Dr Setka Essays - African-American Literature, Beloved,

Dr Setka English 101 11/ 26 /16 History and Memory in Beloved' by Toni Morrison As a novel that was written after the American Civil War (1865), Beloved' centers on the power of history and memory. It recalls the incidents of American slaves, particularly the former African-American slaves in the novel. The author, Toni Morrison, is a renowned African-American scholar who specializes in black fiction. In the book, Morrison explains how the past is a dreadful memory that slaves willfully and desperately try to forget. However, for Sethe , the main character of the novel, slavery memories cannot be escaped. The past continuously haunts her, for instance, the spirit of her deceased daughter, Beloved, whom she had murdered, appears back to her. The author, Morrison, borrows the events in the novel from the real story of Margaret Garner. Just like Sethe , Garner escaped slavery and killed her child in order not to allow slave owners to own her child . Morrison chooses Sethe as a protagonist who resembles the black voices that have been historically denied the freedom of language. From the novel, there are a lot of lessons that can be derived, however, the most notable one comes from Sethe's experience that to progress, we must confront the ghosts' of our pasts. The notion that Morrison raises is that America must address the history of slavery to confront it; this manifests itself even today in ongoing racial discord and discrimination. In this light, the purpose of this paper is to discuss on history and memory as revealed in the Beloved.' The paper will consider some of the main examples as depicted by the characters such as in Sethe and Paul D's relationship. Even though the novel was written in 1987, the author intended it to be regarded within the historical context of African-American slavery. Sethe and her family were victimized as slaves back in 1855, and the novel was written as a response to the harsh Fugitive Slave laws that gave slave owners the power to go after their slaves in different states. A study of the novel reveals that Morrison had a growing concern for reconstructing the history of African-American slaves. The communal history of struggle is crucial because it defines the past and the present. The historical transitions can, for instance, be seen when Paul D recalls the events after the civil war when black people became homeless. "After the war, we saw Negroes hungry and stunned. It was a wonder. They had hidden in caves and fought owls for food..." (Morrison 78). As an act of historical recovery, Morrison writes the novel to get hold of the past by remembering the ancestors and collecting the painful memories of the past. Additionally, the ghost beloved' has a historical context in that it resembles the African-American woman whose stories were never told or shunned. Generations of women were hunted and stolen from Africa, and as such, the character Beloved is the haunting symbol of slavery. She represents the pain, anguish, and misery that African-American women have long suffered in history. Notably, in the novel, before Paul D reconciles with Sethe at the end, he realizes that Beloved reminds him of his past. While they get intimate, Paul D's mind is filled with the memories from the past that reminded him of his slavery experiences. Also, as seen at the end of the novel, a common phrase that Morrison uses is "this is not a story to pass on" (Morrison 324). By this, the author implies the need to move forward. She realizes that to tell the tales of slavery; one must recall the past then move forward. This is a message to the American audience to confront the memories and horrors that have befallen the black people through reconfiguring the past in the present ( Khatan 107). Memory has not also been exempted in this juncture. The main character, Sethe is haunted by her personal histories as well as the history of other people. For Morrison, the theme of memory and the past is significant. Forgetting the past would be like forgetting American slavery ever existed. Sethe suffers through beloved who is the physical manifestation of her memories.