Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved delves into the haunting legacy of slavery through the personal history of a former slave, Sethe. Inspired by a real incident from 1856, the narrative examines the desperate actions of a mother who, when cornered, ends her child’s life to shield her from the horrors of enslavement. Morrison aims to reclaim these untold stories, offering them as a cautionary tale to future generations.

The Haunting Legacy of Slavery

At the heart of Morrison’s story is Sethe, whose act of infanticide highlights the dehumanizing impact of slavery on motherhood. In a world where a woman’s value is tied to her ability to reproduce and provide pleasure to her master, genuine maternal roles are distorted beyond recognition. Mothers, like Baby Suggs, who barely remembers her seven children sold away, or Ella, who refuses to nurture her child conceived from violence, are emblematic of this perverse reality.

Sethe’s Struggle with Motherhood

Sethe’s experiences with motherhood, both as a child and as a parent, are marred by the brutal environment of slavery. As a baby, she is deprived of her own mother's milk, relying instead on a slave woman who must first satiate the needs of white infants. Her mother’s attempts to flee, leaving her behind, echo her own experiences later when Schoolteacher's nephews assault her, stealing the milk meant for her children. These violations sever the essential nurturing bonds, leaving Sethe yearning for the maternal connection she was deprived of.

A Desperate Act of Protection

Through the interwoven narratives of the characters, Morrison contextualizes Sethe’s drastic decision to kill her daughter. In a world where maternal protection is stripped away, Sethe’s extreme actions are portrayed as an ultimate, albeit tragic, act of love and protection. Her decision underscores the brutal irony of slavery—the very act of safeguarding her child results in a tragic end, yet it reclaims the fundamental rights denied to all enslaved mothers.

Representing Lost Histories

The figures of Sethe and her daughter, Beloved, encapsulate the shared experiences of countless enslaved families. Their story resonates with the African American quest for cultural and historical identity, tethering personal experiences to the collective memory of those "sixty million and more" slaves Morrison dedicates her novel to. Beloved, unnamed and uncounted, symbolizes the countless forgotten individuals whose lives vanished from official records.

Symbolism in African American Storytelling

Morrison’s storytelling is rich with symbolism and metaphors, drawing on the African American tradition to evoke the omnipresent shadow of slavery. Water emerges as a potent symbol, representing both a barrier and a passage—the Middle Passage that forcibly transported African slaves and the Ohio River marking a boundary for escaping slaves. Denver’s birth in the river and Beloved’s emergence from it are infused with metaphorical significance, underscoring themes of birth, rebirth, and separation.

Reclaiming Forgotten Voices

The spectral presence of Beloved, a ghost driven by an insatiable thirst for recognition and maternal love, serves as a powerful symbol for the erased histories of African Americans. Morrison’s use of precise figures in the narrative stands in stark contrast to the official, often vague, records of slavery, emphasizing the need to acknowledge and remember the forgotten voices. Through Beloved, Morrison breathes life into these lost souls, crafting a narrative that bridges the chasm between past and present.

By weaving together personal narratives with broader historical contexts, Morrison not only gives voice to those silenced by history but also invites readers to confront the enduring scars left by slavery. Her narrative serves as both a historical account and a profound exploration of the human condition, urging a recognition of the inhumanity endured and a remembrance of those who suffered in silence.

The Narrative Voice and Shifting Perspectives

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a masterclass in narrative complexity, employing a third-person omniscient narrator who weaves through the fabric of various characters' lives. This narrative style allows readers to delve deeply into the intimate thoughts and experiences of multiple characters, providing a holistic view of the impact of slavery. The novel is marked by frequent shifts in perspective, often changing from the viewpoint of Baby Suggs, to Sethe, to Paul D, and to Denver, sometimes all within a single chapter. This technique not only highlights the diverse experiences and traumas of each character but also emphasizes the pervasive impact of slavery on different aspects of their identities.

Such changes in perspective are critical for enhancing character depth. By accessing the inner worlds of these characters, Morrison paints multi-dimensional portraits that would be impossible if told from a singular viewpoint. The narrative becomes even more intimate in Part Two, when the prose switches to the first person, allowing characters like Sethe, Denver, and Beloved to convey their personal transformations brought on by Beloved’s presence. This shift in narrative voice enriches the emotional landscape of the novel, inviting readers to engage personally with the characters’ struggles and revelations.

Exploring the Past Through Flashbacks

Flashbacks are a pivotal narrative device in Beloved, serving to unravel the past and its ongoing influence on the present. Morrison’s skillful use of flashbacks allows readers to piece together the history that shapes the novel’s characters. From the onset, the past looms large; the narrator hints at a ghost haunting Sethe and her daughter by 1873, then peels back the layers of time to reveal the antecedent events involving Baby Suggs and Sethe's sons.

These flashbacks provide insight into characters' histories and relationships. When Paul D. meets Sethe again, his memories transport readers back two decades, recounting their shared experiences at Sweet Home. Through these recollections and the stories exchanged between Paul D. and Sethe, a vivid tapestry of their shared and individual histories is woven. The narrative also employs more direct flashbacks, such as when Denver’s birth story is shared with Beloved or when Paul D. reflects on a failed escape plan. Deborah Horvitz, in her work for Studies in American Fiction, aptly notes that these flashbacks bridge the fractured generational divides, offering a narrative strategy that encompasses both the trauma and the healing process.

Language and Cultural Identity: The Role of Idiom

Morrison’s use of idiomatic language in Beloved is instrumental in recreating the cultural and social milieu of African Americans in post-Civil War Ohio. The novel’s dialogue is peppered with idioms such as “ain't” and “reckon,” which cement the characters within their specific cultural context. This linguistic representation extends to compound words like "whitegirl," "blackman," and "coloredpeople," which encapsulate race as an intrinsic part of identity, underscoring the dehumanizing effects of slavery. These idiomatic choices reflect the novel's thematic exploration of race and identity, illustrating how language can delineate and define social boundaries.

Recurring Imagery and Motifs

The motif of eyes and vision recurrently appears throughout Beloved, symbolizing perception and insight into the characters' innermost selves. Eyes are described vividly, offering a glimpse into the unresolved grief and inner turmoil of the characters. Sethe’s eyes, "glittering iron" punched out, evolve to reflect her emotional states, shifting from "black and blind" to "bright but dead," capturing her confrontation with past horrors and current despair.

Beloved’s eyes, unsettling in their blankness, reveal a lack of expression that hints at her mysterious origins and ambiguous intentions. Paul D., recalling his time in captivity, notes the silent communication required when "the eyes had to tell what there was to tell," reflecting a shared language of pain and resilience among enslaved men. The schoolteacher’s decision to retreat from Sethe is marked by his aversion to the "nigger eyes," illustrating how visual perception in the novel often aligns with the characters' moral and emotional judgments.

The act of seeing, or choosing not to see, is crucial to the narrative. Denver remembers Sethe as one "who never looked away," highlighting her unwavering confrontation with trauma. Paul D. feels secure from Beloved’s influence as long as he keeps his eyes focused on a mundane object, showcasing the defensive power of vision. The novel underscores how eyes can both reveal and shield emotional truths, as seen when Sethe realizes Beloved’s true identity upon a pivotal exchange of gazes.

Imagery as a Lyrical Force

Morrison’s lyrical imagery powerfully evokes the sensory and emotional landscapes of Beloved. Her descriptions often juxtapose beauty and horror, highlighting the grotesque realities of slavery. A striking example is the "chokecherry tree" etched on Sethe’s back—an image that transforms her scars into an emblem of enduring pain and survival. This vivid metaphor, born from Amy Denver’s observation, transcends its brutal origins to become a symbol of life’s tenacity amidst suffering.

Such imagery not only enhances the novel's emotional depth but also invites readers to experience the visceral impact of the characters' struggles. By portraying the physical manifestations of trauma through poetic metaphors, Morrison compels readers to confront the enduring scars left by slavery. This use of imagery serves to highlight the novel’s central themes, inviting contemplation of the complex interplay between memory, identity, and healing.

Set against the backdrop of post-Civil War America, the narrative explores the haunting memories of a previously enslaved woman, Sethe, as she navigates the complexities of freedom and the inescapable grip of her past. The Ohio River, Sweet Home plantation, and the Bluestone Road house are central locations that shape Sethe's experiences and symbolize broader themes of liberty, trauma, and the enduring effects of memory. These places not only anchor the storyline but also serve as metaphors for the psychological landscapes traversed by the characters.

The Ohio River: A Passage to Freedom

The Ohio River plays a pivotal role, acting as a monumental boundary between the slave states and the free states during the 19th century. It represents a line that, once crossed, offers an illusion of freedom to those fleeing bondage. Sethe's journey across this river is both literal and symbolic; it is during this crossing that she gives birth to her child, Beloved. This event marks a moment of hope intertwined with an enduring connection to her past, as Beloved's reappearance years later signifies the persistent shadows of her former life.

Throughout American history, the Ohio River was a bustling waterway, filled with flatboats and ferries that carried families toward the west with dreams of prosperity. However, for escaping slaves, it epitomized a path to freedom, a gateway to a state where their personhood might finally be acknowledged. Morrison’s choice of setting these crucial events at the river underscores the duality of freedom’s promise and its often unfulfilled reality.

Sweet Home: The Illusion of Freedom

Sweet Home plantation in North Kentucky is where Sethe’s journey begins, steeped in the brutal realities of slavery. Her escape from Sweet Home to Ohio parallels the historical account of Margaret Garner, whose desperate acts to protect her children from a life of servitude serve as a grim reminder of the era’s harsh truths. Garner’s court trial, which bizarrely charged her with theft rather than murder, highlights the dehumanizing laws that viewed enslaved individuals as mere property.

While the Ohio River offers Sethe a physical escape from Sweet Home, Morrison emphasizes that true freedom remains elusive. Sethe may be liberated in legal terms upon reaching Ohio, yet she is ensnared by the memories of her past, trapped in a reality where the psychological scars of slavery persist. Morrison skillfully weaves the narrative as a tapestry, where time is non-linear, and past and present coalesce in a continuous struggle. Sethe’s experiences of "re-memory"—unbidden, enduring recollections that refuse to fade—illustrate the perpetual presence of history in her life.

124 Bluestone Road: A Haunted Sanctuary

Sethe’s home at 124 Bluestone Road in Cincinnati stands as the most significant setting within the novel, embodying the emotional turmoil and unresolved grief that pervade her life. The house’s shifting moods, described as "spiteful," "loud," and "quiet" across different sections of the book, reflect the tumultuous emotional states of its inhabitants. It is a place where the past refuses to remain silent, manifesting through the haunting presence of Beloved, Sethe's lost child.

The house’s paranormal activity drives away Sethe’s sons and disrupts her relationship with Paul D, whose initial presence suggests a potential return to normalcy. Yet, the spirits within the house resist his intrusion, and he is eventually expelled, unable to withstand the force of Sethe’s unresolved trauma. Morrison crafts this haunted narrative not merely as a gothic tale but as an exploration of the psychic scars left by slavery.

The supernatural elements within 124 Bluestone Road do not belong solely to the realm of fantasy. Instead, they symbolize the very real and perilous dimensions of Sethe’s grief and guilt. The house, with its tangible architecture, becomes a vessel for her internal struggles, reminding readers that the most profound places are those burdened with emotions that cannot be easily shed.

In "Beloved," the settings are more than mere backdrops; they are integral to understanding the psychological complexities of the characters. Through the Ohio River, Sweet Home, and the haunted Bluestone Road house, Morrison explores the spectrum of freedom and captivity, the persistence of memory, and the spaces where past and present inextricably intertwine. These places, steeped in historical and personal significance, highlight the enduring legacy of trauma and the quest for identity and belonging.

Toni Morrison's novel Beloved is a profound and haunting exploration of the lingering impacts of slavery on individuals and families. Against the backdrop of post-Civil War Ohio, Morrison weaves a complex narrative that blurs the line between the past and present, life and death, reality and the supernatural. Through the lives of Sethe, Paul D, Denver, and the spectral presence of Beloved, Morrison delves deep into themes of memory, trauma, and redemption.

The Haunting of 124

Set in 1873, the novel opens with Sethe, a former slave, living with her daughter Denver in a house on the outskirts of Cincinnati. The house at 124 Bluestone Road is haunted by the ghost of Sethe's deceased daughter, whose life was violently cut short. This child, known only as Beloved—a name etched onto a tombstone in a transaction both tragic and telling—haunts the narrative and the lives of those who reside within the home. The haunting presence encapsulates the enduring trauma of slavery and the desperate measures taken by those seeking freedom.

Interwoven Histories

Paul D's arrival at Sethe's doorstep ignites a chain of events that draws out long-buried memories and untold stories. Both he and Sethe hail from Sweet Home, a Kentucky plantation where their lives were irrevocably altered. The reunion of Paul D and Sethe, each a repository of untold horrors and shared histories, triggers a cathartic unraveling of their pasts. Morrison employs a narrative structure that oscillates between various perspectives, allowing the reader to experience the emotional weight of these characters' histories as they slowly come to light.

A Mother's Love

At the core of Beloved lies Sethe’s immense maternal love, a force both protective and destructive. Her actions, particularly the murder of her daughter to prevent her from being enslaved, are a poignant commentary on the brutality of a system that dehumanizes individuals to the point where death seems preferable to life in bondage. Morrison makes Sethe’s drastic actions understandable, casting light on the incomprehensible choices faced by mothers in a world where their children could be ripped away at any moment.

The Return of Beloved

The manifestation of Beloved as a fully formed young woman solidifies the novel's ghostly elements while also serving as a vessel for the unresolved grief and guilt that Sethe harbors. With Paul D driven away by the revelation of Sethe’s past actions, Beloved begins to consume Sethe’s life, her insatiable presence symbolic of the inescapable past. As Sethe becomes increasingly obsessed with Beloved, their relationship deteriorates into a parasitic bond that threatens to destroy her.

Denver's Awakening

In the shadow of her mother's consuming relationship with Beloved, Denver experiences a transformative journey of her own. Once timid and housebound, she recognizes the need to save her mother from the ghostly grip of her sister. Denver’s emergence from isolation to seek help from the community marks a pivotal shift, highlighting themes of resilience and the power of collective support in healing from trauma.

The Legacy of Slavery

Morrison's characters are intricately drawn, each with a past marked by suffering yet underscored by moments of deep humanity. Figures such as Baby Suggs, Sethe’s mother-in-law known for her spiritual guidance, and Halle, Sethe’s husband who suffers a mental breakdown, are richly portrayed, adding layers to the tapestry of lives affected by slavery. Even the house at 124, "peopled by the living activity of the dead," serves as a character unto itself, embodying the residue of pain and memory.

Complex Portraits of White Characters

In Beloved, Morrison’s depiction of white characters is nuanced, illustrating the complexities of racial dynamics post-emancipation. The contrasting behaviors of the Garners, who believed their brand of slavery was more humane, and the Bodwins, abolitionists with their own prejudices, reveal the pervasive and insidious nature of racial attitudes. The character of Amy Denver, a white woman who assists Sethe during a pivotal moment, stands out as a rare instance of genuine empathy across racial lines.

The Power of Language and Imagery

Morrison's prose in Beloved is marked by its lyrical beauty and vivid imagery, blending elements of African American idiom with poetic density and stark simplicity. Her descriptions evoke the tactile and sensory worlds of her characters, as seen in the portrayal of everyday objects and natural phenomena. Whether through the metaphorical "tree" on Sethe’s back or the symbolic use of color, Morrison's language enriches the emotional and thematic depth of the novel.

Ultimately, Beloved is a tale of love's endurance and the painful struggle to reclaim identity and dignity in the aftermath of slavery. Morrison offers a narrative that is as much about the power of the past as it is about the possibilities of the future, leaving readers to reflect on the stories that shape our collective consciousness. This masterpiece stands as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of storytelling.

The historical backdrop of Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, is steeped in the tumultuous events and societal shifts of 19th-century America. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, and the evolution of African-American literature through the Black Aesthetic and Post-Aesthetic movements all significantly inform the narrative and themes of Morrison's work. These historical contexts not only frame the personal struggles of the characters but also provide a wider lens through which to understand the systemic oppression and cultural resilience of African Americans.

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 stands as a pivotal moment in U.S. history, deeply influencing the lives of African Americans and anti-slavery advocates. Prior to this law, while slave owners could pursue escaped slaves, there was no obligation for state authorities in free states to assist them. This lack of cooperation from Northern states created relatively safe havens for many fugitives, supported by abolitionist communities that often protected them. However, this fragile sense of security was shattered by the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850.

This law emerged from the Compromise of 1850, a series of legislative measures intended to appease both Northern and Southern states following territorial expansions from the Mexican-American War. The compromise introduced a stricter fugitive slave law, which denied alleged runaways the right to a jury trial. Instead, cases were decided by a commissioner who financially benefited more from returning a slave than releasing them. Moreover, federal officials could now mandate citizens to aid in capturing fugitives, penalizing those who refused with fines or imprisonment.

The law incited outrage among anti-slavery activists. Northern cities witnessed mobs rescuing alleged fugitives from captors, and aiding escapees became more organized through channels like the Underground Railroad. Literary protests also emerged, notably with Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was penned in response to the law. Despite these efforts, the compliance of many Northerners meant that only a fraction of the arrested African Americans were successfully freed.

The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan

The abolition of slavery did not equate to freedom from persecution for African Americans. The Reconstruction era, marked by attempts to reintegrate Southern states into the Union, led to significant social upheaval. Under the Reconstruction Act of 1867, states were reorganized into military districts, tasked with enforcing new rights for African Americans. This incited resentment among many white Southerners, who perceived these changes as oppressive impositions.

In reaction, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was formed, initially as a social club but quickly transforming into a violent organization. The Klan's campaigns of terror escalated following the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, which expanded voting rights to African Americans in both Northern and Southern states. This period of intensified Klan activity saw them extend their reach into the North, using violence to suppress black voting rights.

In Beloved, Paul D. reflects on the pervasive threat of the Klan, stating Cincinnati was "infected by the Klan," highlighting the widespread fear it propagated. Despite legislative efforts like the Ku Klux Act of 1871 to curb this violence, the Klan's influence persisted, laying the groundwork for the deeply segregated societies that would endure until the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Toni Morrison and the Post-Aesthetic Movement

The literary responses to African American struggles have evolved over time, reflecting changes in both racial dynamics and the aspirations of black writers. The Harlem Renaissance and subsequent decades saw black writers like Langston Hughes and Richard Wright engage with the black experience often through the lens of white audiences. However, the 1960s and 1970s marked a shift with the Black Aesthetic Movement, where authors sought to craft narratives that resonated deeply within their own communities.

This movement produced works emphasizing black pride and culture, mirroring broader political activism of the time. Yet, by the late 1970s and 1980s, a new literary wave, termed the Post-Aesthetic Movement, began to take shape. Writers like Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and John Edgar Wideman started exploring themes within a purely African-American context, often focusing on internal community and familial dynamics as sources of strength and resolution.

In this literary landscape, Morrison's Beloved stands out as a hallmark of the Post-Aesthetic approach. By centering the African-American experience within familial and community settings, Morrison crafts a narrative that speaks to the internal processes of healing and identity reconstruction. Beloved exemplifies this movement's pivot away from seeking validation in white-dominated contexts to fostering a robust and autonomous cultural identity.

The historical contexts surrounding Morrison's Beloved not only frame its narrative but also enrich its exploration of identity, memory, and resilience. By situating the personal struggles of her characters against the backdrop of these pivotal events and movements, Morrison offers readers a profound understanding of the enduring impact of history on individual and collective consciousness.

Like most truly original works of fiction, Beloved draws on numerous literary and folklore traditions. The technique of interweaving various narrative sections and organizing the story thematically rather than chronologically is reminiscent of many modernist novels, particularly those by Faulkner and Woolf, whose works Morrison studied closely during graduate school. Although Beloved shares narrative and epistemological qualities with William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! (1936) and Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse (1927), it uniquely applies these sophisticated storytelling methods.

The novel's content is influenced by three distinct traditions, which highlight Morrison's original talent. As a slave narrative, the book contributes to a growing canon of narratives by slaves and ex-slaves, challenging and complementing the well-known Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853), a nineteenth-century antislavery novel, and The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass, a critique by an ex-slave on the disgrace of slavery. Shortly before Morrison wrote the novel, poet Robert Hayden's powerful but unsettling "Middle Passage" similarly depicted the dehumanizing impact of the slave trade on both traders and captives.

Beloved also draws on classical literature in its exploration of the theme of infanticide. Sethe's act contrasts with Medea's vengeful killing of her children to punish Jason, the Greek hero who was unfaithful, and Procne, who served her son as food to his father for raping her sister Philomela — a story that also forms the grim centerpiece of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Unlike her classical counterparts, Sethe's child-killing was neither premeditated nor an act of revenge. Instead, it was an act of love, an attempt to save her baby from the hands of slave owners.

Lastly, the novel fits into the tradition of ghost literature and stories of hauntings involving guilty parties. All the ex-slaves believe in ghosts, as does Morrison herself. Ella, who leads the successful rescue of Sethe, encapsulates the community's view of ghosts by saying she respects those who remain in their ghostly realm but objects when ghosts "took flesh and came in her world ... She didn't mind a little communication between the worlds, but this was an invasion." Beloved brings a new seriousness to the typically lighthearted ghost story by examining themes of guilt and the search for forgiveness.

After ten years of effort to adapt the novel into a film, producer and star Oprah Winfrey successfully released the movie version of Beloved in 1998. The film, directed and co-produced by Academy Award-winner Jonathan Demme, featured Winfrey as Sethe, Danny Glover as Paul D., Kimberly Elise as Denver, and Thandie Newton as Beloved.

Random House Audio offers an unabridged audio recording of Beloved narrated by the author, as well as an abridged edition read by actress Lynn Whitfield.

Sources

Margaret Atwood, "Haunted by Their Nightmares," in New York Times Book Review, September 13, 1987, pp. 1, 49-50.

Martha Bayles, "Special Effects, Special Pleading," in New Criterion, Vol. VI, No. 5, January 1988, pp. 34-40.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Views: Toni Morrison. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1990.

Susan Bowers, "Beloved and the New Apocalypse," in Journal of Ethnic Studies, Vol. 18, No. 1, Spring 1990, pp. 59-77.

Rosellen Brown, "The Pleasure of Enchantment," in Nation, Vol. 245, No. 12, October 17, 1987, pp. 418-21.

Walter Clemons, "A Gravestone of Memories," in Newsweek, Vol. CX, No. 13, September 28, 1987, pp. 74-75.

Stanley Crouch, "Aunt Medea," in New Republic, Vol. 197, No. 16, October 19, 1987, pp. 38-43.

Dubois, W.E.B. Black Reconstruction in America: 1860–1880. New York: Atheneum, 1992.

Mari Evans, ed., Black Women Writers (1950-1980): A Critical Evaluation. Doubleday, 1984.

Gates, Henry Louis Jr. and Appiah, K.A., eds. Toni Morrison: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad Press, Inc., 1993.

Deborah Horvitz, "Nameless Ghosts: Possession and Dispossession in Beloved," in Studies in American Fiction, Vol. 17, No. 2, Autumn 1989, pp. 157-67.

Elizabeth House, "Toni Morrison's Ghost: The Beloved Who Is Not Beloved," in Studies in American Fiction, Vol. 18, No. 1, Spring 1990, pp. 17-26.

Carol Iannone, "Toni Morrison's Career," in Commentary, Vol. 84, No. 6, December 1987, pp. 59-63.

Michiko Kakutani, "Did 'Paco's Story' Deserve Its Award?," in New York Times, November 16, 1987, p. C15.

Charles Larson, review of Beloved, in Chicago Tribune, August 30, 1987.

John Leonard, review of Beloved, in Los Angeles Times Book Review, August 30, 1987.

Lingley, Charles Ramsdell and Foley, Allen Richard. Since the Civil War–Third Edition. New York: Century Co., Inc., 1935.

McKay, Nellie Y., ed. Critical Essays on Toni Morrison. Massachusetts: G.K. Hall & Co., 1988.

Eusebio L. Rodrigues, "The Telling of Beloved," in Journal of Narrative Technique, Vol. 21, No. 2, Spring 1991, pp. 153-69.

Carol Rumens, "Shades of the Prison-House," in Times Literary Supplement, No. 4411, October 16-22, 1987, p. 1135.

Barbara Schapiro, "The Bonds of Love and the Boundaries of Self in Toni Morrison's Beloved," in Contemporary Literature, Vol. 32, No. 2, Summer 1991, pp. 194-210.

Amy E. Schwartz, "Beloved: It's Not a Question of Who Suffered More," in Washington Post, April 3, 1988, p. B7.

Ann Snitow, "Death Duties: Toni Morrison Looks Back in Sorrow," in Voice Literary Supplement, No. 58, September 1987, pp. 25-26.

Stampp, Kenneth M. The Era of Reconstruction 1865–1877. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1966.

Jean Strouse, "Toni Morrison's Black Magic," in Newsweek, March 30, 1981, pp. 52-57.

Judith Thurman, "A House Divided," in New Yorker, Vol. LXIII, No. 37, November 2, 1987, pp. 175-80.

Videos:

Profile of a Writer: Toni Morrison, Alan Benson, R.M. Arts, 52 min., Public Media, Inc., 1987.

A Conversation with Toni Morrison, Matteo Bellinelli, 25 min., RTSI–Swiss Television, “In Black and White: Part 3.”

For Further Study

Marilyn Judith Atlas, "Toni Morrison's Beloved and the Reviewers," in Midwestern Miscellany, Vol. XVII, 1990, pp. 45-57. A comprehensive analysis of the critical reception of the novel before it received the Pulitzer Prize. The critic argues that the challenges reviewers faced in interpreting the novel stem from its intricate design and sensitive themes.

Bernard W. Bell, "Beloved: A Womanist Neo-Slave Narrative; or Multivocal Remembrances of Things Past," in African American Review, Vol. 26, No. 1, Spring, 1992, pp. 7-15. Discusses Beloved as an investigation of the "double consciousness" experienced by Black Americans.

Eileen T. Bender, "Repossessing Uncle Tom's Cabin: Toni Morrison's Beloved," in Cultural Power/Cultural Literacy: Selected Papers from the Fourteenth Annual Florida State University Conference on Literature and Film, edited by Bonnie Braendlin, Florida State University Press, 1991, pp. 129-42. Argues that Beloved is Morrison's thoughtful response to the sentimental stereotypes in Harriet Beecher Stowe's renowned novel. According to Bender, Morrison's work represents a "new act of emancipation for a culture still enslaved by false impressions and fabricated accounts."

Patrick Bryce Bjork, "Beloved: The Paradox of a Past and Present Self and Place," in his Novels of Toni Morrison: The Search for Self and Place within the Community, Peter Lang Publishing, 1992, pp. 141-62.
Explores the contradictions of personal identity and memory in Morrison's novel.

Marilyn R. Chandler, "Housekeeping and Beloved: When Women Come Home," in her Dwelling in the Text: Houses in American Fiction, University of California Press, 1991, pp. 291-318. Analyzes Beloved and Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping "under the rubric of house and home as concepts through which women in every era and circumstance have had to 'work out their salvation' and define their identities."

Marsha Jean Darling, "Ties That Bind," in Women's Review of Books, Vol. V, No. 6, March, 1988, pp. 4-5.
Praises Beloved as a masterpiece of historical fiction that "challenges, seduces, cajoles, and enjoins us to visualize, contemplate, to know, feel, and comprehend the realities of the material world of nineteenth-century Black women and men."

Christina Davis, "Beloved: A Question of Identity," in Présence Africaine, No. 145, 1988, pp. 151-56. Commends Morrison's talent for expressing the subjective consciousness of Sethe, a slave whose voice "is clear, its pain full of anguish, its beauty unbearable, its truth stunning."

Stephanie A. Demetrakopoulos, "Maternal Bonds as Devourers of Women's Individuation in Toni Morrison's Beloved," in African American Review, Vol. 26, No. 1, Spring, 1992, pp. 51-59. Argues that Beloved "develops the idea that maternal bonds can stunt or even obliterate a woman's individuation or sense of self," and that "the conclusion of the book resolves the tension between history and nature that underlies the work's movement as a whole."

John N. Duvall, "Authentic Ghost Stories: Uncle Tom's Cabin, Absalom, Absalom!, and Beloved," in Faulkner Journal, Vol. IV, Nos. 1 and 2, Fall, 1988-Spring, 1989, pp. 83-97.
Compares the ghost story elements in novels by Morrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and William Faulkner.

Karen E. Fields, "To Embrace Dead Strangers: Toni Morrison's Beloved," in Mother Puzzles: Daughters and Mothers in Contemporary American Literature, edited by Mickey Pearlman, Greenwood Press, 1989, pp. 159-69. Describes the novel as a profound "meditation on the nature of love," examining how the characters use relationships to impose order on chaos.

Anne E. Goldman, "'I Made the Ink': (Literary) Production and Reproduction in Dessa Rose and Beloved," in Feminist Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2, Summer, 1990, pp. 313-30. Goldman contends that Beloved and Sherley Anne Williams's Dessa Rose "implicitly comment on the gap between mainstream critical theories and contemporary literary practice" by featuring strong heroines who find self-integration through writing, contrasting with the fragmented narratives typical of post-modern fiction.

Trudier Harris, "Of Mother Love and Demons," in Callaloo, Vol. 11, No. 2, Spring, 1988, pp. 387-89. Harris examines Morrison's exploration of the "mother love" theme in Beloved. Harris suggests that in "exorcising" Beloved, "the women prioritize the living over the dead, maternal love over childish retribution towards parents, and reality over the myth they have become entangled in."

Karla F. C. Holloway, "Beloved: A Spiritual," in Callaloo, Vol. 13, No. 3, Summer, 1990, pp. 516-25.
Holloway critiques Beloved as a mythic reinterpretation within the African-American literary tradition.

Carl D. Malmgren, "Mixed Genres and the Logic of Slavery in Toni Morrison's Beloved," in Critique, Vol. XXXVI, No. 2, Winter, 1995, pp. 96-106. Malmgren observes Beloved's blend of various genres, such as the ghost story and historical novel, and argues that "the institution of slavery provides the underlying logic of the novel, the thematic cohesion that unites this multifaceted text."

Barbara Hill Rigney, "'A Story to Pass On': Ghosts and the Significance of History in Toni Morrison's Beloved," in Haunting the House of Fiction: Feminist Perspectives on Ghost Stories by American Women, edited by Lynette Carpenter and Wendy K. Kolmar, University of Tennessee Press, 1991, pp. 229-35. Rigney elucidates the significance of history in Beloved as "the reality of slavery. The 'rememories' are a harrowing catalog of atrocities, severe sexual abuses, and a complete denial of human rights."

Mervyn Rothstein, "Toni Morrison, in Her New Novel, Defends Women," in New York Times, August 26, 1987, p. C17. An interview with Morrison discussing the origins of Beloved.

Danille Taylor-Guthrie, editor, Conversations with Toni Morrison, University Press of Mississippi, 1994. A compilation of interviews with Morrison, including one with Gail Caldwell regarding the writing process of Beloved.