The Violence in Beloved
Beloved is filled with violence, but it’s relevant in making the story what it is. In order to make and emphasize her point and affect the reader, Morrison laces her main character’s timeline with violence, vulgarity, and sadness. It’s probably one of the most affective instruments the author uses in my opinion. She manipulates the readers feelings and expectations by insinuating flashbacks within her story without warning, all the while providing the reader the necessary information on how her main character, Sethe, had gotten to where she is in present day.
Violence plays a huge role in the storyline and the emotional aspect that’s portrayed to the reader. When the speaker describes the tree embedded into Sethe’s back, and how she got it, the description allows the reader to really understand how badly she and the others were treated and be made aware of the circumstances that she had to live in. As the author describes the gruesome injustice done to Sethe by the inhumane man that had brutally beaten her to the point of her back being torn, it makes the reader feel sorry for Sethe. The symbolism behind the tree truly is literary genius. The author was able to take a traumatic event, a horrific one at that, and manage to symbolize it as something as peaceful and simple as a tree. By the author providing violence within her storyline, the violence proves to be more affective in terms of moving the audience. When Sethe prostitutes herself in order to get seven letters engraved on her baby’s headstone, I believed it was a labor of love, a sacrifice in order to lay her baby to rest properly. As I read on, the flashbacks presented told me a different story. I still believe that she wanted to lay her baby to rest properly, but I’m unsure of the reasoning. Was it out of love, or was it really out of pure guilt? Sethe had killed Beloved, and when reading this, I felt outraged at the fact that a mother would do that to her child. The violence described disgusted me due to the fact that the very woman that gave life to this child was the one to take it away from her as well. It frustrates the reader to read something like that because at the beginning of the story, you tend admire Sethe. I admired her for being a strong woman, for getting through what she did, for surviving the way she did, and for sacrificing whatever necessary for the sake of her children. Although, I lacked in understanding that her taking her child’s life was also a motherly sacrifice. Sethe did what she did in order for her daughter to have a better life, and when she realized she couldn’t, she figured her child would be better off dead. Sethe understood what would happen if the men from Sweet Home took her child, and she responded with immediate action. Although the violence portrayed is found audacious, it’s essential to the author’s point. I think the author wanted to exhibit a mother’s love and a mother’s sacrifice and how deeply that love was rooted, and how far a mother is willing to sacrifice for her children. Then there’s Paul D. The author doesn’t hold back when she describes the inhumane cruelty given to all the men at Sweet Home. The words exchanged between the slaves and the slave owners really hit home just because in this day and age, slavery is illegal. Most parents teach their kids to respect others, regardless of the color of their skin. So reading something that you don’t usually see or experience firsthand, it doesn’t allow you to comprehend the extent of the cruelty, but on the outside looking in, something inside you tells you it’s not right. The author appeals and attracts that something with the violence she puts in this story, and it entices the reader because it’s out of the ordinary, authors limit their use of violence but Morrison doesn’t hold back, which is why the reader learns to respect this book, the experiences of each person, and their personal struggle, is humbling. All in all, the author’s ability to intertwine violence within her story, allows the reader to witness love, hate and sacrifice all because of the violence provided. It’s interesting to read because it’s unexpected but that’s exactly what I feel the story does. Morrison uses violence and grotesque descriptions to emphasize her story, and stress the injustice that was done to African American’s in this particular era.