protect her child from the horrors of slavery. Through her traumas, Sethe runs from the past and tries to live a normal life. The theme of Toni Morrison’s story Beloved is how people cannot escape the past. Every character relates their hard comings to the past through setting, character development, and conflict.

In the book, Beloved, the author, Toni Morrison, writes about the memories of the past effecting the present. The masters of the slaves thought for the slaves and told them who to be. The slaves were treated like animals which resulted in an animal-like actions. Furthermore, the shaping of the slaves,by the masters, caused a psychological war within themselves during their transition into freedom. The beginning sections display how savage and lost a person can become due to the loss of their identity early on in their lives as slaves.

 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

Throughout the novel Beloved the “harmful effects of slavery” theme is used numerous times to showcase how debilitating they can be. The physical scars left from being whipped during slavery are discussed, especially pertaining to Sethe. Sethe’s husband, Halle, went insane after witnessing her being assault by schoolteacher’s nephews. The killing of Beloved by Sethe is a direct result of her fear of her children enduring slavery. Slavery has left has had a negative impact on most of the characters in the novel.