Common Themes and People in Beloved and The Sixth Sense

There are many works of literature and cinema that focus on the concept of death and the spirits of the dead. The novel Beloved which is written by Toni Morrison, and the movie The Sixth Sense written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, each have many similar themes including the haunting of the dead and the intended purpose of the ghosts. In addition, both the book and the film focus on color schemes and the personality traits of each of the characters.

The novel Beloved focuses on the character Beloved who was the baby of her mother Sethe. Beloved was killed by her mother when a slave owner came to Sethe's house to claim her children as slaves. Sethe refused to allow her children to live in slavery and instead killed Beloved. Beloved's ghost haunts Sethe's house and scares away her two children leaving only Sethe's other daughter, Denver at the house. Beloved's ghost appears to Sethe at a carnival as an older woman and introduces herself as Beloved. Beloved's arrival marks the mutual attachment and strong love that Beloved and Sethe have for each other.

The film The Sixth Sense focuses on a child's psychologist named Malcolm Crowe who is played by actor Bruce Willis in the film. In one of the opening scenes of the film, one of Malcolm's former patients named Victor Grey visits Malcolm in his home and blames Malcolm for failing to help in during his therapy. The man kills Malcolm and then commits suicide. Malcolm comes back to life as a ghost to help a young boy named Cole Sear who suffers from the same illness as Malcolm's former patient. Cole sees the ghosts of dead people roaming around during the day and is terrified by them. Malcolm sees this little boy as chance to redeem himself for failing to help Victor Grey and a chance to fix his failing marriage with his wife, Anna. Throughout the film, Malcolm doesn't realize that he is dead and that no one can see him except for Cole. However, Malcolm's ghost is able to help Cole cope with his ability to see dead people and to overcome his fear of them.

While both Malcolm and Beloved come back from the dead to help other people recount events of the past or to help other people, both character also come back from the dead because they want something from the living. The character of Dr. Malcolm Crowe in The Sixth Sense not only comes back to help the boy Cole, but he comes back to try and talk to his wife and to fix his failing marriage. The viewer is shown images in the film of his wife and him moving further and further apart in their relationship as Malcolm has emerged himself deeper into his patient therapy. During Malcolm's therapy with Cole, Cole tells him that he can talk to his wife while she is sleeping and have a conversation with her. Towards the end of the film, Malcolm tells his wife how sorry he is for neglecting her and focusing on his work instead. It is at this point in the film where Malcolm finally realizes that he has been dead during the entire period of time that he has had therapy with Malcolm. The epiphany that Malcolm arrives at when he realizes that he is a ghost is signified to the reader when the cold air is shown to the viewer and Malcolm's mind flashes back to his death when he was shot and killed.

The character portrayals of both Cole Sear and Denver are very similar. Cole and Denver both have the ability to see ghosts and more importantly, the two characters experience maturity and growth throughout the film and novel. In the beginning of the film The Sixth Sense, the viewer meets Cole as a frightened and scared little boy who has the ability to see ghosts. However, by the end of the film, the viewer sees the maturity that Cole has developed as he is able to talk to ghosts and communicate with them without before frightened. Similarly, Denver grew up in her house as a lonely child without friends and scared of moving out of her home without her mother. By the end of the novel, Denver has grown up and matured and no longer needs her mother to care for her. On page 315, Paul D admits to Beloved that she has grown up and no longer needs other people's opinions. This conversation between the two characters shows that Denver is a grown woman and does not need anyone to look after her.

Color also plays a crucial role in both the film and the book. Author Toni Morrison and writer and director M. Night Shyamalan both focus on the color red and their purpose for the color have similar meanings. In the novel, red represents vitality and passion. This passion is seen in the red heart that Paul D. talks about when he recalls his memories on Sweet Home, a plantation farm. The color red also represents the blood of Beloved as Sethe killed her and had her baby's blood on her hands. In The Sixth Sense the color red is used in vivid imagery in several horrific scenes. When Cole sees the dead people walking around they are smeared in blood in the back of their head.