Toni Morrison

Beloved

Toni Morrison

About the Author

A novelist, editor and professor, Toni Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for Beloved and was awarded the Presidential Metal of Freedom on May 29th, 2012.  

About Beloved

Set after the civil war, Beloved tells the story of an escaped slave, Sethe who kills one of her daughters and attempts to kill her other three children rather than let them be re-enslaved.  Years later, the murdered daughter returns, haunting Sethe and those living with her in her home.  The novel plays upon mother-daughter relationships in regards to slavery as well as the psychological impact of slavery.

Discussion Question 1

How does the relationship between Sethe and her children relate/compare to that of other mothers we have encountered throughout the class, such as Helga Crane and Harriet Jacobs?

Discussion Question 2

With the memory repression, it is possible that some of the narration may not be reliable. Have we encountered any unreliability in narration up to this point in the course? Consider especially Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.

Fact

This book was made into a movie starring Oprah Winfrey in 1998.

Analytic Paragraph

Once again we have come across another mother that is unable to develop a sense of self and identity through motherhood under the oppression of slavery. Much like Harriet Jacobs, slavery has inhibited Sethe's identity because she must sacrifice in multiple ways in order to provide better lives, free of slavery for her children. It is because of Sethe's twisted perceptions from her horrible experience as a slave that she murders her daughter, and loses contact with the other. In an attempt to prevent the re-enslavement of her children, she runs to a shed, and attempts to kill each of her children before her former master finds them. Unfortunately for her, she only succeeds in cutting the throat of her eldest child, and fails at "trying to put my babies where they'd be safe".

The video above is the full length film adaptation of Beloved.