In Toni Morrison's Beloved, the Black literature author touches upon tough subjects such as slavery, the effects of slavery, and the cruelty that is brought with it. For a person to be cruel, they commit inhumane crimes against a victim or victims that wounds them physically, mentally, or both. This concept displays itself several times throughout the novel, depicted through the characters that represent not only the "sixty million and more," but also the broken system of a slavery-ruled society, effectively showing the effects of such heinous crimes. In Beloved, the community that the victim lived in at that point of time commits cruel acts to characters such as Paul D, Denver, and Sethe, prompting them to act cruelly themselves in order …show more content…
Denver becomes lonely, having only her mother to cling onto. Then, when Paul D shows up and scares off the ghost of 124, whom she describes as her “only other companion,” Denver's demeanor towards Paul D becomes rude and aggressive because "It took a man, Paul D, to shout it off, beat it off and take it's place for himself" (104). Denver sees Paul D as a bane and a threat to her world of limited companions, something very precious to her. However, Denver does not stop there, as she reveals that also does not trust Sethe, keeping her at a distance so that she could protect herself if her mother ever decides to kill her as she did with her sister. As she distances herself from Sethe, Denver persistently waits for her father, Halle, telling herself that, "He was coming and it was a secret. [She] spent all of [her] outside self loving [Sethe] so she wouldn't kill [her]..." (207). Despite having a loving and caring mother, Denver deems Sethe as a threat to her safety and denies her the unconditional and whole love any mother desires. Her cruelty against her mother continues when she excludes her mother in her in her image of a happy family that only consisted of, "[Denver], [Halle] and Beloved. [Sethe] could stay or go off with Paul D if she wanted to" (209). …show more content…
Raped by Schoolteacher’s students, she also bears the traumatizing experience of her violated relationship between herself and her daughter as they "stole [her] milk" (17). After this damaging event, Sethe resolves to prevent her children from ever having to go through the same horrors; this becomes her motivation for killing her infant daughter. She couldn't "let her or any of them live under schoolteacher. That was out" (163). Familial bonds became the most precious thing to Sethe, and she strives to thwart anything that threatens it. Then, Beloved appears, and Sethe and Denver begin believe her identity to be the deceased daughter missing from their family. When Paul D leaves Sethe, the former slave woman begins to disturbingly shift her focus and energy towards Beloved, writing Paul D out of the family she was contemplating on building because "Obviously the hand holding shadows she had seen on the road were not Paul D, Denver and herself, but 'us three'" (182). Paul D leaving her family hurt her so horribly that she cuts him out entirely in return, protecting her desire for a happy and complete family. However, she continues to obsess over Beloved, and eventually leaves Denver to fend for herself when Sethe begins to see Beloved as her daughter and "the two of them cut Denver out of the games" (239). Sethe focuses so much on her
Notably, being a loving child was very important to those around Denver. After the tragedy of Sethe losing three of her four children, the town she and Denver lived in began shutting her out. Denver was well aware of how the town treated her mother, so Denver did all she could to support her mother. She strongly respected her mother and cared for her deeply, no matter what happened. When Sethe remembered her past and horrible experiences, Denver could always be counted on to help. Additionally, after Beloved became apart of the household, Denver was more than willing to accept her. Denver always considered Beloved the sister she never had, which meant a lot to Denver. Beloved and Denver often relied on one another when they needed someone to
The moral ambiguity surrounding the nature and reasoning behind Sethe’s murder of her child throws the community’s treatment of Sethe into question and pulls the atrocities of slavery and each character’s plight into the light. This dichotomy between both right and wrong helps redefine Sethe’s love and identification of herself by her children.
When Beloved first joins 124, Paul D is “moved out” to the shed by her (Morrison 114). Morrison leaves this up to the reader to demystify, but it requires some supernatural understanding: Beloveds ability to segregate Paul D from his first home-environment in over a decade with just her presence. On the other hand, Beloved is able to exploit two of Paul D’s weaknesses: his tobacco-tin box and sex. Although he does not realize until after having sex with Beloved, Paul D’s tin box unravels, “flakes of rust…fell away from…his tobacco tin” (Morrison 138). This allowed him to confront his past miseries and obsessions from Sweet Home, Sethe’s rape, and the woman he stayed with from Delaware–three events that ultimately persuade Paul to reunite himself with Sethe (Morrison 148-156).
Denver’s exclusion from Sethe and Beloved helps her realize the negative effects Beloved has on her and Sethe so that she can turn her life around for the better. Beloved’s distraction of Sethe brings Denver isolation and hunger. “The thirty-eight dollars of life savings went to feed themselves with fancy food and decorate themselves with ribbons and dress goods” (283). Sethe spends all of her savings, which are meant for an emergency, on Beloved to make up for her murder of Beloved. After Sethe stops going to work, she put her full focus on Beloved and tries to please her with the most expensive food and goods that she can buy. Sethe’s actions allow Denver to realize that Sethe is spending all of her money to please Beloved who is manipulating Sethe. Denver starts to isolate herself from Beloved because she is seeing the effect on her mother and does not want to be near someone who is going to manipulate her. Denver’s removal of herself from Beloved, helps improve her life and brings her closer to being an independent
Sethe understands that her history, filled with the pain of slavery, grief over losing her children, and guilt over Beloved's death, and tries to hide from all the anguish. However, she admits that the past seems to "always be there waiting," thereby emphasizing the idea that past horrors of life continue to haunt forever. It appears as though the power of her experience in slavery influences her so greatly that the memory triggers great pain, causing the horrifying incidents to "happen again." Even though Sethe understands that she cannot ever fully escape her history as it will come back to trouble her, she still tries to avoid them and thus attempts to shield her daughter from the horrors of history: "As for Denver, the job Sethe had of keeping her from the past that was still waiting for her was all that mattered" (45). It seems as though Sethe tries to deny the fact that history does not simply disappear. She still tries to protect Denver "from the past" even though history "waits," prepared to cause trouble and inflict the pain Sethe tries to repress. It appears as though Sethe continuously tries to fight against her memories and ignore her past in part one. For example, after she wakes, she begins "Working dough. Working, working dough. Nothing better than that to start the day's
Sethe lives in the shadow of her act of infanticide throughout the entire length of the book. This is because its legacy pervades itself throughout the entire novel, showing events leading up, and ways the future has been affected. The novel begins as such: “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom. (Page 1)” This baby refers to Beloved, who became a ghostly presence in Sethe’s house and continuously terrorizes the house
Paul D, a fellow ex-member of Sweet Home, the same place Sethe was stationed in during her slavery years, is a character who was a victim of cruelty done by a society and a communtiy and was forced to act cruely himself. Schoolteacher, the man who represents slavery, hurts Paul D by making him realize that he has less worth than a rooster named Mister. This makes Paul D question how much exactly he is worth, and where he belongs as can be seen as he travels the states based on the advice of a Cherokee member. Paul D eventualy finds that place in 124, with Sethe. One of the most obvious scenes of Paul D committing a cruel deed is when he
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
Sethe is not simply attempting to kill her children just for the sake of doing it; she sees no other option for the betterment of their lives. Sethe is attempting to take the lives of her children out of pure love and the opportunity to not drag them through a life of suffering.
Grotesque images of rape, murder, and sexual abuse are recurring throughout Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. The ideals of the white oppressor, be it murder, rape, or sexual abuse were powerful forces that shaped the lives of many of the characters, especially the character Sethe.
Sethe begins to nurture her children, only for her children to have a growing fear that Sethe would kill them one day, enacting her children to distance themselves. Due to Sethe mother’s abandonment, Sethe in fact has never been a “daughter” and the love she displays, Paul D. describes as “too thick” (193) causes resentment from her children. As Sethe undergoes mental and physical abuse from Beloved, causing her strong personality to wither away and becoming fully dependent on Beloved, Sethe gives herself to Beloved, “[a]nything she wanted she got” (283). This is a story not to be passed on for Sethe, she allowed herself to be swallowed up by her own inability to move past her dreadful memories at Sweet Home. The past, “Beloved” began to slowly creep on her, draining away the strong woman she once was. Sethe always tried to nurture her child, the way her mother never nurtured her. However, in the end when she becomes dependent on Beloved, she becomes old and weak. Yet, her positive development occurs when Paul D tells her that she, herself is the most important thing and finally then Sethe moves on.
The atrocities of slavery know no bounds. Its devices leave lives ruined families pulled apart and countless people dead. Yet many looked away or accepted it as a necessary part of society, even claiming it was beneficial to all. The only way this logic works is if the slaves are seen as less than human, people who cannot be trusted to take care of themselves. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved the consequences of a lifetime of slavery are examined. Paul D and seethe, two former slaves have experienced the worst slavery has to offer. Under their original master, Mr. Garner the slaves were treated like humans. They were encouraged to think for themselves and make their own decisions. However, upon the death of Mr. Garner all of that changes. Under
Sethe divulged to Paul D the catastrophic events that caused her to run away from Sweet Home, and then she surrendered her sons and daughter to a woman in a wagon because she was worried about the family’s future under the Schoolteacher’s reign. Her description of the assault was straight forward. She told Paul D and very succinctly the roughness and cruelty of those white people especially the two white boys who beat her while she was pregnant with Denver injuring her so badly that her back skin had been dead for years. She refers to the situation as
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
Denver who was isolated from the communicating with the community because of her mother Sethe, Sethe frightened that the schoolteacher will come any time to take her last daughter that is sitting with her at 124 house. After Beloved come to the house and then start acting very aggressive and demanding and saw what happened to her mother. This made her realise the past of her mother and slavery people “I think I’ve lost my mother, Paul D”, she stands up on her own two feet and become an independent woman special in her “society because the black women are silenced to express or to work” as it is mentioned theme of racial difference. The history of ghost made her an intelligent woman and remembering the history or past made her stronger. Working was her finest idea as a responsibility to remember the ghostly past that was haunting her. Indeed, Paul D think it is a great decision she made “Well. Well, good luck with the job”. Possibly it also referred for standing out in the society for black people, who the white American took it from them and who are a curse to this