Comparing Consistency in Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Tar Baby comparison compare contrast essays

317 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Psychoanalysis in The Bluest Eye by Morrison

Consistency of Vision in Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Tar Baby Morrison's novels, Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Tar Baby, reveal a unity and a consistency in her vision of the human condition. One particular preoccupation is with the effect of the community on the individual's achievement and retention of an integrated acceptable self. In treating this subject she draws recurrently on myth and legend for story pattern and characters, returning repeatedly to the theory of quest as a motivating and organizing device. The impact of the community on the individual's quest for self is one of the particular problems of Black women, and the laughter and pain which characterise the survival struggle of Black Americans. (Thus Sethe is destroyed by her memories and her isolation with the ghost of Beloved (haunted by slavery), until the community intervenes and saves her.) There are a number of similar themes which pervade the novels: in Song of Solomon, Milkman Dead's spiritual quest is part of an actual journey during which he must confront his past and his origins. (Compare with Paul D.'s need to confront his past, and Sethe's.) Finally he experiences a rebirth of the self rather than a terminal isolation in madness or death (as Sethe is reunited with Paul D. and is liberated from the horrors of her past.) (Incidentally, Milkman gets his name from the fact that his mother nursed him late into boyhood, from an emotional dependence, which points to the emblematic 'stealing of milk' from which Sethe suffers... and her desire and pride that she is able to keep her milk for her children.) See also, Therese, in Tar Baby, whose 'magic breasts' continue forever to give life-sustaining milk, who actively guides 'Son'.

Show More
Related

  • Transformation of Milkman in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon

    1788 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the same episode, he begins his incestuous affair with Hagar, leaving her 14 years later when his desire for her wanes. Milkman's experience with Hagar is analogous to his experience with his mother, and serves to "[stretch] his carefree boyhood out for thrifty-one years" (98). Hagar calls him into a room, unbuttons her blouse and smiles (92), just as his mother did (13). Milkman's desire for his mother's milk disappears before she stops milking him, and when Freddie discovers the situation and notes the inappropriateness, she is left without this comfort. Similarly, Milkman ends the affair with Hagar when he loses the desire for her and recognizes that this affair with his cousin is not socially approved, leaving Hagar coldly and consciously, with money and a letter of gratitude.

    Read More

  • Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Dubois

    1164 Words  | 3 Pages

    When it all comes down to it, one of the greatest intellectual battles U.S. history was the legendary disagreement between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. This intellectual debate sparked the interest of the Northerners as well as the racist whites that occupied the south. This debate was simply about how the blacks, who just gained freedom from slavery, should exist in America with the white majority. Even though Washington and DuBois stood on opposite sides of the fence they both agreed on one thing, that it was a time for a change in the treatment of African Americans. I chose his topic to write about because I strongly agree with both of the men’s ideas but there is some things about their views that I don’t agree with. Their ideas and views are the things that will be addressed in this essay.

    Read More

  • Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery

    1462 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...to be equally educated. His speeches not only attracted the black people but also, northern and southern white people. Booker worked hard for all that he achieved during his life time. People all over were followers of Booker T. Washington. One example of how much these followers appreciated Washington is through raising money for a trip to Europe. Not just anyone went to Europe in those days. The trip showed how much the people appreciated Booker’s efforts for civil rights and education of blacks. They sent

    Read More

  • Comparing W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T Washington were very different, they undoubtedly influenced the Black population of the United States. Du Bois, although supported communism, excellent in a utopian society yet devastating in reality, had his people's interest at heart. Booker T Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute, did help some Black population's problems, yet he was more interested with the White culture and its ideals.

    Read More

  • Ida B. Wells, Booker T, Washington, and W.E.B Dubois

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...hile Wells and Dubois had more opinion that are looking out for the African–Americans, Washington had more of an influence when it came to the amount of audiences he reached and his supporters were from all sides; Northerners, Southerners, and African-Ameicans.

    Read More

  • Booker T. Washington

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    Booker Taliaferro Washington was born a slave on April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Va. His mother, Jane Burroughs, was a plantation cook. His father was an unknown white man. As a child, Booker swept yards and brought water to slaves working in the fields. Freed after the American Civil War, he went with his mother to Malden, W. Va., to join Washington Ferguson, whom she had married during the war.

    Read More

  • Essay About Tough Love in Toni Morrison's Beloved

    804 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sethe, the novel's main protagonist, is an escaped slave and mother of four a few years after the end of the Civil War. Her apparent good fortune at successfully escaping while pregnant and giving birth in flight and finding refuge at her mother-in-law's spiritually nourishing home vanishes twenty-eight days later. The sight of a hat belonging to a cruel white owner who has tracked her down sends her and her four children into a woodshed where rather than let them suffer the torments of slavery proceeds to kill them. After killing Beloved, her third child, she is stopped by a friend who has rushed in as she is swinging the infant by her heels to smash her head.

    Read More

  • The African American's Struggle Throughout History's Influence on "Beloved"

    1871 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first-hand account of life in post-civil war United States for slaves is described through the use of imagery and symbols in Beloved. Sethe, a runaway slave, reaches freedom at her mother-in-law’s house but is pursued by her former owner. Acting rashly and not wanting a life of slavery for her children, Set...

    Read More

  • Religion in "Beloved"

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering that was brought on by slavery. Several critical works recognize that Morrison incorporates aspects of traditional African religions and to Christianity to depict the anguish slavery placed not only on her characters, but other enslaved African Americans. This review of literature will explore three different scholarly articles that exemplifies how Morrison successfully uses African religions and Christianity to depict the story of how slavery affected the characters’ lives in the novel, even after their emancipation from slavery.

    Read More

  • W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington were two very influential leaders in the black community during the late 19th century, early 20th century. However, they both had different views on improvement of social and economic standing for blacks. Booker T. Washington, an ex-slave, put into practice his educational ideas at Tuskegee, which opened in 1881. Washington stressed patience, manual training, and hard work. He believed that blacks should go to school, learn skills, and work their way up the ladder. Washington also urged blacks to accept racial discrimination for the time being, and once they worked their way up, they would gain the respect of whites and be fully accepted as citizens. W.E.B. Du Bois on the other hand, wanted a more aggressive strategy. He studied at Fisk University in Tennessee and the University of Berlin before he went on to study at Harvard. He then took a low paying research job at the University of Pennsylvania, using a new discipline of sociology which emphasized factual observation in the field to study the condition of blacks. The first study of the effect of urban life on blacks, it cited a wealth of statistics, all suggesting that crime in the ward stemmed not from inborn degeneracy but from the environment in which blacks lived. Change the environment, and people would change too; education was a good way to go about it. The different strategies offered by W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington in dealing with the problems of poverty and discrimination faced by Black Americans were education, developing economic skills, and insisting on things continually such as the right to vote. ...

    Read More

  • The Influence of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois on the Writings from the Harlem Renaissance

    2154 Words  | 5 Pages

    Two of the most influential people in shaping the social and political agenda of African Americans were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois, both early twentieth century writers. While many of their goals were the same, the two men approached the problems facing African Americans in very different ways. This page is designed to show how these two distinct thinkers and writers shaped one movement, as well as political debate for years afterward.

    Read More

  • Prejudice in "King of the Bingo Game"

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main character is completely alienated from the world around him. He is a black man living in a white world, a man who was born in the South but is now living in the North, and his only form of companionship is his dying wife, Laura, whom he is desperate to save. He is unable to work since he has no birth certificate—no official identity. Without a job he is unable to make his mark in the world, and if his wife dies, not only would he lose his lover but also any evidence that he ever existed. As the story progresses he loses his own awareness of his identity—“somehow he had forgotten his own name.” The author emphasizes the main character’s mistreatment in life by white society during a vivid recollection of an event in his childhood when he was chased by a train filled with “white people laughing as he ran screaming,” a hallucination which was triggered by his exploration of the “old scars” on his body. This connection between alienation and oppression highlight Ellison’s central idea.

    Read More

  • Use of Violence in Beloved by Toni Morrison

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    In an interview, Morrison is asked about her feelings on O.J. Simpson. This brings up the issue of “black irrationality”. She chuckles and responds “The story of the case is a marketable story. And that story is made up of black irrationality, and black cunning, and black stupidity, and the black predator” (Haines). She then continues with this memorable quote, “We've always been considered to be irrational, emotional, lunatic people.” In Beloved, Sethe portrays the epitome of “bla...

    Read More

  • Confronting the Past, Living the Present, and Enjoying the Future in Toni Morrison's "Beloved"

    1337 Words  | 3 Pages

    So often, the old adage, "History always repeats itself," rings true due to a failure to truly confront the past, especially when the memory of a period of time sparks profoundly negative emotions ranging from anguish to anger. However, danger lies in failing to recognize history or in the inability to reconcile the mistakes of the past. In her novel, Beloved, Toni Morrison explores the relationship between the past, present and future. Because the horrors of slavery cause so much pain for slaves who endured physical abuse as well as psychological and emotional hardships, former slaves may try to block out the pain, failing to reconcile with their past. However, when Sethe, one of the novel's central characters fails to confront her personal history she still appears plagued by guilt and pain, thus demonstrating its unavoidability. Only when she begins to make steps toward recovery, facing the horrors of her past and reconciling them does she attain any piece of mind. Morrison divides her novel into three parts in order to track and distinguish the three stages of Sethe approach with dealing with her personal history. Through the character development of Sethe, Morrison suggests that in order to live in the present and enjoy the future, it is essential to reconcile the traumas of the past.

    Read More

  • Universal Themes in Toni Morrison’s Beloved

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, Morrison uses universal themes and characters that anyone can relate to today. Set in the 1800s, Beloved is about the destructive effects of American slavery. Most destructive in the novel, however, is the impact of slavery on the human soul. Morrison’s Beloved highlights how slavery contributes to the destruction of one’s identity by examining the importance of community solidarity, as well as the powers and limits of language during the 1860s.

    Read More

More about Comparing Consistency in Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Tar Baby comparison compare contrast essays

Open Document