Toni Morison’s Beloved is a narrative-cum-description of a family’s hardships and individual personal struggles during the mid-1800, a time when slavery was rampant in the United States of America. Beloved is the story of Sethe, a former slave, who has been living with her eighteen-year-old daughter Denver. Sethe’s mother-in-law, baby Suggs, lived with them until her death eight years earlier. Just before Baby Suggs’s death, Sethe’s two sons, Howard and Buglar, ran away. Sethe believes they fled because of the malevolent presence of an abusive ghost that has haunted their house at 124 Bluestone Road for years. Denver, however, likes the ghost, which everyone believes to be the spirit of her dead sister. Beloved's narrative moves quickly between past and present, frequently shifting forward and back in time and through the memories of characters. This narrative technique suggests the powerful continuity between the past and the present; although Sethe might like to forget her past, its influence constantly intrudes into the present. The power of this past is embodied in the ghost of Sethe's baby. The dead child will not leave the family alone, and it's absence/pres

ence is inscribed even into the number of the house: "124" draws attention to the missing "3," the third child, the dead daughter that now haunts their home.

At many points in the novel, Sethe undergoes a realization that Beloved may actually be the ghost of her mother. The reasons for this are the permanent smile that Beloved has on her mouth similar to the impairment that her mother’s face went through after wearing the iron bit and her peculiar manner of speaking. The ‘stream of consciousness’ in chapters 20-24 brings the past and present to life through the words of Sethe, Denver and Beloved. These lengthy narratives go into detail about feelings of possessiveness (‘Beloved, she my daughter. She mine’ pg200) and regret.

Thus, Toni Morrison effectively brings out the past through objects, song and dance, character naming, monologues, events, food and events and captures the true essence of the lives of the family at Sweet Home.

Song and dance played an important part in the lives of the slaves. They would sing songs as they were made to work for their masters thus showing that even during their bondage they were free. They would sing at certain predetermined locations so that escaping slaves would know where to ask for help along their escape route. These songs were often recollections of glorious events of the past, of forefathers, of prosperous lands and families. The songs in Beloved are very crucial to the plot of the novel. Beloved’s recollection of the song that Sethe used to sing to her children i

Some topics in this essay:
Home Trees, America Beloved, Road Denver, Baby Suggs, Paul D’s, Amy Denver, Toni Morrison, Sweet Home, Howard Buglar, Sethe Beloved, sweet home, brings past, america beloved, song dance, toni morrison, baby suggs, paul d’s, house 124, chokecherry tree,