Beloved The Human Condition
Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, reveals the effects of human emotion and its power to cast an individual into a struggle against him or herself. In the beginning of the novel, the reader sees the main character, Sethe, as a woman who is resigned to her desolate life and isolates herself from all those around her. Yet, she was once a woman full of feeling: she had loved her husband Halle, loved her four young children, and loved the days of the Clearing. And thus, Sethe was jaded when she began her life at 124 Bluestone Road-- she had loved too much. After failing to 'save' her children from the schoolteacher, Sethe suffered forever with guilt and regret. Guilt for having killed her "crawling already?" baby daughter, and then regret for not having succeeded in her task. It later becomes apparent that Sethe's tragic past, her chokecherry tree, was the reason why she lived a life of isolation. Beloved, who shares with Seths that one fatal moment, reacts to it in a completely different way; because of her obsessive and vengeful love, she haunts Sethe's house and fights the forces of death, only to come back in an attempt to take her mother's life. Through her usage of symbolism, Morrison exposes the internal conflicts that
Beloved, on the other hand, was a sad and angry spirit who fought death in order to return to life so that she could assuage her vengeful, obsessive love for Sethe. Never quite sure what had happened, the two year-old spirit believed that Sethe had left her behind and came back "to the one [she had] to have" (76). In the beginning, Beloved longed to receive Sethe's attention. She seemed tranquil sitting near Sethe, as the older woman prepared breakfast in the morning. It wasn't until the day in the Clearing, when Beloved's fingers "had a grip on [Sethe] that would not let her breath" (96), that the reader could see how conflicted she was between love and hatred for her mother. Most importantly, Beloved's true intention is revealed: to utterly and completely take possession of Sethe. Although Beloved wanted and needed her mother, albeit to a disturbing degree, her bitterness quickly turned into revenge when Sethe began to indulge her; and by slowly draining the life out of her mother, Beloved could truly possess Sethe, both body and soul. Penguin Books, Plume Publications: NY, 1988. All references are taken from this edition. In this way Morrison captures the tragedy of human emotion: one love so powerful it always loses, and one love so powerful it consumes everything. Sethe lost in the game of love by killing her daughter out of instinct; she lost again in the game of live by forever suffering for it. Beloved fought to live again and took the life of the woman who love
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Approximate Word count = 1006
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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