Beloved Literary Criticism Essay

Beloved and African-American Literary Criticism and Theory

Toni Morrison’s Beloved stumbles upon issues that we do not face in our day-to-day life, yet Morrison has unquestionably become one of the most taught, influential American writers today. Beloved is “suspended between the nastiness of life and the meanness of the dead” (Pg 4), drenched with a fury situated in the interior of the family living at 124 Bluestone. Even though the story of Beloved is not an easy one to discuss, it is one that has earned the right to be conferred, and has become a necessity to teach.
However, Barbara Christian’s 1988 essay assumes Morrison will not be read in schools, because writers such as herself threaten the academic system. The Race for Theory claims that the structure of education and the relationship it shares with theory is a biased and toxic one, as it is fundamentally built from strictly Western principles, compelling relegated intellectuals to write and voice their work in a language that is not theirs, smothering their individuality and integrating what they have to say. “…the terms ‘minority and ‘discourse’ are located firmly in a Western dualistic or ‘binary’ frame which sees the rest of the world as minor, and tries to convince the rest of the world that it is major, usually through force and then through language, even as it claims many of the ideas, that we, its ‘historical other, have known and spoken about for so long. For many of us have never conceived of ourselves only as somebody’s other.” (The Race of Theory, Pg 2130) Christian declares that literature is an affirmation that sensuality is intelligence, that sensual language is language that makes sense. However, contrary to that belief, what does not make sense is, a...

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...revolting” cluster of scars. Trees frequently reappear in Beloved; under the belief that it is unwise and dangerous to love others too much, Paul D claims a tree as his ‘brother.’ Although trees are clearly a sign of life, it carries a range of different meanings in the story. Beloved appears sitting on a tree, Sethe’s “tree” is dead, she has no life in her and the tree “on” her is not alive but perhaps a literal imitation. Paul D’s tree “brother” steps in for real interaction with others, causing disconnect. Trees are are vibrant and beautiful but life is dark and horrifying.
Beloved is a work that directly helps transcend and evolve the relationship between what is traditional culture, the theory and criticism, as well as African-american literature, and continuing to teach it is vital to allow this to further into the future, ensuring we don’t forget the past.