Examples Of Slavery In Beloved
Shad Burnett
ENG 3U0
Mrs.S.Schaffer
November 22, 2014
Slavery in Beloved
History teaches us that there will never be a rainbow without some rain. The American Civil War from 1861 to 1865 signified this. Many African Americans, as well as Caucasians during that era, sacrificed their lives on the battle field for the greater good of their race. The war acts as the defining moment in the abolition of slavery. Toni Morrison, an author eminent for creating novels that highlight African Americans and the struggles they endured, was born into a family in which telling stories of her heritage was integral. As an adult, she wrote the novel ‘Beloved’, which portrays the life of a female slave, pre and post freedom; it incorporates the physical and psychological …show more content…
This, coupled with her excessive love for her children, she risks both hers and their lives for a taste of what was forbidden, freedom; as well as attempt to give them an endless drink of it, regardless the price . In the novel, Morrison seeks to shed light upon the reason for Sethe’s attachment and devotion to her kids. She takes us back in time to Sethe’s early childhood years, “She must have nursed me two or three weeks…Then she went back in rice and I sucked from another woman whose job it was…She didn’t even sleep in the same cabin most nights I remember” (Morrison 72). This mother-child separation explains, how even though knowing her mother, Sethe was basically raised motherless and didn’t want that fate for her kids. As a result, Morrison writes of her risky escape from slavery with her children, where if caught, a punishment of death could have been served. This escape gives us an image of the degree of dedication Sethe has, to keep her children hers, and not the property of her master. We see Sethe’s dedication to shield her children from slavery being tested in chapter 16. School teacher, the sheriff, the slave catcher and a nephew comes to 124 to reclaim their ‘property’, ‘Inside, two boys bled in sawdust and dirt at the feet of a nigger woman holding a blood-soaked child to her chest with one hand and an infant by the heels in the other… she simply swung the baby toward the wall planks, missed and tried to connect a second time’ (Morrison 175). Morrison uses this scene to so explicitly show Sethe’s determination to rid her children of slavery; certainly, death is a fate far better than slavery in her resolve, and so she murders Beloved and attempts to do the same with the others. At this point, one does question her sanity, as well as wonder, was she justified in her actions, was she simply trying to expatriate all affiliations with her past, and where should
ENG 3U0
Mrs.S.Schaffer
November 22, 2014
Slavery in Beloved
History teaches us that there will never be a rainbow without some rain. The American Civil War from 1861 to 1865 signified this. Many African Americans, as well as Caucasians during that era, sacrificed their lives on the battle field for the greater good of their race. The war acts as the defining moment in the abolition of slavery. Toni Morrison, an author eminent for creating novels that highlight African Americans and the struggles they endured, was born into a family in which telling stories of her heritage was integral. As an adult, she wrote the novel ‘Beloved’, which portrays the life of a female slave, pre and post freedom; it incorporates the physical and psychological …show more content…
This, coupled with her excessive love for her children, she risks both hers and their lives for a taste of what was forbidden, freedom; as well as attempt to give them an endless drink of it, regardless the price . In the novel, Morrison seeks to shed light upon the reason for Sethe’s attachment and devotion to her kids. She takes us back in time to Sethe’s early childhood years, “She must have nursed me two or three weeks…Then she went back in rice and I sucked from another woman whose job it was…She didn’t even sleep in the same cabin most nights I remember” (Morrison 72). This mother-child separation explains, how even though knowing her mother, Sethe was basically raised motherless and didn’t want that fate for her kids. As a result, Morrison writes of her risky escape from slavery with her children, where if caught, a punishment of death could have been served. This escape gives us an image of the degree of dedication Sethe has, to keep her children hers, and not the property of her master. We see Sethe’s dedication to shield her children from slavery being tested in chapter 16. School teacher, the sheriff, the slave catcher and a nephew comes to 124 to reclaim their ‘property’, ‘Inside, two boys bled in sawdust and dirt at the feet of a nigger woman holding a blood-soaked child to her chest with one hand and an infant by the heels in the other… she simply swung the baby toward the wall planks, missed and tried to connect a second time’ (Morrison 175). Morrison uses this scene to so explicitly show Sethe’s determination to rid her children of slavery; certainly, death is a fate far better than slavery in her resolve, and so she murders Beloved and attempts to do the same with the others. At this point, one does question her sanity, as well as wonder, was she justified in her actions, was she simply trying to expatriate all affiliations with her past, and where should