Beloved by Toni Morrison

In the novel Beloved, by Toni Morrison unmasks the horrors of slavery, and depicts its aftermath on African Americans. The book depicts the age it was written. The story is perfect for all who did not experience nor could imagine how it was to be an African American in America circa the 1860's. Beloved lends a gateway to understanding the trials and tribulations of the modern African American. The Novel has many things that occur that are very striking, most of which have to deal with the treatment of the African Americans (Morrison, pp. 56-79). The book as a whole is very disturbing, and even shows to what lengths African Americans were willing to go to avoid enslavement of themselves or their children.

In the novel the most extreme case of someone avoiding enslavement comes from the main character when she attempts to kill her children. The main character, Sethe, is not willing to let her children end up re-enslaved and would rather see them dead and in Heaven then in an earthly hell of being slaves. I believe that from Sethe was justified in her actions. Slavery is a very harsh and horrible way to live, and living in chains and without freedom is not living as a human should. Slavery degraded African Americans from humans, to that of animals. They were not treated with any respect, or proper care. Even modern day criminals, those that have murdered large numbers of people are treated more humanly then the average slave ever was. The life that the children would of lived would of been one of complete servitude, they would of never of known what it was like to live on their own and make their own decisions. This all goes back to the fact that they would never be human or treated as humans, so based on this I believe that Sethe was justified in killing her children and preventing them from becoming enslaved.

The fact that the slaves where treated like animals, and where traded and sold like cattle is well depicted in the book. This did not actually shock me, the items in the book that shocked me had to do with the living conditions, and punishments that the men where put through. What I am referring to in particular are the living conditions at the work camp in Georgia. The fact that the men were in ...