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Cruelty In Toni Morrison's Beloved

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During the time of the trans-atlantic slave trade, millions of African slaves were taken and shipped to the New World where they were forced to perform grueling, dehumanizing labor. Today, people all over the world have still not forgotten about those horrid times and recognize the struggles that these slaves had to face. One woman in particular, African American author Toni Morrison, addresses the issues pertaining to these African Americans during their time in slavery and, more importantly, how they managed to live their lives after being freed in her novel Beloved, which was written in honor of the “Sixty Million and more.” The major problem for the characters in Morrison’s Beloved is that the cruelty inflicted by, as well as on, those …show more content…
He is Sethe’s only chance at starting a new life away from the past, and in fact, he is the one who proposes this idea when he asks, “I want you pregnant, Sethe. Would you do that for me?” (128). However, after being so close to moving on from the past, he leaves her after hearing her response, saying, “You got two feet, Sethe, not four” (165), reminding her once again of her past, a time when her owners compared her with animals. This action subsequently causes Paul D to take refuge at the church where he anguishes over the past and goes into lapses of rememory. Similarly, Sethe soon gets fired from her job, and “instead of looking for another job, Sethe played all the harder with Beloved, who never got enough of anything” (240). Sethe begins to put all her efforts towards making up for lost time with Beloved, who inhibits her from thinking of anything but the past and present. Not only does Paul D’s cruel actions cause both parties to forget about a new and brighter future, but it also causes them to regress even further into the

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