Essay

If you asked one person or even a group of individuals who have ever had the chance to read a novel by tori morrison , many would agree that her writing is one of a kind. While her writing is beautiful she focuses on the topic of colored individuals and bring a first person perspective as to what it is like to go through the struggles they may face day to day. In particular the novel beloved by toni morrison. This novel begins by the introduction of a former african enslaved mother, sethe, where she tells the story of how her life was changed by her past when she was enslaved. While her life had been shaped by her past being enslaved a young women who would also be introduced in the novel by the name of beloved would also lead to big changes in shaping her life and family moving forward. Though the writing Itself and story telling of a book is crucial to a Good book, without having a balance of the two you lose the advantage of keeping your readers interest through language that is needed to create imagery and meaning behind it all. 

The story takes the writing and organizes it through themes and character relationships, making it easier for the reader to make sense of the writing and begin to connect the dots. When Sethe’s daughter Denver is wandering through her house she spots her mother, “What was unusual (even for a girl who had lived all her life in a house peopled by the living activity of the dead) was that a white dress knelt down next to her mother and had its sleeve around her mother’s waist. And it was the tender embrace of the dress sleeve that made Denver remember the details of her birth” (34). In this passage it represents the mother-daughter relationship Denver and Sethe share. When Denver goes to pray with Sethe the white dress holding Sethe close is Beloved, Sethe’s dead baby coming back to 124. The relationship these three women come to have stays consistent throughout the book. The alteration these three go through in the book stamp changes they are going through in their journey, the common thread throughout the novel is their bond and it’s this connection that strings the story together, and all the other characters are written in around the origin to these main characters.This exemplifies a perfectly written passage and had it not been written this way Most of the points and connections made would be aimless because of the indirect meaning of it all.  

      Beloved contains a number of themes that as you read on into you can piece together and ultimately stay drawn to the book, while this creates a better story if these themes were written any differently the story would lack the audiences attention and so When done correctly, themes can act like hidden Easter eggs for the reader to hunt for.. After Sethe escapes from Sweet Home, she lives at 124 Bluestone Road in Ohio, on the outskirts of a tight-knit community where secrets can never stay hidden. Sethe’s perception of the community around her shifts from a tool to use for help to that of fear and avoidance. For example, “Seth understood it then, but now with a paying job and an employer who was kind enough to hire an ex-convict, she despised herself for the pride that made pilfering better than standing in line at the window of the general store with all the other Negroes. She didn’t want to jostle them or be jostled by them. Feel their judgment or their pity, especially now.” (225). After Sethe has been living in Ohio and created her reputation for killing her children Sethe is aware of how closely her community watches her movements. Sethe doesn’t want anyone to view her as a reason for pity, so Sethe holds herself above her peers, going as far as to physically distance from them so she won’t become an object to tear apart from a single glance.          

      The setting of a novel allowed  the reader to visualize the writing into their own lives. Beloved specifically could not be created properly without the extensive background information given. Sethe was subjected to terrible mistreatment at the Sweet Home plantation, but even still she constantly flashes back to her more positive memories at Sweet Home, “Suddenly there was sweet home rolling, rolling, rolling out before her eyes, and although there was not a leaf on that farm that did not make her want to scream, it rolled itself out before her in shameless beauty. It never looked as terrible as it was and it made her wonder if hell was a pretty place too. Fire and brimstone all right, but hidden in lacy groves.” (7) This thought process symbolizes the internal battle within Sethe, constantly stuck between escaping the “hell” Sethe endured while, as Sweet Home served as a foundation for who Sethe would become in her life as a free person raising her children. Sweet Home chronicles Sethe’s history and consequently was the cause of her emotional downturn to killing her baby. Without the knowledge of Sweet Home given to the reader Sethe’s journey would’ve come across as a one-time event rather than a culmination of her past catching up to her present with Beloved stuck in the crossfire. 

The story serves a good perspective to the reader but the writing ultimately delivering the words. Both beautiful writing and a captivating story are a requirement for a successful novel and Toni Morrison was able to accomplish both in the novel beloved.