Reviews of Beloved

Beloved

Posted : 8 months, 1 week ago on 26 April 2009 02:31 (A review of Beloved)

Morrison's work has two levels: the superficial (this is not to say that any of the issues/themes Morrison tackles are superficial, but just that this is the obvious subject matter) and the psychological. Superficially this novel is about the great "It" of American History: slavery. Psychologically this novel is about a mother's love, and what can drive her to do the unthinkable. It also continues the tradition of Morrison's work exploring how the white ideology can poison and harm the black community, both through exterior and interior forces. Beloved is also just one hell of a book. A modern American classic which should be required reading for both of the reasons I listed above.

There is nothing simple about the novel, and when dealing with such a complicated issue, there shouldn't have been anything simple. From the first sentences ("124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom") to the final moving and uplifting ending, Morrison has dealt with these complicated issues in a mature and gorgeous way. Yes, entire passages of brutal events do occur, but Morrison's language is gorgeous. The horrifying scars of slavery are described as a tree upon Sethe's back -- complicated, disturbing, beautiful. The passage where the point-of-view shifts to Beloved is dark, confusing, nonsensical and oddly moving. A demonic ghost-child in some way is still a child.

I feel like describing the plot is unnecessary, everyone already knows what it is about on a superficial level. Sethe's heroic journey (if a decent into madness and demonic possession can be considered such, and they could be) is a hopeful one wrought with numerous violent roadblocks. One cannot blame her for doing what she did, I found myself understanding her actions and, oddly, sympathizing with her, and her guilt and remorse have followed her for years afterward. By exorcising the demonic ghost of the child, with a little help from the black community, Sethe will finally be able to move forward and create her own identity outside of her history. Yes, it is a larger metaphor. And yes, it works.

Equal parts ghost story, descent into madness, heroic journey and historical fiction, Beloved is a modern masterpiece which every person owes it to themselves to read at least once. With a sharp eye and a highlighter.

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