Toni Morrison - Beloved

Beloved

Toni Morrison's, Beloved, is a complex narrative about the love between mothers and daughters, and the agony of guilt. " It is the ultimate gesture of a loving mother. It is the outrageous claim of a slave." These are the words, of Toni Morrison, used to describe the actions of Sethe, the central character in the novel. She, a former slave, chooses to kill her baby girl rather then let her live a life in slavery. In preventing her from the physical and emotional horrors of slavery, Sethe has put herself in to a realm of physical and emotional pain: guilt. And in understanding her guilt we can start to conceive her motivations for killing her third nameless child.

A justified institution as the 19th century emerged; the infamous institution of slavery grew rapidly and produced some surprising controversy and rash justification. Proslavery, Southern whites used social, political, and economical justification in their arguments defining the institution as a source of positive good, a legal definition, and as an economic stabilizer. The proslavery supporters often used moral and biblical rationalization through a religious foundation in Christianity and supported philosophic ideals in Manifest Destiny to vindicated slavery as a profitable investment. Southerners used popular sovereignty to justify their slavery practices, ultimately slavery is supported through popular sovereignty since it is the people's will to enslave black, or at least the Southerner's will. Another social aspect of rationalization is the slavery institution is derived from the Southern argument, which contrasted the happy lives of their slaves to the overworked and exhausted Northern black wageworkers. In the South, benefits; whereas in the North black were caged in dank and dark factories and were released after their usefulness had served its purpose. Why work in the North when there are safe, comfortable plantations to work on in the South?

Did Beloved's death come out of love or selfish pride? In preventing her child from going into slavery, Sethe, too, protected herself; she prevented herself from re-entering captivity. In examining Sethe's character we can see that her motivations derive from her deep love towards her children, and from the lack of love for herself. Sethe's children are her only good quality. Her children are a part of her and in killing one she kills a part of herself. What hinders over Sethe is her refusal to accept responsibility for her baby's death. Does she do this because she is selfish or because it need not be justified? Sethe's love is clearly displayed by sparing her daughter from a horrific life; yet, Sethe refuses to acknowledge that her show of compassion is also murder.

I believe that Beloved was a vividly irregular family saga that is set in the mid-1880's in Ohio. By that time, slavery had been diminished by the Civil War, but the horrors of slavery lived within the memories of those that were subjected to it. After President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, former slaves took on a new role in American society. This role was one of more significance and self worth than in slavery, but this class of freedmen was anything but appreciated. Without the manpower of the slaves, the south's agricultural society would fail, and without the agriculture there would be little money or food in the south.

The passing of the Louisiana Black Code in 1865, confirmed that whites felt as if blacks could not handle the responsibility or the rights of true citizens. Whites thought they did not deserve these rights because they were inferior to themselves and simply less than human. These restrictions were so harsh; it is, as slavery had never ended. The blacks were free, however many of the Negroes everyday rights were abolished. Section 3, of the Louisiana Black Code states "No Negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish." Section 9 declares that "No Negro shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within said parish." And one of the worst of these codes is in Section 4 of the Louisiana Black Code. "Every Negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person, or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conductor of said Negro." (Doc 1) This was basically returning paid-slavery. Many blacks remained on these farms and plantations because they did not know what else they could do after emancipation. However, now they were being forced into staying because few knew anything other than farming. In December of 1865, Congress voted to stamp out these codes. Testimony to the southern white sentiment showed what would have happened if states were allowed to employ their own laws in regards to slavery.

Blacks soon develop a sense of freedom and want to create lives for themselves. They do not want to remain in a place and continue to be employed by those who previously treated them as animals. Mr. Lewis, a former slave, tells a planters wife, Mrs. Henry, I want to move away and feel entirely free and see what I can do by myself." Even kind masters, like the Henry's, lost many slave due to the want and need of freedom. (Doc 2) Charles Davenport stated "Freedom meant us could leave where used been born and bred, but it meant, too, that us had to scratch for our ownselves." (Doc 5) Outsiders made independence nearly impossible though. The sharecropping system, in which most had worked before, was still the only employment available and certainly the only work blacks knew as familiar. Rural merchants tried to give blacks a chance for employment, but often forced them into a position where they would sharecrop. Morrison has the ability to describe the physical horrors and torments that the slaves endured in a kind of delicate way that still made my nerves twitch at the thought of such cruelties. The story does not simply tell us how one slave felt, but rather it reveals the ways in which individuals, families, strangers, slaves, and even the caregivers viewed slavery.

Throughout the work, Sethe seems to have two separate identities, which affect her actions. When reunited with Paul D., Sethe recalls her reactions to School Teacher's arrival with no mention to her daughter's death. "Oh, no. I wasn't going back there [Sweet Home]. I went to jail instead" (42) Sethe believes she made a moral stand in not letting herself be taken into custody. In her statement she has done two things, she has disassociated herself from the act, and also morally justified what had happened. When

Paul D, upon finding out what had really happened, confronts Sethe. She again ignores the issue. "...So when