Beloved

BELOVED
by Toni Morrison

Award: Nobel Prize Winner 1987, Pulitzer Winner 1988

Nominations: National Book Finalist 1987, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 1987, NY Times Finalist 1987

Dates Read: May 7, 2004 & June 12, 2020

Beloved so clearly and painfully displays the lengths a mother would go to to keep her children safe. Sethe goes through unimaginable pain, distance and annihilation for her children, yet it's never quite enough. The most damaging obstacle she has to overcome is her own guilt.

Having escaped from slavery, Sethe is so determined to keep her children from experiencing what she experienced as a slave - powerlessness, a denial of personhood, bodily autonomy - that she chooses to kill her own children rather than relegate them to that fate. As a mother, I find her decision unthinkable yet totally understandable. Had I experienced the same things she had, I possibly would choose the same. At least in death, I would know my kids are safe rather than being compared to animals and treated as such.

Her plan works to some extent as the schoolteacher and slave catcher determine her too crazy to benefit anyone and they believe all her children are dead. The only one who actually died, though, is Beloved, her baby girl. Sethe carries this death on her heart, in her mind, even in her house, as the spirit of Beloved haunts every corner of their once safe haven. 

In the end, Beloved manifests as an actual human, in adult form yet with the whims and demands of a child. Regardless of the lengths Sethe goes to to appease Beloved and beg her forgiveness, their relationship is destined to bring them both to utter ruin. How can you apologize enough or make amends enough to overcome murder? It's impossible, yet Sethe just can't let go.

Loosely based on a true story, Morrison explores the unbreakable bond between mother and daughter, the unending legacy of slavery and the necessity of family to carry us through even the worst of times. She is truly a master.

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