Flannery O'Connor lectures, in her essay on the virtues and vices of writing a novel. In her essay, she describes those certain characteristics in good literature. Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved can be examined in light of Flannery O'Connor's ideas on the characteristics of good literature. Among these characteristics are the role of imagery in literature, meaning as it pertains to an experience, and a sense that the story is unfolding around them. Beloved meets the first two of these characteristics, but it fails to conquer the third.

The first characteristic is imagery in literature. Beloved is a novel rich with imagery and symbolism. O'Connor says in her essay that imagery is what gives a story depth. Imagery, according to O'Connor, is supposed to take the reader's mind to "depths that the book's symbols naturally suggest." The images, which portray the power of human love in Beloved, do, in fact, take the reader's mind to greater depths. Not only is the reader exposed to the superficial plot of the novel, but through images such as the touch between two people or the tin can that is Paul D's heart, the reader is able to experience an added depth to the

A second characteristic, which O'Connor has ideals on, is meaning as it pertains to an experience. O'Connor suggests that the meaning of a story is the story itself. According to O'Connor, "the whole story is the meaning, because it is an experience, not an abstraction." In light of this, Morrison accomplishes the task, which O'Connor places. Beloved, the novel is meaning. The experience the reader feels because of the novel is the meaning, which the book conveys. One cannot help but to feel for Sethe and Denver. These feelings are the experience that the book conveys to the reader. Meaning comes from the fact that these characters are human. Even Beloved, herself, is a reincarnated person. The emotions the reader feels while reading the novel only add to the experience. The meaning attained from these experiences forces non- apathetic readers to reflect on the situations that these humans face. The harsh realization comes from the fact that humans during this era were forced to undergo these extreme situations. Humanity is the bond, which allows for the novel to become an experience rather than an abstraction. Granted, on the surface, the idea of a reincarnate person would figure to be an abstraction, but upon true reflection, the reader cannot help but feel that Beloved is a human, and at one time, she was also a baby murdered before she could live. Death and life in humanity make the experience meaning, not an abstraction.

Besides this final characteristic, Morrison's novel, B

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Approximate Word count = 1006
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)