Identity In Toni Morrison's Beloved
Toni Morrison realizes the need for our society to forget about slavery. Why, then, did she write something as graphic as Beloved concerning that very subject? Neither the characters in Beloved, society in general, nor Morrison herself wants to remember that awful time. Beloved forces that upon people. The very people they were trying to forget were given a voice through the text. Rather than observed, the enslaved were the protagonists, shown through a mother-daughter bond in a way that is extremely raw and indicative of the bonds needed to overcome. Beloved portrays the struggle for former slaves to adjust to being as everyone else was. The main question is whether Beloved’s identity is the main catalyst for the shaping of the subjectivity
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of all the main characters in the novel. Through primal scenes of slave ships, the sheer complexity of her identity and the characters desire for subjectivity, Kirwan examines the partisanship that is developed among the former slaves in Beloved. A key part of examining this subjectivity lies in its source in the novel, the ‘primal scene,’ that is, to unearth the true identity of Beloved herself. More specifically, the events that shaped Beloved’s psyche and manifested themselves through her outbursts. The eight-page account of her experiences on the slave ship was the most indicative. Kirwan makes the point that the ambiguity of the connection between these accounts and the surrounding circumstances is analogous to the confusion of the slaves during the Middle Passage. She goes on to say that the reader is guided through Morrison’s writing by this comparison, through various phrases such as ‘I am always crouching.’ Beloved is the embodiment of these flashbacks, therefore the subjectivity of those who endured that pain.
Kirwan asserts that these thoughts cultivated into her primal scene, pointing out the instance when Beloved was hallucinating after she saw daylight through some cracks and she was pointing at invisible people. As she presents more and more examples of Beloved referencing her primal scene, Kirwan points out their intensity as the novel progresses. Near the end of the novel, the intensity is so much that it seems she is completely immersed in her primal scene, setting the tone for a true parallel for readers to think about. Beloved is now a complete manifestation of her African mother whom she witnessed being murdered aboard the slave ship. The climax of this sensation occurs when she realizes that her mother willfully succumbed to dying aboard the ship, leaving Beloved feeling abandoned and betrayed. Kirwan attributes the way she treats Sethe to her considering Sethe as her mother. The conglomeration of all these events ultimately causes her to vanish (not as much of Sethe’s doing as we are lead to believe). It was Beloved’s total loss of control in terms of her memories that allowed her to rid herself of this
scene. Due to the extreme complexity of Beloved’s character, there are many different opinions as to what her true identity is. She is read differently not only by the other characters in the story, but by the many readers of the story as well. She goes on to dispute several differing opinions of what Beloved’s true identity is. The most prominent of these claims is one where Beloved is believed to be a combination of both the unborn child and a reincarnation of Sethe’s mother. The unborn child theory is proven to be inconsistent and unfounded. There are, however, many instances where Sethe’s mother comes out of Beloved, particularly in her “song and dance,” “uncontrollable smile,” and her habit of slamming things (as a sign of motherly strength and vigor) exhibited throughout various points in the novel. This represents a role reversal of sorts, which stimulates the reversals of the other women. The mutual misrecognition of alternate identities serves as a stimulus for the entire novel. What they characters saw in each other were simply images of themselves that they put up for the others to see. This, in essence, is evidence that the characters were searching for the subjectivity that they had lacked during the times of slavery, the catalyst of this event being the true identity of Beloved and the primal scene that sparked the figurative search for subjectivity.
I feel that Kirwan makes many interesting and thought provoking points in this piece. It is readily apparent that Beloved’s flashbacks and outbursts stem from the imagery of the Middle Passage. The pursuit of subjectivity definitely seems to flow through Beloved, percolating to everyone else around her, especially Sethe. Kirwan also valiantly refuted many of the other opinions regarding the true identity of Beloved, a notion which is paramount in determining what her primal scene is like and whether or not if affected subjectivity in the novel as a whole.
of all the main characters in the novel. Through primal scenes of slave ships, the sheer complexity of her identity and the characters desire for subjectivity, Kirwan examines the partisanship that is developed among the former slaves in Beloved. A key part of examining this subjectivity lies in its source in the novel, the ‘primal scene,’ that is, to unearth the true identity of Beloved herself. More specifically, the events that shaped Beloved’s psyche and manifested themselves through her outbursts. The eight-page account of her experiences on the slave ship was the most indicative. Kirwan makes the point that the ambiguity of the connection between these accounts and the surrounding circumstances is analogous to the confusion of the slaves during the Middle Passage. She goes on to say that the reader is guided through Morrison’s writing by this comparison, through various phrases such as ‘I am always crouching.’ Beloved is the embodiment of these flashbacks, therefore the subjectivity of those who endured that pain.
Kirwan asserts that these thoughts cultivated into her primal scene, pointing out the instance when Beloved was hallucinating after she saw daylight through some cracks and she was pointing at invisible people. As she presents more and more examples of Beloved referencing her primal scene, Kirwan points out their intensity as the novel progresses. Near the end of the novel, the intensity is so much that it seems she is completely immersed in her primal scene, setting the tone for a true parallel for readers to think about. Beloved is now a complete manifestation of her African mother whom she witnessed being murdered aboard the slave ship. The climax of this sensation occurs when she realizes that her mother willfully succumbed to dying aboard the ship, leaving Beloved feeling abandoned and betrayed. Kirwan attributes the way she treats Sethe to her considering Sethe as her mother. The conglomeration of all these events ultimately causes her to vanish (not as much of Sethe’s doing as we are lead to believe). It was Beloved’s total loss of control in terms of her memories that allowed her to rid herself of this
scene. Due to the extreme complexity of Beloved’s character, there are many different opinions as to what her true identity is. She is read differently not only by the other characters in the story, but by the many readers of the story as well. She goes on to dispute several differing opinions of what Beloved’s true identity is. The most prominent of these claims is one where Beloved is believed to be a combination of both the unborn child and a reincarnation of Sethe’s mother. The unborn child theory is proven to be inconsistent and unfounded. There are, however, many instances where Sethe’s mother comes out of Beloved, particularly in her “song and dance,” “uncontrollable smile,” and her habit of slamming things (as a sign of motherly strength and vigor) exhibited throughout various points in the novel. This represents a role reversal of sorts, which stimulates the reversals of the other women. The mutual misrecognition of alternate identities serves as a stimulus for the entire novel. What they characters saw in each other were simply images of themselves that they put up for the others to see. This, in essence, is evidence that the characters were searching for the subjectivity that they had lacked during the times of slavery, the catalyst of this event being the true identity of Beloved and the primal scene that sparked the figurative search for subjectivity.
I feel that Kirwan makes many interesting and thought provoking points in this piece. It is readily apparent that Beloved’s flashbacks and outbursts stem from the imagery of the Middle Passage. The pursuit of subjectivity definitely seems to flow through Beloved, percolating to everyone else around her, especially Sethe. Kirwan also valiantly refuted many of the other opinions regarding the true identity of Beloved, a notion which is paramount in determining what her primal scene is like and whether or not if affected subjectivity in the novel as a whole.