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Trauma In Toni Morrison's Beloved

1804 Words8 Pages

Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved explores the ways that trauma, especially that which emanates from situations of powerlessness, like being enslaved, contributes to a shift of one’s perceptions of motherhood, love, and how love is shown. Sethe, who was formerly enslaved, commits a heinous act as a way to protect her child who she loved dearly from being taken away and forced into a life of slavery. Even though Sethe did this act for reasons that were perfectly logical to her, Beloved and Paul D struggle to come to accept what happened, because her reasons seem so foreign to their own ideas of motherhood and love. Due to her past traumatic experiences when she was enslaved, Sethe’s understanding of how she, as a mother, should express her love …show more content…

Instead, she focuses on her feelings of abandonment and not being loved. “None of which made the impression it was supposed to...Beloved denied it. Sethe never came to her, never said a word to her, never smiled and worst of all never waved goodbye or even looked her way before running away from her (284).” In this quotation, Beloved focuses on tender, motherly actions that she expected and waited to receive from Sethe, but never did. Her perception that Sethe “never smiled” or “never said a word to her” shows that the act of being killed by her mother completely clouded her memory, so even though she is told about the mosquitos attacking her at Sweet Home (284), she can not, or chooses to not, recognize that her mother did love her and want to protect her. Furthermore, her phrases “worst of all” and “running away from her” indicates that she sees Sethe’s action as cold, individualistic, and unable to be forgiven. According to Beloved, Sethe cared only about herself and for that reason she was able to desert helpless Beloved and “run away”. Even though Sethe gives reason after reason, trying to justify her action, Beloved remains set in her perception that her mother’s action was

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