Color in Beloved

In Beloved, Toni Morrison paints a picture of the cruelty of slavery. She emphasizes the African American’s desire for a new life as they try to move beyond their past to achieve their freedom. In Beloved, "Much of the characters’ pain occurs as they reconstruct themselves, and their families after the devastation of slavery" (Kubitschek 115). Through the novel, Morrison uses color to represent a life complete with joy, freedom, and protection, as well as things like community and family. In many sections, Morrison uses color to portray a character's desire for this life while, in other instances, Morrison utilizes color to illustrate the pleasure and realization which the characters experience once they obtain this life.

Morrison uses color to explain the life that Denver leads. For Denver’s entire life, she would never leave 124 by herself. From the time she was young, she never ventured into the world. Morrison uses Denver’s lack of freedom by removing color from Denver’s life. For the entirety of her life, Denver never really saw color; however, when life at 124 forces Denver to turn to the others for assistance, her colorblindness is cured. When visiting a neighbor, Denver “only half heard her because she was steppin on something soft and blue. All around her was thick, soft and blue” (Morrison 253). Walking along the street, Denver remarks on the “yellow shutters...[and] pots of green leaves with white hearts” (Morrison 245). This sudden blossoming of color into Denver’s life indicates her passage from slavery into freedom. For all of her life, Denver was possessed by the love of her mother. So she was enslaved by this love. When she finally freed herself from these chains, Denver started to notice color indicating her f...

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...ustrates this by removing color from Sethe’s life and making her “as color conscious as a hen” (38). For instance, “Sethe looked at her hands, her bottle-green sleeves, and thought how little color there was in the house” (Morrison 38). For in her house, “the walls of the room were slate-colored, the floor was earth-brown, [and] the wooden dresser the color of itself” (Morrison 38). Her life was “like life in the raw” (Morrison 38). Here, Morrison emphasizes the absence of color because Sethe’s life is devoid of hope.

Works Cited

Kubitschek, M.D. Toni Morrison: A Critical Companion. London: Greenwood Press,1998.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Random House, Inc., 2007. Kindle Fire.

Works Cited

Kubitschek, M.D. Toni Morrison: A Critical Companion. London: Greenwood Press,1998.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Random House, Inc., 2007. Kindle Fire.