Analysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved - 1323 Words

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a masterwork of fiction that allows the reader to have many different experiences based on the novels that you pair the book with. When you read Beloved in a modernist light you get a story with slightly different themes then if you read it through a feminist lens. It is a credit to Morrison that her thoughtfully crafted piece of art is able to stand on it own in so many varying ideas. One of the lens that doesn’t get discussed enough is the lens of African American empowerment in the 20th century. There are quite a few insights that can be gleaned when reading the book surrounded by authors such as: Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, and Sonia Sanchez. Beloved shows us the harsh truths that were facing the†¦show more content†¦As a racial group they are forced to spend more time looking back then looking forward. A major issue of the time period that Morrison was writing in is one that reflected itself through Sethe in Beloved. Sethe experiences many different kinds of alienation throughout the novel. Early on she is physically and emotionally alienated from her husband Halle, from her children, from her community, and also from herself. This alienation comes from her being forced to kill her eldest daughter by the whites sent to put her back in chains. Sethe being forced to kill her daughter to keep her out of chains is what puts Sethe back into chains. No, she is not technically a slave to the white man again. However, she is an outcast to her community, this burden is the chains she must wear now, and it is the fault of the white man she must bear this burden. Alienation is a chain that every black character in Beloved must bear. They are all alienated in one way or the other. One of the best ways to see this is the multiple flashbacks to Sweethome. In these flashbacks the black characters do not show much in the way of characterization or personality. Their every action is personified by their nee d to be less victimized by their white masters, and how they could be safer from them. In Amiri Baraka’s Black Art Baraka lays out the idea that poetry must be used as a weapon to further the cause of African Americans. He says the African American artist need to,† let all