Infanticide and Mother- Daughter Relationship in Toni Morison's Beloved
Infanticide and Mother- Daughter Relationship in Toni Morison’s Beloved * Dr. (Mrs) Monika Gupta Reader, Dept. of English H.N.B.Garhwal University, Srinagar (Garhwal) Uttarakhand, 246174-India e-mail- monikagupta94@rediffmail.com
Beloved (1987) is Morrison’s most sensitive novel till date. It deals with the forgotten era of slavery and the pathos of black slaves. The most striking element is the heart wrenching story of a black female slave, Sethe, who kills her own daughter to protect her from the horror of slavery. Morrison has always excelled in creating her female characters. Her novels show a deep sense of bonding between the female characters. In Beloved, the female bonding and the multiple layer of meaning in their relationship makes the story emotionally appealing and it is the story that, “…penetrates perhaps more deeply than any historical or psychological study could, the unconscious emotional and psychic consequences of slavery” (Schapiro 194). The story touches the social, psychological, philosophical and supernatural element of human life.
Sethe is the heroine of the story. She is a black slave who lost her mother at a very early age. She was brought to the Sweet Home Plantation as a slave where she marries Halle Suggs and bears four children from him. She suffers the most inhumane treatment at the plantation by the white masters. She is whipped mercilessly and milked like a cow. The whites, “…sucked her lactating breasts” (Peach 109). This incident traumatizes Sethe to an extent that she decides to run away from the plantation. She gathers all her courage and escapes to take refuge in the house of her mother-in-law at 124 Bluestone Road. She is soon traced and finding no hopes for freedom takes the most horrific step of killing her own daughter to show resistance towards slavery. She is imprisoned for seven years for her crime and later secluded by the community and declared an outcast. Her own family deserts her. Her two sons escape the
Beloved (1987) is Morrison’s most sensitive novel till date. It deals with the forgotten era of slavery and the pathos of black slaves. The most striking element is the heart wrenching story of a black female slave, Sethe, who kills her own daughter to protect her from the horror of slavery. Morrison has always excelled in creating her female characters. Her novels show a deep sense of bonding between the female characters. In Beloved, the female bonding and the multiple layer of meaning in their relationship makes the story emotionally appealing and it is the story that, “…penetrates perhaps more deeply than any historical or psychological study could, the unconscious emotional and psychic consequences of slavery” (Schapiro 194). The story touches the social, psychological, philosophical and supernatural element of human life.
Sethe is the heroine of the story. She is a black slave who lost her mother at a very early age. She was brought to the Sweet Home Plantation as a slave where she marries Halle Suggs and bears four children from him. She suffers the most inhumane treatment at the plantation by the white masters. She is whipped mercilessly and milked like a cow. The whites, “…sucked her lactating breasts” (Peach 109). This incident traumatizes Sethe to an extent that she decides to run away from the plantation. She gathers all her courage and escapes to take refuge in the house of her mother-in-law at 124 Bluestone Road. She is soon traced and finding no hopes for freedom takes the most horrific step of killing her own daughter to show resistance towards slavery. She is imprisoned for seven years for her crime and later secluded by the community and declared an outcast. Her own family deserts her. Her two sons escape the