Beloved: Women: Mothers and Monsters

Introduction

It is nature of most women if not all to do whatever it takes to ensure the better future of their children. Each woman wants her children to have the best future possible without having to go trough the burdens they went through. However, this can become an obsession, where some women become too protective of their children to a point where any slight sign could mean danger while there might be none. Seethe, in Toni Morrison’s novel, “Beloved,” is one kind of that mother. Through the burdens and atrocities she went through, she became obsessed with the idea of protecting her children form slavery. A light trigger, the schoolteacher, caused her to kill her own child as she thought it was the only way to protect them. This haunted her due to guilt and left her emotionally unstable until Beloved came along. The bond between a mother and child is quite strong that separation causes devastating emotional effects.

Discussion

The author of “Beloved,” Toni Morrison does not believe that the way Sethe chose to protect her children from slavery was right. Sethe killed her daughter when she thought it was the only way of saving her from enslavers. She could not have agreed to have her daughter as a slave, going through what she had gone through. She did this out of a mothers love. She found it better to free them from slavery through death so they would not have to go through what she experienced as a slave. She only did this at the last minute when she thought they would be caught. According to her, this was the only way to save them rather than leaving them alive to go through sheer brutality and violence from slavery by the white man.

However, the author does not believe that this was the best decision to make for her children. This is illustrated by the fact that her daughter’s ghost came haunting her after she had managed to free from sweet home. The haunting of her daughter’s ghost and her past life as a slave shows that she was not happy with her own choices. The author uses the haunting, as a way to show what Sethe did was not right. Had it been right, she could not have had anything to haunt her since her consent would be free of any guilt. However, due to the guilt of killing her own child and the bond between them, she is haunted by the angry ghost. The child could have chosen to suffer with her mother than to be killed to escape the ordeal of slavery. The rage of the girl is shown by her haunting, which suggests what she did was wrong. Had it been the right thing to do, the ghost of her daughter would not have haunted her and should have left her in peace.

The author makes use of the haunting, as a way of illustrating his remarks that the act of killing children to save them from slavery, when they were threatened with going back to the sweet home where she had been enslaved. Additionally, when Beloved comes into her life, she has to explain to her why she had to do what she did when the schoolteacher appeared. Had it been the right thing, she would not have had to apologize. The author further uses this as a way to show that what Sethe did was not right. Also, the coming of Beloved can be viewed as a second chance, for her to make up for what she did considering she reminds her of her past, and towards the end, disappears once again.

Toni Morrison portrays Sethe’s response to that of Beloved, who portrays many characters in the novel. The first guess of her that people have is that she could have been locked up by a white man and enslaved just like most of the characters. One could guess she has spent a lot of time in captivity from her linguistic limitations soft skin, unstable emotionally and needy. People could tell she was hardly let out of indoors like many young girls who were house cleaners to their masters. Sethe holds some of these character traits as well, considering she has never been stable emotionally and has been quite needy for sometime. Additionally, she understands slavery. However, many people would look at Beloved as a reincarnation of Sethe’s daughter that she killed to save from slavery.

Beloved is at the same age Sethe’s daughter could be if she still lived. Additionally, she bears the name on her daughter’s tombstone. During her first appearance to Sethe, she was soaking wet as a newborn. This reminded Sethe of her daughter and had the feeling of her water breaking, as one would feel when about to give birth. Moreover, she knows something about Sethe, such as earrings she possessed years back as well as a song she had made to her children. Most surprising was the mark under her chin, at the same point where she cut he daughter while killing her. With such details, Beloved triggers flashback memories of those days when Sethe was still under captivity as a slave.

Beloved also seems to portray every black person through her strange way of talking that only her mother had. This is said to signify the passage of blacks from Africa into America. Her character also depicts all the slaves who were able to cross the Atlantic from Africa as well as those who managed to run away from slavery. This triggers flashbacks of the lives those who have been oppressed through slavery.

On the other hand, Sethe’s character can also be portrayed through her daughter. One of their similarities is emotional instability due to isolation. Just like her mother, she has undergone quite sometime alone and has some emotional instability. This can be said to come from the side of the mother, who probably passed it on to her daughter through her emotional instability, as well. However, unlike her mother, she copes quickly with the world around her and the situations. For instance, when Paul D comes in their life, and her mother has to devote her time to him, she feels jealous and left out but treats him warmly. She also associates with Beloved even after her mother submits to her needs. She views her as her sister.

One point that Morrison is trying to make in this novel is about the bond between a mother and her children. The motherhood bond between Sethe and her children is so big that is hinders her from doing anything else with herself, when she thinks they will go through the same slavery. She is not able to develop herself due to worrying over her children. She escapes from sweet home in order to be with her children in Ohio. This is quite a strong bond. She was so inclined into saving her children from slavery and only thought about their future. For this reason, she ended up killing one of her daughter when she thought it was the only option to save the children from slavery.

When Denver is saved from her mother’s intended save from slavery, she lives an isolated life. Because of her obsession with saving her child from any likelihood of slavery, Denver is forced to live an isolated life in order to remain safe from any harm. She lacks the exposure gained through interaction with peers and other women. As she grows, it becomes quite hard for her to take the role of a woman. In this regard, Morrison suggests that a woman should teach her daughter how to be a woman. Additionally, it is the role of woman especially African American to ensure safety of their children while they also play the role of a wife. Although Sethe did not play the role of a wife so much, she was committed to Paul D. The point that Morrison is making about an African American woman is that, she is responsible of taking care of her family.

In addition, Morrison puts the point across that a child is not supposed to be separated from its mother. When this happens, there are devastating consequences to both the mother and child. It is in human nature for a woman to take all the care she can for her child. Hen they are separated, they all lose a sense of self. Sethe was emotionally impaired when she was separated from her child. When Beloved came to her life bearing all the characteristics of her dead daughter, she felt a need to have her around her. When they become friends, the more they wanted to be close to each other. This was a way of compensating for lost time with her daughter.

Because of her loss and the fear of her children going through the same ordeal she went through, she becomes too protective to a point of killing her daughter as a way to protect her from the ordeal. This is the power of motherhood, where a mother will always want the best for their child. For the sake of her children and protecting them from all danger, she was ready to do whatever it would take. This is the power of a mother’s love.

Conclusion

From this book, it is quite evident that a connection between a mother and a child. The love between a mother and a child is quite strong that separation has devastating effects on both of them, and can cause emotion distress to both. Women only want to play mothers to their children as nature dictates, while children want as much of mother’s love as they can get. However, too much love can turn into an obsession such as the one demonstrated by Sethe, where she killed her daughter and enslaved Denver through confining her in the house most of the time to keep her safe while depriving her some of the necessary things such as interaction with the community.