‘Beloved’ sheds light on hidden issues
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Beloved was written by Toni Morrison in 1987. It is set in the period after the American Civil War and focuses on Sethe’s life.
Taking place during 1873 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sethe is a formerly enslaved woman who lives in a house inherited from her deceased mother-in-law, Baby Suggs. She lives there with her daughter Denver while her sons, Howard and Buglar, ran away because they were afraid of a supposed ghost living amongst the family.
The family predicts that the ghost could be the spirit of Sethe’s eldest daughter, Beloved. The book opens with how Sethe’s daughter got this name, with her not having enough money to engrave “Dearly Beloved” on the tombstone.
“…engraved on her baby’s headstone: Dearly Beloved. But what she got, settled for, was the one word that mattered. She thought it would be enough, rutting among the headstones with the engraver, his young son looking on, the anger in his face so old…”Morrison wrote.
During the Reconstruction era in the United States, it is ironic that Sethe is only able to get the engraving on her deceased daughters’ headstone by having sex with the engraver. It reveals the major issues Black Americans faced during this time. The 19th century was a time when former slaves, and Black citizens born into freedom, were subjected to violence and kidnapping even if they could prove they were free citizens.
When speaking about this time period, it is important to note the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. As historically noted, “The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves.”
Under this act, many slaves that had been granted or purchased their freedom were illegally brought back into slavery. This act favored slaveholders, allowing them to capitalize on their plantations through forced labor, under the pretense of federal law and compliance.
The book flows between Sethe’s current life in Ohio and her time back in a slave-holding plantation in Kentucky, named Sweet Home. Her time in Sweet Home is what leads her to killing her eldest daughter, Beloved, traumatized and frightened of possibly bringing her into slavery.
