Top 30 Modern Classics - XXIV

Beloved

Toni Morrison

Beloved, by the American writer Toni Morrison, was published in 1987. The story is set around the American Civil War, it is inspired by the story of a slave, Margaret Garner, who became free of slavery in Kentucky by escaping to a free state, Ohio.

Sethe and her youngest daughter Denver, after their escape from slavery, have their home in Cincinnati. Their house is haunted and they find objects being thrown around in their home. Denver is shy and introverted.

Paul D, one of the slaves from their earlier plantation, arrives at Sethe's home and tries to bring a sense of reality into the house. In attempting to make the family forget the past, he forces out the spirit. He seems successful at first; he even brings housebound Denver out of the house for the first time in years. But on the way back, they encounter a young woman sitting in front of the house, calling herself Beloved. Paul D is suspicious and warns Sethe, but she is charmed by the young woman and ignores him. Gradually, Paul D is forced out of Sethe's home by a supernatural presence.

When made to sleep outside in a shed, Paul D is cornered by Beloved. They have sex. Feeling guilt, Paul D tells Sethe that he wants her pregnant which Sethe joyfully accepts. However Pail's friends tell the reason why Sethe was rejected by her community.

When Paul D asks Sethe about it, she tells him the circumstances of her kiiling her eldest daughter and her intention to kill all her children to save them from the tyranny of slave master and slavery. Paul D is unable to reconcile to what he hears and he leaves.

Sethe comes to believe that the supernatural being, Beloved, is the two-year-old daughter she had murdered. Out of Guilt, Sethe indulges Beloved sacrificing all her needs. Sethe becomes weaker while Beloved becomes bigger and stronger.

In the novel's climax, youngest daughter Denver reaches out and searches for help from the black community and subsequently becomes a working member of the community. 

I will leave it to the reader to find out what happens to Sethe and Paul.

The novel was awarded the Pullitzer Prize for fiction in 1988.  It was adapted during 1998 into a starring Oprah Winfrey. 

One of the best work in American fictions of the 20th and 21st century.

Namaste

Prabir