Use of the Female Gothic in Beloved
Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved is a slave narrative, but it encompasses much more than slavery. Unlike many slave narratives that focus on the male perception of slavery, Morrison's novel portrays slavery from a feminine point of view. The main characters are Sethe, her daughter, Denver, and the mysterious Beloved. In the beginning of the novel, Sethe and her daughter live alone in 124, a house that is haunted by the ghost of Sethe's first daughter. Sethe's two older boys, "Howard and Buglar, had run away by the time they were thirteen years old. Soon after the sons have fled, Baby Suggs, Denver's grandmother, dies. The novel centers on Sethe's past, in particular, the death of her first daughter. This event dominates the book and the action of the novel revolves around this terrible incident. In Beloved, Toni Morrison utilizes characteristics of the female gothic novel such as mothering, living within enclosed spaces, and the doubling of characters, coupled with dilemmas involving memory and repression, to address the issue of slavery.
Beloved illustrates the notion of the gothic mother through the character of Sethe. Her motherly love is turned into a horrific image of mercy, one that many find difficult to understand. At the time, slaves were valued as property. They were bred as if they were horses, with their young snatched away from them, often at birth, and no chance of having a family. Many children were "permanently separated from any other family members, [and] did not know if or when they would ever see their mother[s] again" (King 527). Sethe describes her own childhood experience with the woman she knew as her mother and it is typical of the experi...
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...illions of lives and Morrison gives those lives names and faces. The narrative form is an effective tool to bring the reality of slavery and all its misery into everyday life.
Works Cited
Goddu, Teresa A. Gothic America. New York: Columbia UP, 1997.
King, Wilma. "Within the Professional Household: Slave Children in the Antebellum South." The Historian 59.3 (1997): 523-540.
Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror. New York: Columbia UP, 1982.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Penguin Group, 1987.
Samuels, Wilfred and Clenora Hudson-Weems. Ed. Toni Morrison. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990.
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. The Coherence of Gothic Conventions. New York: Methuen, 1976.
Smith, Valerie. "Circling the Subject: History and Narrative in Beloved." Toni Morrison. Henry Gates, Jr. and K.A. Appiah. Ed. New York: Amistad Press, 1993.
Resistance: it takes many forms, from the simplest denial to an armed revolt. The Jews exhibited almost every form of resistance against the
During the Holocaust there were many varying forms of resistance these include refusal to follow German orders, the formation of the ZOB, continuing Jewish culture, education, religious practices, and keeping archives of historical events. These acts of Jewish resistance all required great courage and bravery as severe consequences were in place for those who did not follow German
Many of the cruel events in the novel stem from slavery and its profit-driving exploits of human beings. In conclusion, Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved reveals the psychological change in those affected by slavery as a result of the cruelty they both face and commit.
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...
During the duration of the Holocaust, millions of Jews and other minorities found themselves at the mercy of Nazi commandment. Despite the threat of death hanging over their heads, Jews organized resistance groups and fought back their oppressors. Resistance came in all sorts, ranging from committing suicide and dying with dignity to lashing out and killing their captors (“Jewish Resistance to the Nazi Genocide”). Within the camps there were individuals who openly fought back against the Germans, for instance Meir Berliner, who killed an SS soldier with only a knife as a weapon (“Acts of Resistance”). However, one murder of a German soldier resulted in more than a hundred Jews being killed as retribution and so individual rebellions we’re not favored. (“Acts of Resistance”). Instead, small groups formed while in captivity and constructed plans of escape. These groups revolted silently but ferociously; daring to steal guns and ammunition and sneaking in explosives to level their most frightening enemy, the crematorium (“Armed Resistance”). Resistance in camps hardly ever ended with the prisoners finally achieving their well sought out freedom, but there were a select few that somehow managed to not only escape the camp, but also survive the numerous German soldiers who were sent out after them.
In her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison writes about the life of former slaves of Sweet Home. Sethe, one of the main characters, was once a slave to a man and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Garner. After Garner’s sudden death, schoolteacher comes to Sweet Home and takes control of the slaves. His treatment of all the slaves forced them to run away. Fearing that her children would be sold, Sethe sent her two boys and her baby girl ahead to her mother-in-law. On the way to freedom, a white girl named Amy Denver helped Sethe deliver her daughter, who she later names Denver. About a month after Sethe escapes slavery, schoolteacher found her and tried to bring her back. In fear that her children would be brought back into slavery, Sethe killed her older daughter and attempted to kill Denver and her boys. Sethe, along with Denver, was sent to prison and spent three months there. Buglar and Howard, her two sons, eventually ran away. After about eighteen years, another ex-slave from Sweet Home, Paul D., came to live with Sethe and Denver. A few days later, while coming home from a carnival, Sethe, Paul D., and Denver found a young woman of about twenty on their porch. She claimed her name is Beloved. They took her in and she lived with them. Throughout the novel, Morrison uses many symbols and imagery to express her thoughts and to help us better understand the characters. Morrison uses the motif of water throughout the novel to represent birth, re-birth, and escape to freedom.
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.
Wyatt, Jean. “Body to the Word: The Maternal Symbolic in Toni Morrison’s Beloved.” PMLA, Vol. 108, No.3 (May, 1993): 474-488. JSTOR. Web. 27. Oct. 2015.
American policing originated from early English law and is profoundly influenced by its history. Early law enforcement in England took on two forms of policing, one of which heavily influenced modern policing and it is known as the watch (Potter, 2013). The watch consisted, at first, of volunteers which had to patrol the streets for any kind of disorder including crime and fire. After men attempted to get out of volunteering by paying others, it became a paid professional position (Walker & Katz, 2012). The three eras of policing in America are shaped by these early ideas and practices of law enforcement. Throughout time, sufficient improvements and advancements have been made from the political era to the professional era and finally the community era which attempts to eliminate corruption, hire qualified officers and create an overall effective law enforcement system.
Toni Morrison does not use any words she doesn’t need to. She narrates the story plainly and simply, with just a touch of bleak sadness. Her language has an uncommon power because of this; her matter-of-factness makes her story seem more real. The shocking unexpectedness of the one-sentence anecdotes she includes makes the reader think about what she says. With this unusual style, Morrison’s novel has an enthralling intensity that is found in few other places
In Beloved, Toni Morrison sought to show the reader the interior life of slavery through realism and foreshadowing. In all of her novels, Toni Morrison focused on the interior life of slavery, loss, love, the community, and the supernatural by using realism and vivid language. Morrison had cast a new perspective on the nation’s past and even suggests- though makes no promise- that people of strength and courage may be able to achieve a somewhat less destructive future” (Bakerman 173). Works Cited Bakerman, Jane S.
They sang and danced. They even created a statue of our Snowman. Snowman once thought that we would never be capable of these things, but we are. We have a rich history of art. Our people have created images of our ancestors. We have literature and fiction. Many of our people are skilled in poetry and song-writing. We are very proud of this history. Snowman taught us of the things that were right and wrong. We do not practice all of the things of the bad world. We have to know which things were bad and leave them there. Snowman taught us which things should be left behind in the past. We never go near the actions that could harm our
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.
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.
In her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison explores the paradoxical nature of love both as a dangerous presence that promises suffering and a life-giving force that gives the strength to proceed; through the experiences of the run-away slave Sethe. The dangerous aspect of love is revealed through the comments of Paul D and Ella regarding the motherly love of Sethe towards her children. Sethe's deep attachment to her children is deemed dangerous due to their social environment which evidently promises that the loved one of a slave will be hurt. On the other hand, love is portrayed as a sustaining force that allows Sethe to move on with her life. All the devastating experiences Sethe endures do not matter due to the fact that she must live for her children. Although dangerous, Sethe's love finally emerges as the prevalent force that allows her to leave the past behind and move on with her life.