Morrison'sfeminism

it is aconmonphce of literary criticis1m to state that Morrison's

novels have advocated feminis1. Feninism signifies women's
assertion of their rights and their resistance to the domination of
nen SinceMorrison is an African American novelist, in her novels
readers come across feminism in the context of black community.
Sethe represents the feminine charms, endurance and resistance
of the black vomen. So far as the novel entitled Beloved is
concerned, its protagonist, afemale Negro slave, showed courage
enough to get out of the clutch of brutal white men like
Schoolteacher and succeeded in escaping fromn them in spite of
her inhunan suffering. Sethe revealed a typical feministic feature
in refusing to be treated like animals and commodities by a white
man, Schoolteacher, and asserted her human rights by resisting
him. Sethe remembered Schoolteacher's instruction given to his
pupils in the following lines:"That's not the way. Itold you to
her human characteristics on the left, her animal ones on the right.
And don't forget to line them up."After overhearing
Schoolteacher's words, she decided to get away from Sweet Home
at any cost, sothat her children had not to live the life of animals.
The novelist has portrayed Sethe as a courageous active woman,
whereas Halle is shown to be her helpless husband who simply
watched his wife being tortured by the white master, but failed
to protect her. In her interview with Rosemarie K. Lester,
Morrison has expressed her views on extremely painful history
mother
Orblack Women in America where a woman is both the
at home and the worker in the field. Morrison's interest in the
celebration of black women's strength, their values and beliefs
Stems from her desire to correct the wrongs done to black women.
85
 Beloved: A Mior of Slave Se0iety
She has evealed her intentionto celcbrte
women like Baby SugÊs and Sethe Ifit wasthe leyeoke
female slave to live with her fannily witlh posible for a
in the America of 1850s, imo infanticide dignity and blae
\sell respet
committed by Mangaret Garner rwho fiyures as would Iave been
In the novel,the scars of racial andi Sethe in the
sexual novcl
visible on the soul offcharacters
c oppression
than on their bodies. are more
raised the issue of slaveryfrom the feministic
pointed out that slavery distorts wonen's lives.
Morrison has
point of vic, ha,
She
wOmen from performing the sacred role of a Slavery prevent
choose between motherhood and her mother. Sethe had to
had to sacrifce one to have emancipation from slavery She
another. Degrading the sacredness of
motherhood, slavery brings wonen down from their pedestak. Sethe
killed her daughter because she
death. Slavery forced black womenthought slavery to be worse than
to give birth to children only for
the purpose of strengthening the
Their suffering grew further whenlabour force to serve white men
they were separated from their
children.Those children were either sold or forced
Afeninist appreciates the qual. ies to work as slaves.
for the recogniion of such power n and power of women and ights
feninist, Morrison has highlighte male-dominated society. Like a
in the novel the strength and
determination of Sethe. Sethe survived sexual abuse, lashing, thirst,
hunger, and childbirth and in spite of her
give up her effort to escape from her suffering, she did not
Sethe was strong enough to crawl white master, Schoolteacher.
could give birth to Denver in a canoe. through woods,so that she
tribute to Sethe's determination. SetheHere Morrison has paid
own world with her two attempted to make her
She wanted to establish anewdaughters namely Beloved and Denver.
unspeakable thoughts. She tried vocabulary where they could speak
inherited values in order to establishtotheir
pass on her children her
She made effort to give her specific black identity.
reassert her matriarchal power children a feeling of security and
by controlling their lives by
In the novel, herselt.
naming provides an
independent identity outside the shackles opportunity to clain
of slavery. Seth was the
 Moison's feminsm 87
only child who was given the name ofback man by her mother,
sshe was conceived through ove instead of rape, whereas all
otherhildren were tuown away by Sethe's mother. Apart
Sethe. the novelist has thrown light on the power of women
hlth other temale characters too. Denver was more
manpulativethan her mother.When Setlhe was losing her
and tality under the spell of Beloved, the ghost, Denver power
out of tlh housc to procure
procure food and rescue her stepped
mother by
9ctin:other nembers ofher comunity. Instead of her two
sons. it was Sethe's daughter who rescued her. Even
more
Jetemined than Denver was Beloved, who drove out two strong
brothers, and Paul D, Sethe's companion at Sweet
powerfal woman presented in the novel is BabyHome.Another
Suggs, Sethe's
mother-in-law, whose love sheltered an entire black neighborhood.
Sitting on the rock, she played the role of preacher and she
heard attentively and respectfuly by others. In the end of was
the
novel, readers come across a group of
womnen who approached
Sethe's house to drive out the evil spirit from the house
novelist has emphasized the power of wvomen in the 124.The
line:"The singing women recognized Sethe at once andfollowing
themselves by their absence of fear when they saw what surprised
next to her" stood
Morrison has expressed the emnergence ofthe modem African
American woman. She seems to have a feminist agenda in
with the era of slavery when the lives of dealing
black women were
interrupted and patriarchy subjugated them. In her novels, the
female clharacters figure as principal actors in the
They have taken up the important role of being liberation process.
her mouthpieces.
In Beloved, The novelist presents the issue of gender
the double oppression faced by black identity and
woinen because they are
notonly women, but they are also black. In the novel,
the female
characters recreated their past through dialogue.The novelist has
used the process of re-memory and discursive
In the novel to challenge the narrative technique
conventional coherent narrative
adopted by men. So from the viewpoint of style, Morrison's
 Beloved: A Mirror of Slave Society
feministic approach becomes evident. In the
light of the
of the novel made above, it is not an
though Morrison handles the issue exaggeration
analysis
to state that
of slavery of Africans in
America as a whole, she has focused her attention
struggle of enslaved women in Beloved, mainly on the
defense of feminism. displaying thereby her