Beloved By Toni Morrison Essay

“Grown don’t mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What’s that supposed to mean? In my heart it doesn’t mean a thing” (Morrison, p.54). Toni Morrison tells the riveting story of men and women who had to withstand American slavery, and keep fighting to have their freedom. In this novel, Morrison’s central theme of slavery was not only correlated to the political history of our country, but the enslavement between a mother and child’s love, and how far it’ll take them. Through the eyes of other central figures in this story, we see the horrific lives filled with astonishing cruelty and brutality towards those of the African American race; however, Sethe’s most central pain is from the burdened and pain towards loving her children and

To be a mother in a time of slavery is to be the backbone and the healer of your family. Morrison shows through the eyes of Baby Suggs, Sethe, Denver, Beloved, and Halle, how a mother can impact a life, whether for the good or the bad.

How far does a mother have the ability to decide if their child can die or live? This is a question that Morrison raises, but more importantly, it’s a question still debated in our society today. “Beloved” starts by an introduction to the life after slavery for Sethe, a mother and former slave, however, it doesn’t mention her upbringing or parents until well through the story as to justify Sethe’s mental understanding of protection. She recalls never meeting her mother until she was 9 years old on her way to work at Sweet Home when they met and her mother had shown her a marking she received under her breast; Sethe later discovered she was probably one of the people they’ve been imprinting to capture and kill. After meeting with Nan, a friend of her mothers