A Mothers Love Essay, Research Paper
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.
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. They live in this house alone with no
visitors for eighteen years, until Paul D, a former slave from
the same plantation as Sethe comes to see them.
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.