Characters of the story Essay

Sethe is the star of the novel. The entire novel revolves around her (Morrison 1). It also talks of the people who are her children, her lover and her relatives. She is a slave in Kentucky. She escaped from the Garner residence named Sweet Home because they had died. The new slave owner, the school teacher, was too harsh on them. Thus, Sethe and the other slaves could not bear the inhuman treatment of the school teacher thus forcing them to fight back. This fighting back was in the form of running away. Sethe and the other slaves had to run away to freedom. However, Sethe was discovered barely a month after her bold escape. Upon being caught, Sethe slit the throat of her child, Beloved, in order to keep her from suffering under slavery when she grows up to womanhood. Sethe stands out from the normal African American slaves because she is bold and independent minded. This is what inspires her kind. She even proudly stated to Paul D. that she will not run away from things on this earth. However, Sethe’s life has no direction. She spends most of her waking hours in her home, 124, trying to forget her past where she killed her own daughter, Beloved, and she was raped by a white American. This murder occurred when escaped Sethe was caught by the white Americans. Sethe would always miss her Beloved child even after killing her. Two men caught Sethe in Mother Baby Suggs house and took her milk from her. Thus, she was not able to feed her human milk to her children . Paul D was an African American slave in Kentucky. He escaped from his white owners only after Sethe successfully made her get away. Paul D. continuously tried to run away for eighteen years but he was caught each time. And, he finally reached Sethe’s front steps in Cincinnati after his last escape try was successful. Paul D. also had a past that he rather forget because he considered it as a nightmare. He locks up this sad part of his past in his tobacco tin part of his heart. For, his secretive past horror was that he was often imprisoned in a cube that lay in a ditch. The reincarnated Beloved seduces Paul D. and tells him to accept his past as a normal part of life. Beloved aids him to finally lay his heavy load of a horrible past to rest. He is steadfast in his plan not to love anything in life too much because it would be only temporary. Martin Bidney stated that â€Å"I want to show that one of Morrison’s chief goals in Beloved is to rethink and transform major British romantic poets. By taking a romanticist tour of Beloved, we can see with what startling originality she reshapes the literary past† . Beloved is the third child of Sethe, the main character of the novel. She was murdered by Sethe at the age of one. She stayed on as a ghost for the next twenty years in 124. She is reincarnated on her twenty first year. However, she has the mind of the child. He return was due to her desire to be caressed by her mother and to avenge her death at the hands of Sethe. She tries to comprehend why her own mother would kill her. She symbolizes the many African Americans killed because of the color of their skin. For, sixty million Africans that were kidnapped and forcibly packed like fishes in the very tight ocean going vessels to be sold into slavery. Beloved had come back from the other world to address such hotly contested issues as justice for the slaves, morality and slavery . One Toni Morrison’s intentions for this novel was that the story would not end with the Paul D. rather, she wants this story to be told and retold so that many people from the current and future generations will not forget the slave past of African Americans. For, Paul D. finally laid to rest his nightmare as a former slave by accepting it as part of his heritage. Beloved successfully opened the eyes of Paul D. to finally accept his past and to move on . 2. 1. 1 Baby Suggs Baby Suggs is Sethe’s mother in law. She is the mother of her husband, African American Halle. The novel states that Baby Suggs had died eight years ago. Baby Suggs was given freedom by her white American owners. She was happy that her owner informed that she is a free woman. She feels that that she now owns the different parts of her body. She encouraged her fellow African Americans to love themselves for what they are. She spread the word that her fellow African Americans should endure all that the White Americans placed on them and everything would turn out fine . 2. 1. 2 Denver She is the living daughter of Sethe. She felt that the arrival of Paul D. has left her alone in a small corner of her mother’s home. Paul D. and Sethe often stayed to make love. Sethe feels that three is crowd because her mother and Paul D. were too busy sharing love with each other. And, Sethe feels that the boys and the girls of her time did not want to be her friends. She does not feel lonely because her lonely hours are spend conversing with her only friend. This friend is the ghost of Beloved. However, the ghost of Beloved is finally driven off by Paul D. 2. 1. 3 Howard & Buglar They are the two other children of Sethe. They ran away from Sethe when they were still thirteen years old . 2. 1. 4 Stamp Pride Stamp Pride is another African American slave. He had to endure his horrible past. This past was his that he was forced to give his wife away to the white Americans so that she could be their sex toy. Stamp Pride worked actively against the forceful taking of his wife . 2. 2 Racism Beloved focuses on racism. The African slaves are classified as animals by the people during this time period. The novel focuses on the school teacher. The school teacher likens the slaves not as a human being but only as an animal. This means that they are just like the pet dogs and the working horses that Caucasians own in their farms. As animals, the Caucasian owners can do whatever they please with their property. And, the slaves are classified as property that the owners definitely will be useful in the farms of the slave states especially in the Southern United States territories. The African Americans are portrayed by the Beloved novel literally as having the same five senses that the Caucasian owners have. The slaves also have the senses of sight, hearing, smelling, touch and taste . Evidently, the novel Beloved emphasizes that the African American slaves are also human beings and should not be treated like ordinary cats, dogs, horses or any other work animals. The novel is replete with voluminous pages showing that the African Americans are torn between fighting for their freedom from slavery or to just accept the stark reality that they were born to be harnessed just like pet dogs and horses. Also, the tune period of the story is very volatile as evidenced by the thousands who have died on both the Union side under Robert E. Lee and the Confederate side under General Ulysses S. Grant. The civil war was fought by the Union soldiers because they wanted to free the slaves. The Confederate soldiers fought the war because they felt they had to break away from the United States and form a separate nation where slavery is allowed . The novel raises the issue of racism throughout the entire novel. It defines what freedom is to the slaves. Baby Suggs felt that she was free. However she had to right to privacy and property. For, the White Americans could barge into her home and search her place anytime of the day without need to ask for her permission. This what the white Americans did when they stormed her place to search for the escaping Sethe who brought along her children four children. Also, the Paul D. was not allowed to love whatever he wanted to love due to African American lineage. Racism is very evident because the African Americans had to wait in line for the white Americans to finish their grocery purchases before they were allowed to enter and buy grocery items. The author, Morrison, emphasizes that being a free slave does not only mean NOT belonging to any white American. Racism has caused a break up of the African American families. For, the children of the African Americans would be taken away from them by their owners never to be seen again. This is due to the fact that Slaves are the property of their masters . 2. 3 Kentucky the 1800s Kentucky in the 1800s was a time where owning a slave is normal human activity. Also, many slave rebellions cropped up during this time period. People like John Trumbull had to find ways to fight out any revolt from their slaves .