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.