Toni Morrison s Beloved And The Ghosts Of Slavery ...

In the novel Beloved, Toni Morrison develops character Beloved as an allegorical figure to embody slavery’s horrific past and the lasting impact that unresolved past trauma has upon the present. Morrison develops the character Beloved to represent all the unremembered and untold stories of slavery and to further the message that we must maintain a collective memory of slavery in order to pursue a hopeful future. Morrison develops Beloved as a character through her interactions with other characters in the novel and they way in which they interact with their past trauma. In Lina Krumholz’s The Ghosts of Slavery: Historical Recovery in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, she comments on Morrison’s construction of a parallel between individual and community memories and the nature of history making as a healing process. Krumholz’s argues that the individual memories of the characters of the novel function as collective memories as well, just as slavery does in ou r history. It is both deeply personal while being a collective experience, the importance of community and of confrontation of the past therefore presents itself as the theme that Morrison hopes to further. Morrison therefore forms the tragedy of slavery into something that can be manageably remembered and able to handle, while also setting the tone for an optimistic future in the face of this rememory. Beloved’s character is surrounded by a great deal of ambiguity as she functions as the novel’s central enigma. Morrison neverShow MoreRelatedHow Does Toni Morrisons Beloved Reflect a Postcolonial Sensitivity997 Words   |  4 PagesToni Morrison defines her writing as a kind of literary archaeology which relies on memory, history and autobiography. How does her literary practice reflect a postcolonial sensitivity? The archaeologist sifts through the rubble of past civilisations for signs of human activity, in order to construct a picture of how people lived in the past. Like a kind of literary archaeologist, Morrison sifted through historical records and researched the diaries and memoirs of slaves and their owners beforeRead MoreThe And Invisible Man By Toni Morrison And Ralph Ellison1726 Words   |  7 Pagesthe African American race has battled great social injustices. From slavery to freedom, being property to owning property, African Americans have fought their way to be a part of equal justice. For many black individuals, their identity was non-existent, stripped away, leaving them powerless due to white power. Race, class, and economic standing are all social issues that are prominent in both Beloved and Invisible Man. Toni Morrison and Ralph Ellison are both American novelists who have created emotional