A Name In Toni Morrison's Beloved

The significance of a name in both literature and reality are often overlooked as something of little to no importance. In Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, she proves just how important a character's name is in conveying a story's theme. Beloved's character is intended to act as a living embodiment of the 60 million slaves who refuse to be forgotten, however, she could have easily done so while having a name. Instead, Morrison takes the opportunity to further display the effects of slavery in her portrayal of Beloved. Author, Toni Morrison, displays society's refusal to acknowledge their past mistakes in order to move progressively forward by giving Beloved a label rather than a name; which serves in providing a voice for the 60 million Beloved

Which brings forth the question, why did she choose to start off the story with an immediate reference to the past rather than waiting to reveal it like everything else? In chapter 1, Sethe immediately introduces her deceased daughter as a looming presence in their household. She notably refers to this child as "the baby" and does not mention having given this child a name. Instead she says, "Ten minutes for seven letters. With another ten could she have gotten "Dearly" too? She had not thought to ask him and it bothered her still that it might have been possible--that for twenty minutes, a half hour, say, she could have had the whole thing, every word she heard the preacher say at the funeral..." (9) Sethe sends her baby into the next life without a name to call her own. Instead she merely bears a label. One that Sethe viewed simply as being "enough". Epitaphs are intended to hold deep emotional significance while also encasing the essence of the individual who has passed. In Beloved's case, her epitaph has nothing to do with who she was while she lived or what she meant to those who knew her. Morrison's choice in giving Beloved a name with little to no connection to who she was as a person is in direct relation to how she feels about the 60 million referenced in the

The significance of this play on words or lack there of is revealed through the complexity of Beloved's name. All those 60 million were killed in vain. They bear no names because they died without any dignity or respect. Each of them is condemned to bear only the title of "slave" for all of eternity just as Beloved bore her own label. She was lost in the darkness, knowing herself only as Beloved. She returned seeking recognition that wasn't gifted to her in life nor death. It was the responsibility of those who had survived to give those individuals the respect they deserved, but instead they failed to accomplish this task. People preferred to leave the ugly truths of what had happened in the past. To give each person who had died an identity to call their own would take time, and they would be forced to dwell on exactly what had happened to each and every one of those 60 million. Instead, it was easier to leave them be and simply refer to them as slaves. The same can be said about Beloved which is why she is the embodiment of this concept. What happened to her was tragic and everyone who'd heard her tale wished to forget it. Sethe's failure to give her dead child a name with any proper significance is a direct attribution to the concept that without a name a person will never truly be at peace. The baby's ghost spent