The Loss of Self in the Book Beloved by Toni Morrison

There are many stories of slaves and the lives that they live. Read any story of slavery and one is sure to find oppression, abuse, segregation and pain. Beloved, by Toni Morrison, delves farther into the minds of those affected by the cruel world of slavery and shows a person left with no identity of their own. Slaves are treated as merchandise and are bought and sold for to the highest bidder. A freed slave, while physically free, is never mentally freed from the horrors they have lived. The main character in Beloved, Sethe, was a slave on Mr. Garner's Sweet Home Plantation approximately twenty years before the start of the story. The story takes place through memories and stories going back and forth between these times and places.

Sethe is left with little self-worth and no sense of who she is. Dehumanization appears to be a common side-effect of the torments of slavery and it is apparent, throughout the book, that she has created her identity in the form of mothering. She lives through and for her children and they are the only identity that she encompasses. After Beloved leaves Sethe she tells Paul D that "She was my best thing.." (262) Paul D. thinks carefully about Sethe and then responds, "You your best thing, Sethe." (273)

After escaping from the plantation, schoolteacher shows up to try to bring Sethe and her children back into slavery. In an act of desperation, Sethe decides she would rather kill her children than see them forced into a life of slavery. She manages to kill only the third child and throughout the book this child haunts the family and anyone who enters 124 Bluestone Rd. Misunderstanding the sermon, Sethe has the name "Beloved" engraved on the stone after hearing the preacher say "Dearly Beloved".

Dehumanization is a central theme throughout the novel. The treatment of the black women in the story is deplorable. Sethe is treated like a common animal at the plantation. When she reports schoolteacher and the others, she is whipped savagely despite the fact that she is pregnant. Sethe's breast milk was stolen from her as she was held down and raped by the white men of the plantation. The slave women were bred like livestock and many pregnancies were the result of rape. The children of these women were an economic benefit to the slave's owners. It is explained in the book that it was important not to love anything too much. You never knew when it would be taken from you. The life of a slave does not allow for a maternal bond as the mother is not sure how many children will be taken from her. Her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, had all but one child taken from her. When Sethe escapes from slavery, the bond she is able to create is intense and a focus of the story itself.

The idea of the family is another idea that is questioned when we put these facts together. What was the family of a slave? The effects of slavery on family are different for each character. Sethe loves so deeply that there is no line drawn between her love for herself and her children. Paul D. is determined not to love too much lest someone close to him is lost or taken from him. Denver's obsession with Beloved surpasses the love of a sister who has passed.

While Sethe's issues with her sense of self are apparent, there are many others in the story struggling with the same issue. Paul D. frequently wonders about his value as a person and struggles with the concept of being a real man. At one point in the book he is so disconnected from himself that he cannot tell whether the screaming he hears belongs to him or to someone else. As a slave, Paul D. pointed out the fact that no one should love anyone else too much. In order to protect himself from the world that slavery brought, he used various coping methods including keeping his feelings locked inside of the rusted "tobacco tin" of his heart.

With Beloved, Morrison explores the spiritual, physical and emotional scarring brought on by slavery. It is scar that forever remains with Morrison's characters. The most obvious and most dangerous scar is the impact of the former slaves' senses of self. This sense of self, or lack thereof, is apparent in every facet of these former slaves' lives including their family structure, sense of community and all relationships.