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Beloved: Analysis of The Novel
Beloved is a book by American writer Toni Morrison. The book is based on real events that took place in Ohio in the 80s of the 19th century: the story of a black slave who kills her daughter to save her from slavery.
The book Beloved tells a story of a black woman who chooses to kill her own child so as not to give her up into slavery. The novel, however, is not limited to that tragedy only and reveals a comprehensive study of the black slave's mentality as you can read at https://artscolumbia.org/free-essays/beloved-essay/ to fully understand the book’s plot. It can hardly be presented as a response to the social environment. Rather, it has an attempt at artistic research. Chronologically, the narrative covers a period of slavery abolition across the United States. Geographically the narrative covers several states of the US.
Understanding the plot in Beloved can be somewhat difficult. But only for those who crave instant clarity. The plot is neither straightforward nor retrospective. It's divided into large scenes, going one after another almost chaotically, without any order. But this is rather an impression. The truth, apparently, is that such an approach becomes the only possible logic in the life of a person who is moving towards madness. And this, again, is understandable only at the end. However, we must try to collect these pieces, at least some of them, to present the most general essence. To do this, you will need to resort to the formulas of the book itself.
The Main Plot of the Story
The story in Beloved talks about the black woman Sethe that moved to the good white people who were the only ones who treated the black people good. The place she lived called Sweet Home. When the "white master" died, he was replaced by a certain "teacher" who had different views on slavery. With a so-called teacher, it becomes unbearable to live there, and pregnant Sethe runs away from Sweet Home. She found the home of her mother-in-law with her small baby and settled there. After a few years, Sethe, while working in the garden, felt the presence of that "teacher" who treated black people badly. She grabbed her children and locked herself in the barn. By the time she was stopped, killed her youngest daughter to protect her from slavery and went to prison. When Sethe left prison, she began to live with a special desire to figure everything out.
Conclusion
Of course, the outcome in Beloved is sad. The image of the murdered daughter returns to Sethe, and over time gains complete power over her. The artistic side here literally reproduces "magic realism". The eclecticism in Beloved doesn't end there. In the image of Halle, Sethe's husband, who did not manage to escape from Sweet Home, heightened existential action is clearly captured. Halle is often said to have “smeared oil on his face,” not having the strength to witness injustice. But his fate is unknown.
After slavery abolition, black people created a new young nation. Some of the characters in Beloved are folklore ageless images, and the end of the book could serve as an illustration of the life of a tribe. It describes a situation when a person is not able to cope with personal problems on her own and a group comes to her aid, whose experience contains answers to all questions.
The book is unlikely to appeal to fans of the sci-fi or detective genre. It rather refers to a typical realism novel with a novel construction with compositional inversions. The narration is uniform, volumetric, and reflective. Given the specificity of the topic, the book can be recommended as another serious and dramatic novel that talked about race issues.