Monstrosity In Beloved

Beloved developed from a baby to monstrosity due to her murder. In the novel, Beloved, the author Toni Morrison allows the reader to indulge in the life of the former slave mother, Sethe, and her family’s fight in the path to free themselves from their past lives. Throughout the novel, Sethe reveals that she had done the horror of killing her child Beloved because she did not want Beloved to live the life of slavery as she did. Beloved eventually haunts her being, from becoming a small figure that shakes the household to a real 19-year-old woman who wrecks havoc amongst the community and terrorizes those who come across her path in wanting to be with Sethe. Sethe and Denver, Sethe’s other child, both contribute to the horrors of Beloved by

Beloved, having stuck in the place between life and hell after her murder, had become a monstrosity due to the need of love from her mother. As the author first introduced the readers to Beloved’s character, they meet an astounding discovery of the fact that Beloved is the ghost that haunts house number 124. In the household, Sethe and her daughter, Denver, run into strange occurrences such as the fact that the Sethe’s house had broken mirrors and imprinted birthday cakes (1). Denver, Sethe’s daughter, even states that “For a baby she throws a powerful spell” (Morrison 5), allowing Sethe to introduce the story of the name Beloved on her deceased baby daughter’s tombstone. The reader finds out that Beloved was killed as a baby, by her mother, causing a spiraling effect of

Throughout the story, Beloved goes into a brief period of explanation of the line between hell and the living; Beloved had yearned for Sethe and her appreciation towards her, all she wanted was her mother’s affection. Beloved had ruined the relationships between Sethe and everyone she grew close to, to try to get her to focus all her attention on Beloved. With Denver, Beloved had tried to assert her dominance over her younger sister by leaving her in the dark shed to ponder about the whereabouts of her sister. The actions that Beloved performs causes the reader to see how cruel Beloved was; she wanted her sister to believe that she could not live without her (PDF 70). Beloved also gets in between Denver and her mother’s relationship with one another by replacing her and making Sethe try to buy everything that she wanted; as the author states, “the two of them cut Denver out of the games. The cooking games, the sewing games, the hair and dressing-up games.” (PDF 135), signifying how both Sethe and Beloved cut Denver out of everything. With Paul D, Beloved seduced him and tried to steal him away from Sethe by sleeping with him. Beloved tells Paul D, "I want you to touch me on the inside part and call me my name” (PDF 68), even though she knows of Paul D’s love for Sethe. At the beginning of the novel as well, her monstrous attitude can be exhibited through directly choking Sethe, making her believe that someone else had done so, and coming to her aid