Beloved (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Chloe Anthony Wofford
- First Published: 1987
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Historical realism
- Time of Work: 1850–1874
- Setting: Kentucky and Ohio
- Principal Characters: Beloved, Sethe, Denver
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Ghost story
- Subjects: African Americans, Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Memory, Mothers, Parents and children, Racism, Blacks, Murder or homicide, South or Southerners, Gender roles, Supernatural, Escapes, Nineteenth century, Slavery or slaves, Abandoned children, Exorcism, Ghosts or apparitions, Guilt, Middle Passage, Midwest, Ohio, Underground railroad, Yards or backyards
- Locales: Kentucky, Ohio
The Novel
Beloved moves back and forth through time, telling in flashbacks the story of the characters’ slave pasts. Throughout the narrative, the reader learns the background of the characters and the pertinent incidents of their slavery. Beloved is killed by her mother, who will not allow her daughter to be returned to slavery. As the ghost of a woman of twenty, the age the baby would have been if it had survived, Beloved haunts the Ohio house where Sethe and her youngest daughter, Denver, live; Beloved is the past brought to life in the present. Before the spirit of...
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- Beloved (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
- Beloved (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
- Beloved (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
- Beloved (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
See Also:
Toni Morrison (Cyclopedia of World Authors)Toni Morrison (Long Fiction)Toni Morrison (Dictionary of World Biography)Toni Morrison (Identities and Issues)
See Also:
- - For teachers, the Beloved Lesson Plan.
- - Beloved summary and study guide in the eNotes.
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