The novel "Beloved" is set in the Ohio metropolis of Cincinnati and starts in the year 1873. Denver, Sethe's 18-year-old daughter, and Sethe, a former slave, have been living together in the book. Baby Suggs, Sethe's mother-in-law, had resided with the couple until her death. (McCluskey et al. 55). Importantly, before Baby Suggs died, Sethe's two boys, Howard and Burglar, escaped from their house. Sethe believes that their exodus was prompted by a ghost who was after their house. Sethe's daughter, Denver, is found of the ghost as she associates the ghost with the spirit of her dead sister. The novel starts with Paul D appearing in Seth’s house, an individual who had been separated from Seth for a relatively long time, which is traced back to when they used to work together in a plantation belonging to Mr. Garner, which is approximately twenty years. Paul D's presence brings up earlier memories that Sethe had buried in her mind for ten years. From that point, the novel, Beloved unfolds from two temporary points. The first plane comprises of Cincinnati where a series of events took place in the area bout twenty years earlier while the second plane constitutes of fragmented flashbacks of the major characters in the play (McCluskey et al. 56). A reader reads the flashbacks several times from different perspectives with every information adding more information regarding the previous one. Indeed, this paper focuses on the novel, Beloved bringing an understanding of the civil rights movements and the decades of anti-slavery as well.
The fragmented stories in the novel bring out the main character in the novel, Sethe, who was a protagonist born by an African woman that she never came to know. At the age of 13, Sethe is sold to the Garners, people practicing a benevolent type of slavery (McCluskey et al. 54). While in slavery, other slaves that include Sixo, Paul D, Paul A, Paul F and Halle lust at her since the rest of them are men but never touch her. Sethe falls in love with Halle and decides to marry him since he appeared to be a generous man too but the freedom of his mother by offering himself to work in the plantation during the weekends. The couple, Sethe and Halle bares two sons Howard and Buglar and a daughter. Sethe is pregnant once she lives the plantation following Mr. Garner’s death and after Mrs. Garner requests her brother-in-law who is a racist and a sadistic to help her in managing the daily operations of the firm (Morrison 32). Most slaves know Mrs. Garner's brother-in-law as a schoolteacher and since he is oppressive, he makes life difficult and unbearable for the people working on the plantation. As a result, the slaves opt to run.
The schoolteacher with the help of the nephews captures Paul D and Sixo as they try to escape after they realize of the planned escape of the slaves. The schoolteacher kills Sixo and brings Paul D into the plantation where Paul D gets a chance to seed and interact with Sethe thinking that that would be last time he would set his eyes on her (McCluskey et al. 56). Sethe wants to escape from the plantation since she sent her children to go and live with her mother-in-law. The nephew of the schoolteacher seizes Sethe and places her in a barn where he violates her and stole the milk that was meant to be for Sethe's infant baby. Halle watched the event from above, an event that makes him mad since Paul D sees Halle sitting with grease slathered on his face. On the contrary, Paul D suffers the humiliation of being prevented from talking by placing an iron in his mouth.
Sethe reports her violation incident to Mrs. Garner, and after the schoolteacher realizes that Sethe has reported his nephew, he makes the masters whip Sethe regardless of the fact that she is pregnant (Morrison 34). Sethe runs away from the plantation, but she collapses in the forest. A girl by the name Army Denver helps Sethe get back to her health while, at the same time, she helps Sethe to deliver. Seethe named her daughter Denver as a sign of gratitude to the young girl that aided her. Further, Sethe obtains additional help from Stamp Paid who aids her in crossing the Ohio River. Sethe heads to her mother-in-law's house where Baby Suggs offers to wash Seth before she come into contact with her other children in the house (McCluskey et al. 58). Sethe takes about twenty-eight days in Cincinnati where Baby Suggs takes the role of a preacher to the minority black society. On the last day, the schoolteacher comes to pick Sethe and her children so as to take them back into the plantation. Sethe saw that she could not take her children back to the life of slavery. Therefore, she decides to flee with them to a woodshed where she tries to kill them (Morrison 36). Seth kills her first daughter using a handsaw after using it to cut the daughter’s throat. After the daughter’s death, Sethe orders the headstone of her baby to be cut and written the words "Beloved." As a result of the murder case, Sethe and Denver end up in jail but are later released before serving their fully term due to influence from a group that was headed by Bodwins which fought for their release. After Sethe's release, she returns to her home where she finds her child Baby Suggs suffering from depression (McCluskey et al. 59). The society later isolates the house that Sethe has flown into living the family in isolation.
For a long period, Paul D endured torture in a chain gang in the town of Georgia, where he went to stay with trying to kill a slave-owner in the plantation where they worked with Sethe (Morrison 39). The traumatic experiences that Paul D suffered while in Georgia results in repression of all his memories as well as interfering with his ability to love. However, Paul D escapes together with the other gang members due to a rainstorm that engulfs the entire city. Paul D travels towards the north following spring flowers that blossomed, and after several years, he lands on Sethe's porch. The arrival of Paul D at Sethe's house is a starting point for the series of events that take place presently. Before Paul D moves out of the house, he sends away the ghost that haunted Sethe's house. However, Denver hates Paul D since she believed that the ghost was her dead sister living with them in spirit form. Sethe and Paul D anticipate for a promising future until their encounter with the old woman lying at their door step as they walked back home. Some of the characters in the play believe that the woman was called Beloved and that she was a living spirit of Sethe's dead daughter. The book provides adequate evidence supporting this fact. In addition to that, Denver develops an attachment to the old woman while, at the same time, Sethe develop an attachment with Beloved (McCluskey et al. 64). However, Paul D and Beloved dislike each other since Beloved moves Paul D all over the house while seducing him, which is against his will.
Paul D learns that Sethe killed her daughter and left Sethe's house and goes to sleep in a local church's basement (McCluskey et al. 66). Sethe and Beloved develop a relationship that is a more intense while, at the same time, Beloved becomes abusive, manipulative and parasitic as well. On the contrary, Sethe has the obsession to satisfy Beloved demands since she thinks that Beloved is her daughter (Morrison 34). Sethe tries to make Beloved understand the reasons as to why she killed her. Denver wants to help her mother and leaves out of the house to ask for help from her former teacher Lady Jones. The community decides to help Sethe and her family and give them food while they also get her a new job. Further, Beloved disappears and never returns to the hometown ever.
Importantly, this novel brings out the theme of anti-slavery and the civil rights movement. In the novel, slaves escape the place due to the torturous experiences that they have in the plantation. In addition to that, Sethe goes to the extent of killing her children after the slave master claim that they want to bring her to work on the plantation (Morrison 45). The slaves in the novel go through too much trouble. Besides that, Sethe is abused and goes through violations while working on the plantation, an event that makes her husband go mad. Sethe reports her violation incident to Mrs. Garner, and after the schoolteacher realizes that Sethe has reported his nephew, he makes the masters whip Sethe regardless of the fact that she is pregnant (Morrison 47). Some slaves as they try to escape faced death. The schoolteacher with the help of the nephews captures Paul D and Sixo as they try to escape after they realize of the planned escape of the slaves. The schoolteacher kills Sixo and brings Paul D back into the plantation where Paul D gets a chance to interact with Sethe thinking that that would be last time he would set his eyes on her. The black people were exposed to racism and acts of slavery leading to the formation of the civil rights movements (McCluskey et al. 73). The black community anticipated for a better and a promising future as days go by in the novel. Therefore, the novel informs a reader about the life of slaves that led to the beginning of anti-slavery movements.
Works Cited
McCluskey, John, Carl Westmoreland, Charity Nebbe, and Keith Taylor. Beloved by Toni Morrison. Chicago, Ill.: American Library Association, 2001. Sound recording.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel. London: Picador in association with Chatto & Windus, 1987.
