Use of Color as a Symbol in Beloved
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 utilizes color to illustrate the satisfaction and fulfillment, which the characters experience once they achieve this life.
Morrison uses color to symbolize the life Paul D desires as he is heading North. When Paul D asks the Cherokee man “how he might get North. Free North. Magical North,” (Morrison 112) he conveys his desire for a free, safe, happy and even somewhat magical life. Equating color with this life, the Cherokee man replies, “Follow the tree flowers.” When one thinks about or describes flowers, their colors are always important. In his journey North, Paul D would “scan the horizon for a flash of pink or white...[or] blossoming plums” (Morrison 113). By having Paul D search for colorful flowers, Morrison illustrates Paul D’s desire for a life full of safety, enjoyment, and freedom.
Just as Paul D desires a better life after slavery, so does Baby Suggs. As a slave, Suggs was suppressed and did not experience the type of life she desired. Morrison indirectly demonstrates...
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...e beauty of this land that was not” theirs (Morrison 268). “They cling to its banks to lap water and tried not to love it;” for, their life was not their own (Morrison 268). Thus, when the slaves are able to experience color, like Denver when she is a part of the community, the symbolism of color is very powerful. It symbolizes a character’s ability to own a feeling or emotion. For example, when Sugars dies, she concentrates on color because that is one thing in her life which she owns. The effects of slavery have destroyed her family, community and even freedom. Therefore, she focuses on color because it is her own experience and the happiness she feels from pondering color is her own.
Works Cited
Kubitschek, M.D. Toni Morrison: A Critical Companion. London: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Plume Printing, 1987.
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