The Many Roles of Beloved Essay

The Many Roles of Beloved

In Toni Morrisons Beloved, we can see that Beloved is a complex character that serves many roles and is used to retrieve the repressed history of slavery in America. Usage of the past and present events both serve to reinforce the idea that the past is still alive in the present. For that reason, a 124 ghostly character, Beloved suited this role and represented the incarnation of Sethes dead daughter and also a representation of slavery victims.

When introduced in the novel, Beloveds identity appears mystical. Originally she is seen as an ordinary woman who was locked up by a white man and never let out of doors. We can say this is true because of her emotional instability and neediness; but these traits also support the theory that she is the embodiment of Sethes dead daughter. She is always thirsty, incontinent and sleeping all the time. She is also the age the baby would have been if she were still alive, and also bears the name imprinted on the babys tombstone. Furthermore when Denver asks Beloved about the place she came from, she gives a tomblike description Whats it like over there, where you were before? Can you tell me? Dark, said Beloved, Hot. Nothing to breathe and no room to move in. (88). When Beloved is first seen, she is soaking wet, like a newly born baby. Sethe sees Beloved and has a feeling of her water breaking. Sethes bladder filled to capacity (61). She recalls her pregnancy with Denver There was no stopping water breaking from a breaking womb and there was no stopping now (61). This forces Sethe to interact with her painful past, as she has to explain and justify her actions to the victim of her murder who re-appeared to seek both revenge and affections from Sethe. As she deals with her painful past, she gradually heals her present and future.

Furthermore, Beloved also enables forgiveness. Having already stated that Beloved is the reincarnation of the past, Sethe must call upon her past in order to confront it and forgive herself. Sethe is burdened by guilt and if Beloveds incarnation is there to forgive Sethe and relieve her from guilt we must consider in what way this can be done. According to Christian beliefs, forgiveness is the way to come to terms with the sense of guilt. Jesus is said to have died for our sins; on the cross he uttered: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. You must confess your guilt and repent; not until then you can be absolved of your sins. If you do not believe in God and can get his blessing, someone else must be there to forgive you. However, Sethe seems to have lost faith in God, as she has held her guilt against her for a long time. Even after eighteen years her own community can not forgive her. she is still excluded and everyone turns their backs on her. Her sons ran away and have not forgiven her, Paul D leaves, and Denver even becomes afraid of her. When confessing to Paul D, she says, Its my job to know what is and to keep them away from what I know is terrible. I did that (194). Until Sethe finds out that Beloved is her reborn daughter, she is relieved; as stated in the text, [Sethe] even looked straight at the shed [where the daughter was killed], smiling, smiling at the things she would not have to remember now. Thinking, she aint even mad with me. Not a bit. (214).

While Sethe experiences forgiveness, Beloved craves her attention and even drives Paul D out of the house. She breaks his tobacco tin heart and has sex with him. "I want you to touch me on the inside part and call me my name." (116). In being seduced by Beloved, Paul D confronts his own past. By calling her name, as Beloved demands, Paul D accepts the past back into his life remembering his horrific experiences in a chain gang that causes him to lock away his feelings and memories. After Paul D spent time in prison in Alfred, Georgia, he shut down his mind except the part that held him walk, eat, sleep and sing. The prison had forty-six inmates, all of them black men. They were locked in small boxes in the ground at night and were subject to sexual abuse and chain gang work during the day. During his experience in prison, Paul D (along with the rest of the slaves) was not treated like a man but rather a machine man who has no emotions and no soul. We as readers may not be able to experience these painful pasts but we can understand and imagine why Paul D limits the share of his love. Paul D battles for the love and affection of Sethe but loses to Beloved, who forces him to sleep downstairs, away from Sethe. Her interaction with Paul D is evidence of her power over him. But it also illustrates a vulnerable aspect of her nature. When Paul D calls her by her name communicates her insecurity about who she is as well as her neediness. Nevertheless, this suggests that the past has power over us, and sometimes leaves us in a vulnerable position.

Paul Ds love is a limited supple whereas Sethes love as a mother is unlimited. The arrival of Beloved shows how the two can never really love each other. Sethes possessiveness of her children, her love for her children outweighs her love for anything else - even herself. Having said, Beloved continually feeds off of Sethe and wears her down. She gives up her own job to cater to Beloved by making her dresses, and giving her all the sweets she wants. Beloved also keeps her home and cuts her off from society and her community. This forces Denver - who is always inside the house, to venture her way out into society for help and take responsibility.

Help arrives at Sethes doorstep from the community and she is forgiven, however, she experiences dejavu. She is back in the traumatic event that happened eighteen years ago. And to her mind Mr. Bodwin is the slave master coming to catch them. Only this time she does not attack her children, she attacks Mr. Bodwin but is stopped by Denver. This causes Beloved to disappear and never come back. Sethe paid back the community by morally doing the correct thing as a mother. Attacking the attack rather than her own children.

After the attack on Mr Bodwin and Beloveds disappearance, Sethe is devastated and exhausted, not leaving her bed for weeks: Her eyes, fixed on the window, are so expressionless [Paul D] is not sure she will know who he is. (319) She tells Paul D that she has no plan for her future life. In the presence of Paul D her hope returns. He seems to bring back her self-esteem by claiming that they need some kind of tomorrow and that You your best thing, Sethe. You are. (322).

Although Beloved wore down 124, her role in freeing the family was to make them recognize themselves as individuals and to help them establish their place in society. Beloved takes away the guilt and the burden of memory from Sethes shoulders, giving her the possibility to move forward and to think about her future.