Music for the black American has always been an encoded language, a means of unification and cultural preservation. The literature, like the music, depends on a communal understanding, and the creativity is held togeth

A jazz musician will construct his improvisation within such a context: the double bass, or “narrator” of the piece creates continuity, while the musician will improvise based on a set structure or pattern. He or she will first create tension through the repetition and hold of notation, releasing it through a change in the continuance of the rhythm and tone, often varying the state of release to create interest for the listener. Morrison furthers her own interpretation of this theory through the polyphonic structure of her work, rather than supporting the plot on a single authoritarian figure.

Music is a vehicle for expression; a cultural representation of that particular race or person. In the “clearing” music becomes an expression of individual being, of want and love that can only be attained through self-acceptance. Morrison writes, “the others opened their mouths and gave her the music. Long notes held until the four-part harmony was perfect enough for their deeply loved flesh.” (p. 91). The community resuscitates itself by again giving voice to the power of the life-affirming language that Baby Suggs had called out in the clearing. This reiterates the concept that music from the African-American tradition is an expression not of academic influence, but of the very desire for autonomy and acknowledgement.

Morrison writes, “In the beginning was the sound, and they all knew what that sound sounded like.” (p. 259). If we analyse this beautifully crafted structure, appears a reference of God’s creation of the Earth itself, as it appears in St. John, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God.” This further religious expression conveys the absolute omnipotence of sound, its medium as a restorer and creator of life. Such a preverbal language seems to emanate from the very language and style of the novel itself; further juxtaposing its lyrical and melodic technique to the style of a piece of jazz music. The repression of Sethe through the black community’s rejection, and then her final acceptance creates the concept of “tension and release” within the novel’s composition. By such “tension” the writer would produce an effective structural “build-up” to the novel’s eventual climatic finish. In “Beloved”, this is essential. The text’s structure encapsulates a gradual ascent, as slowly the reader recognises the events that have occurred throughout Sethe’s life. At the climax, Sethe is “released” from such events through the power of music, while such “tension” is created through her escape from Sweet Home. Morrison’s text centres the scattered characteristics of memory along with its imaginative capacity to construct and reconstruct the significance of the past. Judith Thurman writes, “”Beloved” meanders through time, sometimes circling back, other times moving vertically, spirally out of time and down into space.”

Music is seen as a method of repressing such trepidation, and the only physical action that can be expressed thoroughly. Paul D and the chain gang, “Sang it out and beat it up, garbling the words so they could not be understood; tricking the words so their syllables yielded up other meanings.” (p. 108). Music, therefore, is a symbolic reference to, paradoxically, both freedom and repression. The men sing to express their desires and hopes of life, “the women they knew,” and yet are also repressed by such rhythmic methodical representation. Upon Paul D’s arrival at 124, the household tasks he performs are accompanied by the singing of “flat headed nails for pounding and pounding” (p. 40). Paul D’s yearning desire for freedom is expressed through the repression caused through his experiences with the chain gang, the “red heart” that he lacks must be replaced with rhythmic constancy of song to ensure his continuation. The word “pounding” further expresses the rhythmic structure by provi

Some topics in this essay:
Beloved Sethe, Toni Morrison, David Lawrence, Toni Morrison’s, Africa America, St John, Deborah Horvitz, Judith Thurman, Stanley Crouch, Sethe Denver, oral tradition, sethe’s own, streams consciousness, black community, own mother, beloved sethe, toni morrison’s, chain gang, individual perspectives, toni morrison, judith thurman writes, morrison’s literary style,