Beloved Conflict
Title: Beloved
Author: Toni Morrison
Genre: Historical Fiction
Conflict/Plot
The major conflict in this story occurs when Sethe escapes from slavery.
She kills her daughter "Beloved," because she wants to keep her from being
taken back to the South by her old master. A mysterious figure then keeps
showing up at Seth's home. This mysterious figure is her oldest daughter. She
comes back to haunt her mother and her household because she is angry over
what has happened to her. Another conflict in the story is how Sethe is trying
to be a stable mother for her four children under the system of slavery, which
defines her and her children as property. The resolution to the problems are when Sethe comes to terms …show more content…
The book also
flashbacks to Sweet Home plantation in Kentucky and the prison in Alfred,
Georgia. The time happened in 1873 after the Civil war with frequent flashbacks
to the early 1850s. Most of the action takes place in 124 Bluestone Rd., the
address of a gray and white house outside Cincinnati, Ohio.
Characters
The protagonist of the story is Sethe. She suffers from the many crimes
that is inflicted upon her as well as the crimes she has put on her own self. She
kills her oldest daugher and wants to kill her other children because she would
rather be with them "on the other side" than allow them to go through the same
things she has went through.
The antagonist of the story is Sethe's antagonist which is the system of
slavery, which causes her pain. She does not really know how to care for her
children, but she is determined to do her her best and to make sure that slavery
doesn't get the best of her children like it did to her. She actually tries to kill all
her four children but only succeeds in killing her oldest daughter.
Themes
The main theme of "Beloved" is confronting the past in order to heal …show more content…
Sethe, in particular
shows the tendency to repress the past, but she cannot enjoy the future, until
she faces the past. Another theme present in "Beloved" is slavery's destruction of identity.
Slavery continues to haunt those characters who are former slaves even in
freedom. A character in the story named Paul D, is so distant from himself
that at one point in the story he cannot tell whethter the screaming he hears
is his own or someone's else. Slaves were told that they were subhuman.
Paul D. is very insecure about wheter or not he could possibly be a real "man,"
and he frequently wonders about his value as a person. Sethe was also treated
as subhuman. She once walken in on a schoolteacher giving his students a
lesson on her "animal characteristics."
Literary Elements
The key mood of Beloved is tragic, but the novel also includes hope and
joy.
Motifs are "the supernatural" and the "allusions to Christianity."
Symbols are "the color red", "trees" and "the tin tobacco box."
Foreshadowing- the narrator makes indirect or complete allusions to
events that are picked up and developed further at later point in the
Author: Toni Morrison
Genre: Historical Fiction
Conflict/Plot
The major conflict in this story occurs when Sethe escapes from slavery.
She kills her daughter "Beloved," because she wants to keep her from being
taken back to the South by her old master. A mysterious figure then keeps
showing up at Seth's home. This mysterious figure is her oldest daughter. She
comes back to haunt her mother and her household because she is angry over
what has happened to her. Another conflict in the story is how Sethe is trying
to be a stable mother for her four children under the system of slavery, which
defines her and her children as property. The resolution to the problems are when Sethe comes to terms …show more content…
The book also
flashbacks to Sweet Home plantation in Kentucky and the prison in Alfred,
Georgia. The time happened in 1873 after the Civil war with frequent flashbacks
to the early 1850s. Most of the action takes place in 124 Bluestone Rd., the
address of a gray and white house outside Cincinnati, Ohio.
Characters
The protagonist of the story is Sethe. She suffers from the many crimes
that is inflicted upon her as well as the crimes she has put on her own self. She
kills her oldest daugher and wants to kill her other children because she would
rather be with them "on the other side" than allow them to go through the same
things she has went through.
The antagonist of the story is Sethe's antagonist which is the system of
slavery, which causes her pain. She does not really know how to care for her
children, but she is determined to do her her best and to make sure that slavery
doesn't get the best of her children like it did to her. She actually tries to kill all
her four children but only succeeds in killing her oldest daughter.
Themes
The main theme of "Beloved" is confronting the past in order to heal …show more content…
Sethe, in particular
shows the tendency to repress the past, but she cannot enjoy the future, until
she faces the past. Another theme present in "Beloved" is slavery's destruction of identity.
Slavery continues to haunt those characters who are former slaves even in
freedom. A character in the story named Paul D, is so distant from himself
that at one point in the story he cannot tell whethter the screaming he hears
is his own or someone's else. Slaves were told that they were subhuman.
Paul D. is very insecure about wheter or not he could possibly be a real "man,"
and he frequently wonders about his value as a person. Sethe was also treated
as subhuman. She once walken in on a schoolteacher giving his students a
lesson on her "animal characteristics."
Literary Elements
The key mood of Beloved is tragic, but the novel also includes hope and
joy.
Motifs are "the supernatural" and the "allusions to Christianity."
Symbols are "the color red", "trees" and "the tin tobacco box."
Foreshadowing- the narrator makes indirect or complete allusions to
events that are picked up and developed further at later point in the