“Sixty Million and More” Sixty million and more, is the inscription at the beginning of the novel Beloved written by Toni Morrison. It referred to the number of slaves killed from the time of the Middle Passage. In naming the number so starkly, not saying anything further about it, Morrison pays testament to the horrendous crime of the slave trade and the genocide it engendered. Through this epigraph, the author reminded her readers of the frightening history of the slaves. “I will call them my people, Which were not my people; And her beloved, Which …show more content…
In the letter, Paul encouraged the new Christians in Rome by promising them that they were God’s people and will receive God’s love through grace. God’s promise of love and forgiveness came even though the new Christians do not deserve to be beloved. The Biblical quote was a fitting beginning for a novel that deals with love and forgiveness. It seems to promise the newly freed slaves that they were also beloved of God. The epigraph also created the tone for the opening chapter of the novel, which deals with Beloved, the destructive ghost of Sethe’s daughter, who causes problems for Sethe. Although Beloved was never a slave, she was a victim of slavery, for Sethe killed her, so she would never have to endure the hardships of slavery like her mother. Even though Sethe is guilty of murder, she can be forgiven; but she will also have to suffer. In other words, Morrison argues that overcoming the trauma of slavery entails remembering rather than forgetting. In contemporary American culture the institution of slavery has been largely forgotten. But Morrison tries to show that the past never ends. She wants the readers to re-vision and understand African-American history through the lives of former African …show more content…
Margaret Garner and her family were heading for the house of a colored man named Kite who had been purchased from slavery by his father. The slaves had to make inquiries to find the house, which was located in Mill Creek. But the people who lived around Mill Creek saw the escaped slaves, making it easy for them to be found by the slave pursuers. While the nine slaves made their way to the underground road and went safely to Canada the following day, Margaret Garner and her family were pursued but refused to surrender. They fought the pursuers, and Margaret Garner declared that she would kill her children and herself rather than return to slavery. When the pursuers caught Garner’s husband, Robert, she felt that there was no hope to escape and, in desperation, sliced her daughter’s throat. Before Garner could kill her other children and herself, the pursuers overpowered her and put her and her family in