FREE ESSAY ON A MOTHERS LOVE

A MOTHERS LOVE

A Mothers Love
The idea of a ghost story or horror story has long since been introduced into the world
of American literature starting in the late 18th century. These works played with the
idea of life after death and its effects on the present. The term gothic or gothic horror
has been used to describe this form of literature. The literary meaning of the gothic
style of is hard to define, 
but to give it a simple meaning the gothic is when the supernatural encounters the
natural. 
In the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison this form of the gothic is used. The story involves
Sethe, an ex-slave, whom the ghost of her dead daughter haunts. The ghost of this novel
is a two year old who is young in age, yet strong in power. The character Sethe, is based
on the real life story of the slave Margaret Garner. On Jan. 28, 1856, Garner killed her
two-year-old daughter rather than have her sent back to slavery due to the fugitive slave
law. Garner was later found guilty and sent back to the plantation she fled in
Mississippi.
The story of Beloved delves into the most painful part of the African American heritage,
slavery. The memory of this horrifying time is presented in what Morrison calls
rememory-- actively making the past real in the present. The novel is set during the
Reconstruction(1870-1890) which follows the Civil War and emancipation. Much of the
characters' pain occurs as they themselves try to reconstruct their families, communities
and their own sense of identity. While this novel has been compared many times to that of
a slave narrative, Morrison chooses to use the gothic to tell her story. Yes this novel
does use slave narrative form, but it explores a greater range with the gothic.
Morrison chooses to use the gothic because it allows her to explore the true effects of
her characters and their effects on each other. Beloved comes back to haunt not only
Sethe but everyone around her. She feels that her life has been taken away from her and
for that reason she wants to suck the life out of Sethe, Paul D, and Denver. 
The novel is broken into three major parts. As part one opens Morrison introduces the
house with, 124 was spiteful. Full of baby's venom. The woman knew it and so did the
children (Morrison 3). Immediately the reader is thrown into this house with a ghost that
is spiteful. The only surviving members of the family are Denver, the child Sethe was
carrying in her escape to freedom, and Sethe. 
With the gothic, Morrison is able to show just how horrifying slavery and its effects
are. Morrison goes into great detail to describe the horrors of Sweet Home and the people
who lived there. As the reader hears of these effects the emotion is relased. Sethe
describes one account saying  after I left you, those boys came in there and took my
milk. That's what they come for. Held me down and took it. ( Morrison, 16)
Paul D instantly gets rid of the horrifying presence that has consumed this house for so
long, and up to this point had only been physical as red light. With this sense of relief
Paul D, Sethe, and Denver go to the local fair. Later they return home to find a mystical
woman who is referred to as Beloved. Denver identifies the woman as the returned ghost in
now human flesh and receives her as a sister.
This is where the novel begins to take on its own existence. Beloved becomes the focus of
everyone's attention. Beloved has both mental and physical difficulties. Parts of her
body threaten to fall off; some teeth do fall out. She has a scar on her throat. Her
infrequent speech is childish. Although apparently she is a stranger, Beloved knows
intimate things about Sethe, one of which includes the lullaby that Sethe sang to her
babies.
Denver takes a great liking to Beloved. Having been isolated for so many years, Denver
finally feels that she has a friend. Soon, however, she is frightened to discover that
the spirit is covertly attacking Sethe. For example, while pretending to massage Sethe
neck, Beloved tries to choke her. Paul D on the other hand, dislikes Beloved but finds
her sexually irresistible. Under some kind of spell or conjure, he has sex with her. The
presence of this ghost now in human form thus disrupts every relationship.
With this rebirth of Beloved, Sethe is forced to remember the past. Sethe now beings her
emotional journey form slavery to freedom. At first, Sethe recalls only being shown a
mark under her Ma'am breast as a way to identify her. This mark was probably the result
of ritual scarification, an African tribe that recognizes an person's transition into
adulthood with a visible sign that they belong to a particular tribe. When Ma'am was
lynched and burned, her body is too badly damaged that he mark does not show.
Symbolically, slavery has wiped out African identity. Another critical part of identity
is language, and the African language has also been taken away from the slaves. Sethe
eventually recalls Nan's stories of Ma'am.
Bibliography
Works Cited
Kubsitschek, Missy Dehn. Toni Morrison a Critical Companion. Westport: Greenwood Press,
1998.
History Behind Beloved . 19 Jan 1999. 
Bontemps, Arna .Great Slave Narratives. Boston: Beacon Press, 1969.
Harris, Trudier. Fiction and Folklore: The novels of Toni Morrison .Knoxville: The
University of Tennessee Press, 1991
Solomon, Barbara H. Critical Essays on Toni Morrison's Beloved . New York: G.K. Hall&Co.,
1998.
A Past that can not be Forgotten
by
Shavone White
African American Literature
Dr. Dudley