This essay is on Toni Morrison's "Beloved" It is an essay on the literary devices used in the novel.
Toni Morrison's unique and distinctive style helps control how the reader will respond to the characters and events within the novel. Morrison uses several different devices to control how the reader reacts to everything that is happening. Some examples of these devices are syntax (as tied with the stream of consciousness method of narration), point of view, and the use of flashback technique.
The first device that Morrison uses within the novel is syntax with stream of consciousness narration. In the second part of the book, one of the chapters contains no punctuation. This method of writing is better known as stream of consciousness. In this chapter Sethe is the narrator and the reader is reading her thoughts. Personally, I found this method very effective because I could follow Sethe's thought patterns and understand what she was thinking. Another example of effective syntax is in the third part of the book, the last chapter, "This (It) is (was) not a story to pass on." (pg 274-5) This particular quote was separated into its own paragraph which brought out the importance of this statement. It showed how Morrison wanted to stress that the people who came into contact with Beloved could not remember her, and even the people who loved her eventually forgot her too. "They forgot her like a bad dream... those that saw her on the porch deliberately forgot her... It took longer for those who had ... fallen in love with her... in the end, they forgot her too." (pg 274) Morrison effectively shows the reader with that single sentence in its own paragraph that Beloved seemed almost like a bad dream, and nobody could or wanted to remember anything about her.
The next device used within the novel is point of view. Morrison effectively changes the narrator in certain chapters to help control how the reader feels and responds. In the first part of the book the narrator basically seems to be someone not involved in the story. This is effective there because it helps the
The first device that Morrison uses within the novel is syntax with stream of consciousness narration. In the second part of the book, one of the chapters contains no punctuation. This method of writing is better known as stream of consciousness. In this chapter Sethe is the narrator and the reader is reading her thoughts. Personally, I found this method very effective because I could follow Sethe's thought patterns and understand what she was thinking. Another example of effective syntax is in the third part of the book, the last chapter, "This (It) is (was) not a story to pass on." (pg 274-5) This particular quote was separated into its own paragraph which brought out the importance of this statement. It showed how Morrison wanted to stress that the people who came into contact with Beloved could not remember her, and even the people who loved her eventually forgot her too. "They forgot her like a bad dream... those that saw her on the porch deliberately forgot her... It took longer for those who had ... fallen in love with her... in the end, they forgot her too." (pg 274) Morrison effectively shows the reader with that single sentence in its own paragraph that Beloved seemed almost like a bad dream, and nobody could or wanted to remember anything about her.
The next device used within the novel is point of view. Morrison effectively changes the narrator in certain chapters to help control how the reader feels and responds. In the first part of the book the narrator basically seems to be someone not involved in the story. This is effective there because it helps the