Beloved + Sun Also Rises

In her powerful novel Beloved, Toni Morrison shows how a community must come together to heal the wounds of the past. The story takes place at a haunted house known as 124 in post-slavery Ohio during the 1870s. It follows a family of newly freed slaves as they struggle to make new lives for themselves and tend to the scars of slavery. Sethe is the mother of Denver, Howard, Buglar and the deceased child known as Beloved, who at the beginning of the book, is haunting house 124. The major complication of this story arises when Beloved comes back to life as a physical child. Beloved is the symbol of pain and suffering caused by slavery. In this novel it is the community that must find a way to put aside this suffering from slavery. Beloved is the physical embodiment of the ghosts of slavery, She is a warning against over dwelling on the past, and she is that which inspires growth and change.

Beloved is a symbol of slavery. However, this is not immediately apparent When she first enters the story it is uncertain who she is. She emerges as a fully dressed woman coming out of a stream. When Sethe meets Beloved for the first time, she has an irrepressible need to urinate. This urination reminds Sethe of when she gave birth to Denver: “Right in front of the door she had to lift her skirts, and the water she voided was endless. Like a horse, she thought, but as it went on and on she thought, No, more like flooding the boat when Denver was born.” It is at this point that the astute reader realizes that Beloved is most likely Sethe’s deceased child that has come back to life. Beloved is the same age the baby would have been had it lived, and she has the same name that is inscribed on the baby’s tombstone. Sethe is in a way rebirthing her child back into existence. Symbolically, she is birthing the old memories of slavery back to life. We see this when Beloved recounts memories from a previous generation of slaves: “She was getting ready to smile at me and when she saw the dead people pushed into the sea she went also and left me there with no face or hers.” Though these are Beloved’s words, they are the memories of the first slaves being captured and taken away across the seas. Beloved is the memory of slavery brought back to life.

Once Sethe realizes that Beloved is her daughter come back to life, she devotes all her time to her, and the two form an almost parasitic relationship: “Beloved, She my daughter. She mine. See. She come back to me of her own free will and I don’t have to explain a thing.” All of Sethe’s time and devotion go into making Beloved understand why she killed her when the schoolteacher came. Yet, Beloved grows strong while Sethe begins to wither and her health deteriorates. Here Sethe is nursing the dysfunction of

slavery. The black community must come to terms with slavery in the same way Sethe is trying to make Beloved understand why she killed her. Sethe’s deteriorating condition is a symbolic warning of what over dwelling on the past can do to the black community.

The effect Beloved has on the other characters in this novel, though they do not seem like it at first, are positive. Though Paul D hates Beloved for the strange sexual encounters, it is these encounters that open his “tobacco tin” heart. This helps Paul D remember his past and it makes him feel and love again. As well as helping Paul D, Beloved affects Denver. With Beloved’s self centered behavior taking up all of Sethe’s time, Denver is forced to leave the house and find a job. Denver blossoms into a responsible young adult. Because of Beloved’s malevolent behavior, Denver eventually seeks aid within the community. The community is brought together in a unifying act of exorcising Beloved. It is because of Beloved that the black community is brought together:

“Standing along on the porch, Beloved is smiling. But now her hand is empty. Sethe is running away from her, running and she feels the emptiness in the hand Sethe has been holding. Now she is running into the faces of the people out there, joining them and leaving Beloved behind. They make a hill. A hill of black people.”

It is because of Beloved that the black community come, together. It is the memory of slavery that inspires change. It is the chance to learn good. Beloved is the physical embodiment of Toni Morrison’s message.

In his novel The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemmingway captures the plight of the “Lost Generation”. The story is set against the backdrop of 1920s France. It follows a group of expatriate friends, Jake Barnes, Robert Cohn, Brett, Mike and Bill, as they drink, smoke and watch bullfights.