Short Esssay-Beloved Essay, Research Paper

Slavery has been around for ages. The color of someone s skin could determine their job, social status, and their entire life. The life of the minority has changed in the United States greatly. One who was oppressed now can choose and do freely. In Tony Morrison s novel Beloved, whites hate against colored people causes the main character, Sethe to go through a struggle between the past. One very important figure in the novel is Baby Suggs, a figure with immense pride and the important moral of taking care of your self before anything else. There is no bad luck in the world but white folks (Baby Suggs pg.89) . They don t know when to stop (Baby Suggs pg.104). The idea of the bad luck suggests that once held by the grips of the white folks it brings you bad luck for an enduring time, in the case of Sethe, until she learns to deal with the past.

I think that Morrison really squeezes the issue on the bad luck motif throughout most of the book. Morrison does not address the issue straight in bold print. Morrison uses the incident of when the whites were going to take away Sethe s children. Sethe does not want the same life that she had to go through for her kids. In realizing that, she attempts to kill her children to take them away from the life of slavery. She succeeds in killing her youngest child, Beloved, but the rest remained alive because the whites came in time to stop the attack. Through this incident, the tie related to Baby Suggs saying There is no bad luck in the world but white folks (Baby Suggs pg.89). between colored people is present throughout the novel until Sethe resolves her issues of the past.

During the book, Beloved returns in the flesh to 124. Beloved is consuming Sethe. She needs constant attention at all times. Her appearance is that of the age she would be if Sethe had not murdered her. The return of her daughter in the flesh nearly destroys Sethe of guilt that she feels. Throughout Beloveds stay Sethe tries to convince her that she loves her and that she did what she did out of the love for her. It comes to a point when Sethe has been almost devoured by Beloved. At this point in the novel Sethe s remaining daughter Denver, is forced to leave 124, go into town, and get a job to support her family. Denver is the hero in the book in my eyes. When she gets a job she ultimately gets the force that will clear the past and make way for a future. Denver returns to 124 and gives her family a goodbye. In the case of Beloved, Denver seems to say goodbye as if it was her last, foreshadowing the upcoming event. As her boss, Mr. Bodwin, picks up Denver, Ella and her support find her. Ella concerned about that the past is consuming all of 124 decides to help. This represents as Baby Suggs once did in the clearing when she preached, acting as support for each other, in this case to do what Sethe could not do on her own. When Sethe came out she saw the past staring her in the face. She thinks she sees the schoolteacher and attempts to attack him. By uniting each other s support, they successfully banish the past from 124 so the future could hold its place in Sethe s life.

Ultimately I think that Morrison ends the tie at the end of the book because the white folks are tied to the entire book until the end where the conflict of the past is resolved. With the past resolved it makes way for a new life for Sethe and all of 124, the future.