Hall 1

Jaleise Hall
Mrs. Smit
12 AP English
3 November 2014
One-Hundred Lashes:
A Close Reading of Toni Morrisons Beloved
A tree is defined as a plant with a long woody stem or trunk supporting many branches
and leaves. Over a lifetime the tree may grow taller and increase its abundance of branches and
leaves caring a heavier load with each passing year. People may neglect the tree and try to tear it
down but there are some trees that are simply too strong to tackle or too beautiful to obtain the
courage to harm it in all its charm. In this novel readers are introduced to a woman supporting
many lives and struggles in the same way that a tree supports its branches and leaves. Viewing
the novel Beloved, by Toni Morrison, through a formalist critical lens, readers are able to
interpret how the tree on Sethes back symbolizes Sethes independence and tendency to carry
the weight of the world on her back.
Knowing that this story takes place during times of slavery and segregation, readers can
already imagine that our young character has been through a lot. When readers are first
introduced to Paul D, Sethe informs her old friend that she has a chokecherry tree; Trunk,
branches, and even leaves on her back (Morrison 16). The whitegirl who told Sethe about the
tree could have deemed any type of tree to have been lashed into Sethes back, yet she choose
chokecherry. This implies that the deep cuts were still bleeding when the whitegirl discovered

Hall 2
Sethe. The blood on Sethes back resembled the vibrant leaves of a chokecherry tree. Typically
when one thinks of a tree they may think of a lean yet sturdy trunk, alone, supporting many
branches. There is a clear connection with Sethe and that tree on her back as Sethe represents
the lean trunk attempting to support the branches of her life.
The whitegirl (Amy Denver as the novel later reveals) initially comes across as a very
bubbly and conceited character. Amy constantly draws attention to the fact that she is white and
Sethes superior by default. Yet, when Amy first sees Sethes back, she is struck dumb for a
change clearly finding Sethes life to mean much more than her own (Morrison 83). In a brief
moment of epiphany, Amy gathers what the jumble of scars truly mean. Obviously the scars are
the unfortunate results of the brutalities of slavery, but really their meaning went far beyond that
surface. Its a tree, Lu. A chokecherry tree. See, heres the trunkits red a split wide open, full
of sap, and this heres the parting for the branches. You got a mighty lot of branches. Leaves,
too, look like, and dern if these aint blossoms. Tiny little cherry blossoms, just as white. Your
back got a whole tree on it. In bloom. What God have in mind, I wonder. I had me some
whippings, but I dont remember nothing like this (Morrison 83). In describing every essence
of the tree, Amy allowed readers to picture the lashes as something beautiful rather than the
thick, bloody, grotesque trails that one normally envisions lash marks as. She does this in a way
to make the point that at least the scars mean exhibit Sethes fight against the world and all it has
dished out on her over the years. We as readers, Amy included, know that Sethe wouldnt have
the tree if she was white. If Sethe was white, she wouldnt have so much to worry about; she
wouldnt have so many branches. In a way, it seems that Amy envies Sethe because this ugly
negro girl who is younger that herself has already been through hell and back and still keeps

Hall 3
going for the sake of protecting her family. Amy, as conceited as she is has never had to support
anyone, not even herself, because it had all been done for her.
Having so much to deal with in life, beautiful as it may be to put so many lives before
your own, can be just as awful as it is beautiful. While Amy saw the lashes and envied the story
they told, Paul D claims they were a revolting clump of scarsnothing like any tree he know
because trees were inviting; things you could trust and be near (Morrison 22). One of the socalled branches on Sethes back was the ghost of her baby. Even though the baby died in that
very house at 124, and the babys ghost constantly haunts the house and drives people away from
Denver and her mother, Sethe, Sethe refuses to move from 124. Again, we see Sethe trying to
take care of every aspect of her life all on her own in the same way that the sturdy trunk, alone,
supports its branches.
The interworking components of a tree must first have a trunk to support it. Although
Sethe may not have been as sturdy as a standard tree, her chokecherry back still proves her
ability to defy expectations of a negro of the time and independently hold together the broken
and misplaced pieces and members of her life.