Truth and Maturation in Beloved by Toni Morrison

Truth and Maturation in Beloved by Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, allows for one to experience slavery through three generations of women. The complex development of the horrors of black chattel slavery in the United States intertwined with a story a freedom helps the reader to understand the ongoing struggle of the Afro-American population after emancipation. Denver, although never a slave, is at first held in bondage by her mother's secrecy about her past and only sets herself free when her mother is forced to cope with her memories.

As a young woman, Denver is lonely and terrified. She knows that, "her mother had secrets -- things she wouldn't tell; things she halfway told" (38). These secrets, she understands, are about the abyss outside the sanctuary of 124. She is afraid to leave her yard, however, she is also frightened of her mother: "I love my mother but I know she killed one of her own daughters, and tender as she is with me, I'm scared of her because of it" (205). Denver lives in constant fear for her own life because Sethe never shares her motives for trying to kill her children with her daughter. This secrecy drives Howard and Bulger away from their home, adding to Denver's seclusion. If Sethe had enlightened Denver, she might have found all of humanity less frightening. However, Sethe countenances Denver's isolation through ambiguity, which further hinders her ability to mature.

When Beloved first appears, Denver shows her first signs of adulthood. She takes on the responsibility of caring for Beloved: "Denver tended her, watched her sound asleep, listened to her labored breathing and, out of love and a breakneck possessiveness that charged her, hid like a personal blemish Beloved's incontinenc...

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...ed and wanted work" (256). The same community helps expel the spite from her home. Stamp Paid declares, "Lay off Denver, Paul D. That's my heart. I'm proud of that girl" (266) when discussing Sethe's attack on Mr. Bodwin. She has left her mother's shadow to become a genuine and unique person.

In just a few months, Denver morphs from a cowardly child, to an ardent adult. As the story closes, she is working too jobs to support herself and her mother. She tells Paul D. that her boss, Miss Bodwin, "says I might go to Oberlin. She's experimenting on me" (256). Paul D, not so much impressed with her goals to go to college, but her general appearance and demeanor declares, "You grown" (267). Denver's emancipation coincided with her mother's ability to, "lay it all down, sword and shield"(86). Once Denver understands her heritage, she is able to proceed with her future.