Beloved in Beloved

"Whenever I hear any one arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally." – Abraham Lincoln March 17, 1865

As a young college student with family roots in Germany, the Czech Republic, and in France, I will never be able to fully wrap my mind around the severity and cruelty of how slaves were treated in America. I have attended many history classes and studied all the facts about the war our nation fought and amendments to the constitution concerning slavery, but I have never been to a class where the purpose of the lecture was to describe the deep physical, emotional, and psychological wounds salves were left with. In 1989 Toni Morrison received the Melcher Book Award for her novel “Beloved”. In Morrison’s acceptance speech she talks about how to her knowledge there is no “suitable memorial or plaque or wreath or wall or park or skyscraper lobby” to honor the slaves who worked, escaped, and died on plantations in America. Morrison goes on to say, “And because such a place didn’t exist, the book had to”. Looking at this book as a memorial made me question a lot of the reasons for Morrison’s character choices and how they help honor the memory of slaves. So I ask myself this: What role does Beloved play in the novel and in the “memorial” of slavery in America? Beloved’s presence is enabling at the same time that it is destructive throughout the whole novel. Even though Beloved may have at times caused trouble in the novel, her purpose of coming back from the dead was to help Denver, Paul D, and Sethe let go of the past and move on with their lives.

Beloved and Paul D’s relationship throughout the novel is not a positive one. This being said, Beloved allowed him to start feeling intense emotions again.  Throughout most of the novel Paul D has an emotional wall up. He is afraid to become too attached to any of the people in his life because of what he has been through emotionally. When Paul D was a slave he learned this because it was too hard to see your loved ones go through the suffering and harm. When Paul D discovers that Sethe killed her own daughter he tells her that her “love is too thick” (Morrison 193).  Paul D’s hatred for Beloved is persistent during the whole novel, their strange, dreamlike sexual encounters though helps to open the lid of his “tobacco tin” heart, allowing him to remember, feel, and love again.

Denver benefits from Beloved’s presence in three different stages throughout the novel. This is first evident when as a child Denver has a relationship with the spirit of her dead sister. Next when the physical beloved appears from the water Denver feels an intense dependence on Beloved, convinced that in Beloved’s absence she has no “self” of her own. The relationship that is formed here is almost obsessive on Denver’s part. Denver is convinced that Beloved has come back to wait for the return of their father together. Lastly she indirectly benefits from Beloved’s presence when Beloved starts to become temperamental, self-centered, and sucks the life out of Sethe. During this relationship Denver is forced to leave 124 and become independent and a more active part of her community.

Beloved’s roll in Sethe’s life allows Sethe to revisit past emotions and memories that needed to be discussed so Sethe could let go of her terrible past. Beloved inspires Sethe to tell the stories she had never brought up before. By submerging herself with the memories of her past, Sethe begins to learn about herself and the extent of her ability to live in the present. Even when Beloved vanishes at the end of the novel and Sethe feels hollow and empty, Paul D helps to remind her that she is “her own best thing” in her life, not her children. I think this helps Sethe realize that she can’t fully love and take care of the people in her life is she doesn’t fully love and take care of herself first.

Beloved’s relationships with the characters in the novel helped Paul D, Denver, and Sethe deal with bottled up emotions concerning slavery and family ties. Even though Beloved vanishes at the end of the book, she is never really gone. Beloved represents a destructive and painful past, but she also signals the possibility of a brighter future. Beloved’s character in this novel is vital because it helps the reader understand the emotions associated with slavery. Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” serves as a memorial because it’s graphic content and true depiction of emotion helps the reader become not only sympathetic but empathetic as they are put in the shoes of the characters.