Toni Morrison's Beloved

Refusing to conform to the other styles of writing that which compare to the styles of White writers and the Western tradition, Toni Morrison, an African American author of the twentieth century, narrates through her poetic and brutally honest scripture the story of a Black woman who must live with her memories of slavery. "From her vantage at the intersection of race and gender, Toni Morrison represents an exemption from 'phallocratic law'; her own language and her theory of language, as she has demonstrated in her five novels...reflect a consciousness that she writes both from and about a zone that is 'outside' of literary convention, that disrupts traditional Western ideological confines and modifies patriarchal inscriptions" (Rigney 1). Morrison, according to other critics, is seen as an African American feminist writer, through her feminine voice, "desire", and emotion, while she identifies with her race simultaneously. Her acknowledgment of humanistic experience and thought in Beloved in particular, demonstrates her ability as an author to deviate from the literary norm and work beyond borders.

Morrison significantly contributes to African American literature in that her idiosyncratic style is poetic, nostalgic, and realistic; throughout the novel her voice is soft and delicate, in that she touches on the painful historical element in a way her reader's feel the brutality of the protagonist and other central characters. The protagonist Sethe experiences a revelation when her deceased baby's ghost comes back to torture and remind her mother of the horrors of slavery and the decisions made throughout its hardships: Sethe, having murdered Beloved in order to protect her child from the bonds of slavery, must now live with the ghost that haunts her household. Morrison uses her characters strategically in that they all represent some aspect of the African American individual as well as the community; Sethe represents the strength and vigor one must possess in order to survive the harshness of slavery, that which Beloved represents, as well as Halle, Sethe's husband who goes mad from witnessing brutalities of slavery bestowed upon Sethe. Baby Suggs, Halle's mother, signifies the power and inspiration of a Black community, as she instigates leadership and womanhood throughout the families and relationships of the community. Together, Toni Morrison's characters all form an anthology of the African American community, as some experience pain, while others must help to uplift that pain through an emotional and physical understanding. Morrison compiles a story among all these distinct characters, as she works to add voice and representation through each personality's role.

In terms of language, Morrison writes beautifully: "The most valuable point of every entry into the question of cultural (or racial) distinction, the one most fraught, is its language-- its unpoliced, seditious, confrontational, manipulative, inventive, disruptive, masked and unmasking language" (Rigney 1). In her Beloved, Morrison both "masks" and "unmasks" herself. She uses stylistic elements in her writing that urge the reader to read in between the lines, to find certain themes of culture and humanistic representation in the emotional discourse. Here, the reader "unmasks" the author, as he or she may find a double meaning in a word that provokes the reader to reflect on what is happening on a deeper level in the novel. Morrison writes in a physical way; she wants the reader to hear, see, feel, taste, and smell the blood on Sethe's back, after she has been raped and whipped. Morrison wants the reader to think about this pain and reflect on the memories that Sethe must live with, as her dead baby speaks to her family. Similar to musicians, Morrison writes in a manner that provokes that which music provokes: emotion and human experience. There is a stylistic element here that makes me feel as though I'm listening to a piece of music that expresses something more than what it is. Morrison even incorporates a choir of women into Sethe's community, who sing to inspire and strengthen women throughout.

I found Morrison's language, tone, and themes to be reflective. They collaborated to work as an anthology of an African American's memory. The protagonist as well as the stylistic elements of the author set a basis for human experience and expression that results from that, which I thought to be provocative and influential. Morrison affects her readers in a manner similar to music, in that the piece is demonstrative and beautiful, expressing something beyond which it is.