РефератыИностранный языкA A Mothers Love Essay Research Paper A

A Mothers Love Essay Research Paper A

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.

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