Symbolism In Toni Morrison's Beloved
Beloved's character is one of the most complex to break down, as Toni Morrison's’ symbolism in beloved is indirect and simultaneous. Beloved enters the story around the middle of the first half, in a way as strange as her personality. The reader is first introduced when the Paul D , Denver, and Sethe arrive home from the fair, to find her sitting on a tree stump in the yard of 124. She is, oddly enough sitting on the dead remain of what used to be a tree. The first thing noticed about Beloved was her child-like demeanor as well as her baby soft skin. This is a strong symbolism of the connection between the "dead" tree and Beloved. Every main character in Beloved has some correlation with Beloved herself and they all attempt to analyze her to
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Morrison uses the elements of symbolism and metaphor to create a powerful depiction of emotions. The imagery of beautiful trees in Beloved attempts to mask the horrors that took place among them. Ironically ,beautiful Trees are perverted into a symbol of horrible acts. The characters of Beloved were faced in a time period where they have been oppressed to the point of dehumanization and subjected to the idea of companionism of inanimate objects (trees, in this case). Morrison crafts the novel around the idea of trees, how we see them today, and what they meant to people who witnessed the evil in other aspects of their life. It seems as if the characters' interpretation of what trees are gives the reader insight to fully analyzing a character. The characters' responses to trees give the reader insight to how, through horrific experiences , one can still find serenity within nature and trees, usually the only beautiful things when living life as a slave. Toni Morrison does an excellent job of piecing slavery hardened characters together that are ultimately formed by one element. The trees are there as a symbol of not only life, but death, and all the bad in between. The perception of this novel is totally up to the reader and interpretation is key to analyzing the element of trees
Morrison uses the elements of symbolism and metaphor to create a powerful depiction of emotions. The imagery of beautiful trees in Beloved attempts to mask the horrors that took place among them. Ironically ,beautiful Trees are perverted into a symbol of horrible acts. The characters of Beloved were faced in a time period where they have been oppressed to the point of dehumanization and subjected to the idea of companionism of inanimate objects (trees, in this case). Morrison crafts the novel around the idea of trees, how we see them today, and what they meant to people who witnessed the evil in other aspects of their life. It seems as if the characters' interpretation of what trees are gives the reader insight to fully analyzing a character. The characters' responses to trees give the reader insight to how, through horrific experiences , one can still find serenity within nature and trees, usually the only beautiful things when living life as a slave. Toni Morrison does an excellent job of piecing slavery hardened characters together that are ultimately formed by one element. The trees are there as a symbol of not only life, but death, and all the bad in between. The perception of this novel is totally up to the reader and interpretation is key to analyzing the element of trees