Beloved (Magill’s Choice: American Ethnic Writers)
At a glance:
- Author: Toni Morrison
- First Published: 1987
- 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 Work
Beloved’s dedication, “Sixty Million and more,” commemorates the number of slaves who died in the middle passage—from Africa to the New World. Toni Morrison’s protagonist, Sethe, is modeled upon the historical figure of a fugitive Kentucky slave, who in 1851 murdered her baby rather than return it to slavery.
A pregnant Sethe flees on foot to Cincinnati, Ohio, sending her children ahead by way of the Underground Railroad. Her overwhelming concern is to join her baby daughter, who needs her milk. On the bank of the Ohio River she goes into labor,...
[The entire page is 1424 words long]
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