Character Naming in Beloved
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And, for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself."
hakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, II.ii
Shakespeare's Juliet tells us that names are unimportant - inconsequential, in fact. A name is merely a convenient string of sounds that denotes an individual, but it has no meaning. But this is clearly not true. Would Romeo and Juliet be the same play if its star-crossed lovers were called Robert and Jennifer? Of course not. The names of characters serve to identify them as members of a certain culture and help to cement their identities. A name may be an arbitrary string of sounds, but it carries much more weight than that. In Beloved, Toni Morrison demonstrates a clear understanding of this fact. Her choices of character names assist in firmly establishing the world of the book.
Toni Morrison was born with the name Chloe Anthony Wofford. She changed her first name to Toni upon entering college - traditionally, a time looked upon as one of great significance in a young person's life. From this, we can infer that Morrison appreciates the power of a changed name to confer a new identity. There are two characters whose names change during the novel: Jenny Whitlow becomes Baby Suggs, and Joshua becomes Stamp Paid. In both of these cases, the character is abandoning the name under which they lived as a slave for a new, free name. Whitlow is the last name of Jenny's original master (142), and we learn that she takes the name Baby Suggs because her husband called her Baby. What she is known as by the people closest to her is more important than what the white community wishes to call her.
The name Sethe is also interesting. This name could be interpreted as a feminine version of the Jewish name Seth, used in the fourth and fifth chapters of Genesis as the name of the third son of Adam and Eve, after Cain and Abel.
Satran, Pamela R, and Linda Rosenkrantz. The Baby Name Bible: The Ultimate Guide by America's Baby-Naming Experts. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2007. 283. Print.
Toni Morrison’s award-winning novel Song of Solomon is full of very interesting, deep symbolism. Macon Dead III, nicknamed “Milkman,” is a very symbolic character throughout the novel. His character is not only symbolic, for so is his name. Also, Milkman’s paternal aunt, Pilate, has an extremely significant and symbolic role in the novel. To her father, she represents the child who killed her own mother and took away her father’s wife. Seeing that Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus to death, the name Pilate seems to coincide with her father, Macon Dead’s, opinion. Ironically, though, Pilate is a good person and is murdered in the end, just as Jesus was by Pontius Pilate. Another important character in the novel who portrays a great deal of symbolism is Guitar, Milkman’s best friend. Guitar is named after something that he is ultimately unable to attain. “I saw it when my mother took me downtown with her. I was just a baby…I cried for it, they said. And always asked about it.” This unreachable goal accurately describes his character throughout the novel. He is never able to overcome the obstacles that stand in his way or to reach the goals he has set for himself. Toni Morrison intelligently uses the characters Milkman, Pilate, and Guitar to successfully portray a great deal of symbolism throughout her novel.
Toni Morrison's Beloved Throughout the novel Beloved, there are numerous and many obvious reoccurring themes and symbols. While the story is based off of slavery and the aftermath of the horrible treatment of the slaves, it also breaches the subject of the supernatural. It almost seems like the novel itself is haunted. It is even named after the ghost. To further the notion of hauntings, the characters are not only haunted by Beloved at 124, but they are haunted by their past, and the novel is not only about ridding their home of the ghost, but releasing their hold on what had happened to them in worse times.
Transcendentalism was a movement in philosophy, literature, and religion that emerged and was popular in the nineteenth century New England because of a need to redefine man and his place in the world in response to a new and changing society. The industrial revolution, universities, westward expansion, urbanization and immigration all made the life in a city like Boston full of novelty and turbulence. Transcendentalism was a reaction to an impoverishment of religion and mechanization of consciousness of eighteenth century rational doctrines that ceased to be satisfying. After the success of the American Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, an American man emerged confident and energetic. However, with the release of nervous energy, an American was forced to look at a different angle at his place in the world and society.
Students in the movie, Dead Poets Society, are fortunately introduced to transcendental thinking through their new Poetry teacher, Mr. Keating. “No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.” (Keating) “Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, ‘Most men lead lives of quiet desperation’. Don’t be resigned to that.” (Keating) Transcendentalists firmly value relying on themselves and seeking spiritual truth over blind conformity to authority, customs and traditions. Furthermore, they have unique spiritual beliefs that
Romeo and Juliet are not supposed to be together. Upon seeing Romeo, Juliet sends The Nurse to find out who he is. Nurse returns saying, “His name is Romeo, and a Montague, / The only son of your great enemy” (I v 36-37). They instantly become desperate to see each other all the time, ignoring the fact that their families are feuding. Juliet likes the proverbial forbidden fruit, saying, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called / Retain that dear perfection which he owes / Without that...
Above all, Transcendentalism reveres individuality and moral conscience. A Transcendentalist’s convictions, consequently, are superior to those of his friends, fellow citizens, and even the government. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, two influential Transcendentalist essayists and poets of mid-19th century Massachusetts, impart a message of societal withdrawal, exceptionality, and a meaningful spiritual center. Despite the liberating commentary in both “Civil Disobedience” and “Self-Reliance,” written by Thoreau and Emerson, respectively, the quotations from each piece exemplify different ethics. Thoreau desires an alternate society in which the individual is free from governmental restriction. Emerson, on the other hand, is more
...ality and Liberty gave each other names that reminded them of each other from the books that they’ve read because, Equality says that it isn’t proper for men to not have a name. That is how they got the name Prometheus and Gaea.
Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18,1931 in Lorain, Ohio to George and Ramah Willis Wofford. She was the second of four children. Her parents influenced her writing because of their contrasting views. Her father had a very pessimistic view of hope for his people; however, her mother had a more positive belief that a person, with effort, could rise above African-Americans’ current surroundings (Carmean 1-2). Her parents also influenced her because they were “gifted storytellers who taught their children the value of family history and the vitality of language”(Carmean 2).
Perhaps one of the most important issues in Toni Morrison's award-winning novel Beloved is Morrison's intentional diversity of possible interpretations. However the text is looked at and analyzed, it is the variety of these multiple meanings that confounds any simple interpretation and gives the novel the complexity. The debate rages on over many topics, but one issue of central and basic importance to the understanding of the novel is defining the different possibilities for interpreting the title character. As Robert Broad recognizes, "the question, "Who the hell is Beloved?" must haunt the reader of the novel," and the reader must come to some basic understanding of her character to appreciate the difficult stream of consciousness sections (Broad 189). But there may be no "basic" understanding available of Beloved, for she is a character that ostensibly refuses any single identity, either literal or symbolic.
Toni Morrison's fifth novel, Beloved, a vividly unconventional family saga, is set in Ohio in the mid 1880s. By that time slavery had been shattered by the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation and the succeeding constitutional amendments, though daily reality for the freed slaves continued to be a matter of perpetual struggle, not only with segregation and its attendant insults, but the curse of memory.
I have read an account called " 'What's in a Name? " ", which is composed by Henry Louis Gates. This account demonstrates to us a youth experience of the creator that happened amid the mid-1950s. In the article, Gates alludes to an occurrence when a white man, Mr. Wilson, who was well disposed with his dad, called his dad "George", a name which was a prominent method for alluding to African Americans in those circumstances. In any case, Gates' dad needed to acknowledge this separation and couldn't make a move around then. By utilizing sentiment to bring out individuals' enthusiastic reaction, and utilizing suggestion, Gates effectively communicates his claim that name shapes individuals' discernments
Foster describes the importance of names in literature: “The naming of a character is a serious piece of business in a novel or play. A name has to sound right for a character … but it also has to carry whatever message the writer wants to convey about the character or the story” (53). An example of this method of naming is Serena Joy, who is neither serene nor joyful: “This is meant to be a time of silent meditation for her, but she’s not in the mood for that. There is loathing in her voice” (Atwood 95). Despite the connotations of her name, Serena Joy contradicts the ideals of serenity and joy preached in the Bible. The male citizens of Gilead are named for their jobs, “Commanders of the Faithful,” “Guardians of the Faith” (policemen), “Angels” (soldiers), and “Eyes of the Lord” (secret police). The soldiers called “Angels of the Apocalypse” or “Angels of Light” actually fight for the army, despite the expected holiness with the name “Angel,” implying these euphemistic angels fight a religious war. The “Eyes” are from a Bible verse that Gilead uses to justify spying on the people of Gilead: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to know himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him” (II Chronicles 16:9). The Commander reads this verse aloud each month at the
Not one of the three female characters in given a name in Heart of Darkness. This makes it seem as though women do not matter enough to be given a name. In Things Fall Apart, each woman is given a name. Only three important instances involve women in Heart of Darkness, Marlow’s conversation with his aunt, Kurtz painting, and Marlow’s conversation with Kurtz’s fiancée. Besides these three events, women are kept out of the story.
Many of the characters in the story go by multiple names. Armanoush's internal conflict over her cultural identity is reflected by the names she goes by, Armanoush for her father's family, Amy for her moth...