University of central Punjab

Final Project

Hafsa Sajjad
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Mam Ayesha Rafiq
“THE BELOVED” By Toni Morrison

Beloved is the novel written by Toni Morrison and it was published in 1987.In this novel there
is the theme of slavery, racism and the life of black woman. She is going through trauma as he
was a prisoner and practiced slavery. This novel tells us the look of slavery and its impact on
human life.

Themes of novel:

Themes of novel the beloved are

 Slavery
 Racism
 Home
 Sexuality and power
 Motherhood

Slavery:
Slavery is the major theme of the novel because it tells us the effect of slavery on human life.
Most of the character bear with the burden of being African American community most of them
are slaves and have no human rights. Slaves were treated like nasty animals not like humans.
That is why Sethe killed his own son so that he could not be a slave of Africans and could not
be treated as nasty animals. The owner of the home the school teacher abuses them and treat
them as if they were animals, they were not given proper human rights. They treat Paul D as
animal and chain him with iron belt. When Sethe complains to schoolteacher that her nephew
has steeled her breast milk, he abuses Sethe that why he complains about him. The people who
were kind enough like Mr. and Mrs. Garner abuse their slaves and treat them badly. Slavery
also effect the family, people get part away because they want to be slaves and can’t live with
their family members.
Racism:

The black suffered a lot in slavery due to their racial discrimination. Sethe was a black woman
and due to her racial discrimination and slavery he murdered her son because he doesn’t want
her son to experience the things that she did. Toni Morrison describes how black women
suffered because of some racists. Morrison presents a new interpretation of American history
and their struggle to remake themselves in their worlds.

Motherhood:

Beloved novel is all about a mother and her children. It is about the relationship between Sethe
and the unnamed daughter she kills, as well as the strange re-birth of that daughter in the form
of Loved. When Sethe escapes sweet home in explainable way, it is only because of the strong
formal decision about something she has to reach her children, nurse her baby and deliver
Denver safely in almost same way, Halle works extra time in order to buy the freedom of his
own mother. She doesn’t want their child to be like her. So they don’t get what their mother get
the horrible life. Baby cry for looking for his own freedom. The strength of mother child forces
that join things together promises to pay money back are further illustrated by the close
relationship between Denver and Sethe upon which Paul D didn’t invite them. In some ways,
slavery simple does not allow for motherhood. But in this novel the strength of motherhood is
having a whole against horror of slavery. The practice of Slavery separates the children from
their motherhood. The good example includes the Saints faint memories of her own mother. It is
so likely for a slave woman to be separated for their own children. The slavery discourages and
separate them from forming strong emotional attachments to their children. In this novel this act
can be read into two ways. one the one side it represents the deep act of mother love. Sethe
killing her own daughter. Sethe saving her children from having to last through the bad times of
slavery. Believing that death is better but on the other side it can be explained as Sethe don’t
want to be a mother under slavery because slavery would not allow her to get attach with her
children so she should get rid of this motherhood.
Sexuality and power:

The sexual relations points to show the back and forth between people love of the partners in
the case of black slavery. It is related to the power and rules. when Sethe and Halle have their
first sex and they began the relation of husband and wife. By watching their love and seen them
sleeping together by Paul D but love does not like the relationship between the Paul d and
Sethe. She strongly flirts with Paul D which he cannot deny but unwanted repeated sex related
comments and bullying of the slave women by the white masters is a matter of strong criticism.
Sethe mother was used as a sex toy by many white men. Some women were forced to be used
both by father and son. Sethe was also used by the school teacher and his two nephews. The
white men have complete and total power over the slave women and have power of using them
in any way they want.