Beloved Motherhood

SUMMARY: In her article, “Thick Love: Motherhood in Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, Michele Barzey discusses motherhood through the experiences of colored women and analyzes how race affects how a woman mothers. Barzey also explains that the conventional standards for motherhood were established in post-revolutionary America in the early nineteenth century. Barzey then examines the mothering experiences of four women in Beloved: Sethe’s wet nurse, Nan, Sethe’s mother, Ma’am, Sethe’s mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, and finally Sethe herself. He describes that Nan was forced to breastfeed children that were not hers, Ma’am was used to birth as many children as possible, Baby Saggs could never love her children because they were taken away from her, and Sethe loved her children to such an extreme that she was ostracized. Barzey concludes that the social environment, in this case slavery, affects the way women mother. Often, women are blamed for poor

In addition, Barzey provides historical background because she recognizes that the readers may need more information on Beloved, which adds to her ethos. This also adds a shock factor to Barzey’s article because the story is based on true events. Barzey also exemplifies her level headedness by maintaining an objective tone throughout the article, despite the emotional topic. Barzey exhibits both ethos and logos by including evidence from Beloved to support her claims. Additionally, she uses inductive reasoning to come to a conclusion after analyzing each woman from Beloved. Lastly, Barzey remains respectful by understanding the hardships of motherhood. She takes advantage of the emotional subject to have a greater impact on the reader, but avoids falling into a fallacy. Overall, Barzey uses rhetorical appeals to create a well-rounded critical