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Reading Love with ‘Beloved’ in Toni Morrison’s Beloved
Cross-Cultural Studies
2019,
54(), pp.147-168
DOI : 10.21049/ccs.2019.54..147
Publisher : Center for Cross Culture Studies
Research Area : Literature
DOI : 10.21049/ccs.2019.54..147
Publisher : Center for Cross Culture Studies
Research Area : Literature
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In American history, African American people were not allowed to love and be loved on their own time during the era of slavery, while living on slave master’s lands as property. Toni Morrison’s Beloved describes dysfunctional love as the direct outcome of such historical trauma, and portrays individual characters who re-construct themselves by retelling their own poignant and personal traumatic histories. This paper focuses on the fact that ‘Beloved’ in Toni Morrison’s Beloved can be read in three distinct contexts. First, the title of the novel is entitled ‘Beloved;’ secondly, the name of one of the main characters is ‘Beloved;’ and thirdly, the last sentence of the novel is the word ‘Beloved.’ By reading the three contexts of ‘Beloved’ (with the concept of ‘delta’), this paper examines what kind and type of love Toni Morrison wants to talk about and highlight in her book, Beloved, and how she encourages her readers to participate in such love in their own lives.
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