Abuse And Violence In Toni Morrison's Beloved

As I reflect on the readings from the last three weeks, I’ve been pondering on the idea of abuse and violence. I’ve asked myself critical questions such as, are abuse and violence one in the same? Are they different? How? I haven’t come to much of a conclusion but I believe that linguistically they are gray area. In theory, they mean the same thing, but in certain contexts they aren’t always rendered synonymous. Is it possible that violence is this abstract notion that can be characterized as abrupt and confined by time and that abuse is long term? It seems that this may be the case as I examine common themes of toxic masculinity and patriarchy, overlapping concepts that can be a result of the other, as forms of gendered violence that are

As a result of the way the way that one may cope with the violence, and subsequent abuse inflicted upon them, they are rendered ineligible as a victim of violence if it conflicts with this normalized and uniform idea of moral. This was exemplified by the way we as a class assumed evil onto Sethe for committing infanticide. The term infanticide is a linguistic method of criminalizing and rendering this act immoral because when we give something a word, we give it connotation. Giving language to something is a step in the way in which we render someone ineligible for victimhood. This is further exemplified in Thomas A. Fosters’ article, “The Sexual Abuse of Black Men under American Slavery.” As a society we have certain ideas, characteristics, and experiences that we have associated with the word man. As a result, we have positioned and often characterized the man as the abuser, rather than the abusee, and a force of violence, rather than something that violence is forced upon. In turn, we have rendered the man ineligible as a victim of sexual

A subtle way that I was drawn to was on page 65 when Dana states, "We 're going to have to fit in as best we can with the people here for as long as we have to stay. That means we 're going to have to play the roles you gave us." The act of having to assume on a role is what I would argue to be emotionally and mentally violent, and the notion that there are specific roles that Dana and Kevin must play just as heteronormative people alludes to patriarchy. When we take into consideration race, it is further complicated by racism and how systems of oppression overlap to exacerbate violence and abuse . These all appeared to be common themes throughout the readings and I am still trying to navigate this complex web of semantics, implications, and impact throughout