Beloved by Toni Morrison Introduction to the novel

America and the Scars of Slavery Though Morrison’s work has focused on black experience, and particularly on the experience of Black women, she long avoided subject of slavery Considered taboo within her own family and culture. Too big, too traumatic, too embittering, too hard to face. Morrison has said that America too has willfully repressed the memory and shame of slavery, leaving the millions of slavery’s victims “disremembered and unaccounted for.” But the “ghosts of the dead,” as she refers to the millions lost to slavery, “haunted” her.

Morrison’s purpose Beloved her masterpiece. Chosen in 2000 as the most important novel of the 20th century in America. Importance in terms of themes, stylistic innovations and national identity. Haunted by ghosts of slavery’s past. Beloved appears to Morrison “out of the water” (read excerpt from Forward) “Trying to make the slave experience Intimate”

Morrison’s purpose “There are no monuments to slavery.” We have chosen to turn away and forget, once again denying the humanity, dignity and identity of the enslaved. Literature must be their monument and collective memory Loving our country fully means coming to terms with all of its past and heritage. To honor and remember the victims of slavery grants them their humanity and enriches our country. Morrison creates a kind of collective memory/consciousness of slavery and the slave experience.

Ways to Read the Novel As a ghost story; a story about the haunting legacy of slavery on America As a slave narrative—the brutalities and inhumanities of slavery from the intimate perspective of the enslaved As a novel about motherhood and the intensity and complexity of maternal love and relationships As a novel about love and relationships As a novel about memory and history As a novel about dealing with a traumatic past and trying to build a better future: Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome on both personal and national level.

Techniques to Consider Nonlinear structure: Interweaving of past and present in ways that go far beyond conventional use of flashbacks in literature. Biblical allusions and religious overtones Gothic novel re-imagined; ghosts and the supernatural (magical realism) Symbols & motifs Multiple, shifting narrative voices & points of view Strange sort of collective consciousness or memory

Symbols and Motifs The color Red The Chokecherry Tree The Tin Tobacco Box The Supernatural Schoolteacher’s Hat Water The Bible Language Naming

Themes Terror precludes renewal Time is cyclical instead of linear Slavery’s destruction of identity The importance of community solidarity Home Love Motherhood Memories and the Past

Structure of the Novel Toni Morrison has written an episodic novel that unfolds as a series of revelations to the reader. As a result, it can sometimes be frustrating to try to follow the story line. Take notes in columns organized by the name of the character. This method helps keep characters straight and understand the order of events. The amount of detail you record may vary, but you must use this method through the entire novel. You will find that the events are not revealed in chronological order, so you will be constantly revising your work. For that reason it is best that you do this on the computer. This will be turned in for a grade at the conclusion of the novel.