Essay on Beloved Motherhood

The nature of division versus unity in the story is manifested in many basic as well as complex ways. The central tension of the story comes from the position of the unborn child that Sheri Fisher is carrying. The tension comes from the fact that Lane Dean and Fisher must decide whether Fisher and the child should remain physically united or be permanently divided; to have the child would represent a permanent unity of family at least between Fisher and the child, while an abortion would be a permanent division.

Momma and Daddy are fair parents with hearts of gold, but they refuse to raise a troubled child. Although they don’t get along all the time, they are close and loving, which we see throughout the book. One example is when Byron saves his little brother from drowning. Since Byron is the oldest, he looks out for his younger siblings. The opening of the book gives the perfect example of how close this family is as they all cuddle together for warmth during the brisk

Sethe, the protagonistof the novel, was born in the South to an mother she doesn’t remember. At age thirteen, she is sold to the Sweet Home plantation, whose reputation is much kinder and brighter than many other owners. There,the other slaves named Sixo, Paul A, Paul D, Paul F, and Halle compete for Sethe’s love, who eventually chooses to marry Halle. They have two sons, Howard and Buglar, as well as a baby daughter, but her name is not given. When she leaves Sweet Home, Sethe is also pregnant with a fourth child. After Mr. Garner, the head of Sweet Home, dies, the widowed Mrs. Garner asks her sinister, racist brother-in-law known to the slaves as “schoolteacher” to help run the farm. The Schoolteacher makes life on the farm even worse for

Mothers in Beloved and sula not only have to bring up their young daughters and teach them about the obstacles that they might face because of their gender, but they also have to prepare their children for the injustices of racism. Sethe, although she is a mother who displays inner strength, nevertheless becomes immobilized. Sethe does absolutely everything she can for her children; she even takes the life of her baby girl so that she would not have to experience the same cruelty of slavery her mother did. As a result of this deed, Sethe becomes an outcast in her community because she even sacrifices her pride for her child’s sake. The novel reveals how she sells her body in order to be able to afford the name beloved engraved on her child’s tombstone.

Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, is a “haunting stray of a mother’s love that frames a series of irrelated love stories by multiple narrators” (Bell 61). The main character Sethe is a mother who fails to realize her children’s needs. She attempts to protect her children from the community amongst many other dangers such as slavery and love, however ultimately isolating them. Sethe’s character as well as actions confirms the “struggle and psychological trauma of slavery” (Napierkowski 35) from which she suffers. Shapes of almonds and depth “like two wells,”(9) Sethe’s eyes are “some sign to warn folks of what that emptiness held” (9). Sethe has yet to confront the absence of her mother, which reflects the idea that “one of the cruelest

Until Beloved becomes more than her spirit and takes on human form she is described as an evil burden in both past and present tense. She is portrayed negatively through the repetition of dehumanization by called her ‘it’ and the repeated use of serpent or evil imagery. Morrison describes Baby Suggs and Sethe’s relationship in a flashback to when she killed her baby: “They fought then. Like rivals over the heart of the loved, they fought. Each struggling over the nursing child” (179). The repetition of ‘they fought’ being in the past tense emphasizes the action of them fighting, but that it was an action of the past. However, since it’s over the nursing child it makes the child seem like the source of their problem and the obvious cause of

Abstract: Does Hamlet, a character in Shakespeare’s historical play, have the Oedipus complex? Do we truly understand the semantics of the Oedipus complex? Many critics have had different opinions. According to Webster’s online dictionary, the Oedipus complex is a “complex of males; desire to possess the mother sexually and to exclude the father; said to be a source of personality disorders if unresolved” (Webster's Online Dictionary, 2011). Another source defines the Oedipus complex as “the attachment of the child to the parent of the opposite sex, accompanied by envious and aggressive feelings toward the parent of the same sex” (Dolloff, 2006). Some do not believe he was cursed with this complex. Oedipus complex is a depressed

From Baby Suggs, to Sethe, to Denver, one of the predominant themes that occurs in Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved is the role of, and the decisions made by the mother. At the beginning of the book, Morrison describes that Sethe has four children; her two sons, Howard and Buglar, were fed up with the fact that the house that they lived in was haunted, so they ran away. Her third born and first daughter, Beloved, is dead, and her fourth born daughter, Denver, is alive and living with Sethe. However, later on in the story, a flashback takes place in which it describes that many years ago, Sethe injured her two sons Howard and Buglar, slit the throat of her daughter Beloved, and was on the verge of trying to kill her daughter Denver as well. Although

If you asked Ann Marie Forehand what she did for a living, she could provide an abundance of answers. She could say she is an exquisite chef, cooking meals for only the most important people. Her speciality is her famous mac and cheese or her chocolate chip cookies. She could say she is a maid that must pick up after loud college girls, rowdy teenage boys, and two little white dogs. She could say she is an experienced tutor; English is her speciality, however she is able to bang out a math problem every now and then. She could say she is a dog-walker who must juggle holding two leashes, while occasionally a piece of toast or a mug of tea. She could say she is a nurse, who can tell a temperature just by the feel of a forehead and always has a stash of cough drops and kleenex and NyQuil on hand. She could say she is referee who must break up heated arguments between a rather stubborn girl and a more sensitive boy. She could say she is a chauffeur who, at times, must squeeze an abundance of children into her white pick-up truck. She could also call herself a counselor, knowing exactly what to say and when to say it. On top of all of this, she works

There is perhaps no greater joy in life than finding one’s soul mate. Once found, there is possibly no greater torment than being forced to live without them. This is the conflict that Paul faces from the moment he falls in love with Agnes. His devotion to the church and ultimately God are thrown into the cross hairs with the only possible outcome being one of agonizing humiliation. Grazia Deledda’s The Mother presents the classic dilemma of having to choose between what is morally right and being true to one’s own heart. Paul’s inability to choose one over the other consumes his life and everyone in it.

A Discussion on the Necessity of Mothers Attachment as described by psychologists Kennell ‘is an emotional bond between two individuals that endures trough space and time, and serves to join them emotionally’. A bond that develops between child and caregiver provides the child with emotionally security. The question ‘are mothers necessary?’ has been a much-discussed debate. In order to answer either for or against the necessities of mother, many theories attempt to explain attachment.

As a person I am an aunt, sister, cousin, a niece, a granddaughter, a daughter. As a person I am kind, loving, protective. I am protective of my sisters, my nieces, my brother, and my mom. I would do what ever I could for my family. I love my family with all my heart. Cause if anything happens to any of my family I will hunt after anyone who hurts them. I will do anything to keep them safe. Even if they get a scratch on them I would ask my sister what happen to my nieces. So if I don’t get an answer I will tell my sister to do something. I love them so much so I try to call every night once in a while when I feel sad. But when I call to talk to them I don’t even get answer. So I call and call over and over again until they answer. I would do any thing to be able to see my nieces. I love them so much I would do anything to see them. I love them all very much. I hate to see them in pain. I would do anything to see them. I love them a lot with all my heart.

stability they feel when they have mom to count on "being there" all the time.

Beaulieu explains that “In her fifth novel, Morrison examines the effects of slavery upon an African American woman’s identity. The telling of the novel, is dominated by Sethe sugg’s act of infanticide and Morrison’s desire to know what causes a woman to give up herself. Throughout the novel, seethe lacks a clearly defined self. For example, she continually refers to herself in the third person when retelling the story of Denver Suggs birth (Keizer). More important, she views her children as her best thing, the one part of herself that slavery has not harmed. Yet, this identification becomes suffocating as Sethe allows Beloved access to herself, to emotionally and physically drain seethe of her individuality. It is up to Denver to rescue her mother from self-disintegration. Unless she leaves the mother die. Her establishment in the community helps Denver mature into an independent adult, she rediscovers what is perhaps the most successful strategy for adult development and she rediscovers what is perhaps the most successful strategy for adult development: she replaces the solitary maternal bond with a larger community of adults and opens herself to an empathetic network of fellows. In doing so, Denver learns to differentiate herself from her mother and to counteract Sethe’s disintegration.

While I have much enjoyed my stay with Uncle I must insist that I come home early. The problem lies not with Uncle or my health but with the atmosphere of the Congo itself. As I sit on the terrace of Uncles beautiful home overlooking the small outpost he resides in I see only despair and sorrow in many of the blacks who work and live here. Few are joyful and though Uncle tells me not to worry for them that they are happy and content in their work, I feel can’t help but think differently. Their eyes are dim and sunken in, their skin is tight over their bones and their backs are hunched from hours of labor. How can they have joy though whenever second of their day is occupied with work? They are all up well before me, and you know how early I rise, and they go to sleep well after dark. The whole atmosphere of the Congo is somber, joyless and out right depressing. You would not believe the horrors that I witnessed within just the first few days of my travel. They were truly gruesome and I can scarcely bear to write them down. However, so that you may get a clear picture of why I believe it is in my best interest to come home, I will endeavor to show, as best I can in my own words, the horrors of the Congo.