How Does Toni Morrison Present Trauma In Beloved

In Chapters 2–5 of Beloved, Toni Morrison uses Beloved’s character to prompt her family’s and African Americans’ collective reminiscence of previous trauma. Part 2 Chapter 2 begins with Sethe analyzing her relationship with Beloved, pondering the justification for her slaughter. As Sethe’s obsessive thoughts with her daughter continue, she thinks to herself: “Beloved. Because you are mine and I have to show you these things, and teach you what a mother should” (237). As if Sethe was not already perseverating on enough trauma from her past, she is now accompanied by the guilt of killing her child. Now that Beloved has returned to Sethe, she is confronted with the duty and obligation to take on the role of the mother she never was. Beloved’s presence continues to cause Sethe to focus on previous sources of trauma in her life, as

As Sethe’s regret for her lack of care for Beloved continues, so do the memories of her own mother – one that was brutally tortured and eventually hanged. The pattern of Beloved’s character causing a remembrance of trauma continues throughout the next chapters of the novel. Denver, aware of Sethe’s slaughtering of Beloved, develops fear and a distorted view toward her mother; she admits that she loves her mother, but “know[s] she killed one of her own daughters, and [Denver] is scared of her because of it” (242). As Denver is now aware that Beloved is her sister, she recalls Sethe’s killing of Beloved and associates it with an act of terror, although she is unaware of the true reason Beloved was killed – to save her from slavery. Denver’s recollection of her family’s traumatic past is prompted by Beloved, who reveals their family’s darkest experiences. In chapter four, Morrison juxtaposes Beloved’s internal dialogue with a memory of a slave transportation