In Cynthia S. Hamilton’s “Revisions, Rememories, and Exorcisms: Toni Morrison and the Slave Narrative,” she explores many different themes of Toni Morrison’s Beloved. She specifically focuses on the importance of storytelling and how Beloved differs from the “classic slave narrative.” She talks about how this different format in literature can have a completely different effect from the more common slave narratives, which typically tell the story of the only the hardships of slavery. Beloved, on the other hand, focuses on the psychological effects that slavery can have on all of the characters, whether they are former slaves or apart of the next generation.
In part I of her article, Hamilton simply focuses on the art and importance of storytelling. She does this through explaining how the characters’ development is influenced by their story. Beloved is told in a series of flashbacks, as opposed to classic chronological order. Morrison perhaps does this so that the characters’ personalities are revealed slowly throughout the novel, one bit at a time. For example, it is not revealed how Baby Suggs got her name until very far into the book, when it is revealed that Baby Suggs calls herself this because it is what her husband called her, and not her slavemaster. This one fact says a lot about Baby Suggs’ character. When she was a slave, she was called Jenny, but decided to abandon this name in order to develop her own sense of self. Throughout the novel, Baby Suggs, although not alive at the present time of the story, is attempting to come to terms with her past and develop her own sense of self. Her struggle is revealed through a series of flashbacks, mainly Sethe’s, which are not in chronological order and are spread throughout the book. By choosing to call herself Baby Suggs, it is clear that this was her own way of developing her personal identity, and not the one that her slavemaster created for her. Hamilton also points out that, while Baby Suggs was trying to create her own sense of self, in doing this she also decided to ignore her past, as though it was no a longer a part of her. This is shown to cause conflict with her character later in to the book. She completely ignores her past, until it resurfaces on its own and she does not know how to deal with it. After Sethe murders her daughter, Baby Suggs is forced to come to terms with her past of slavery, and she discovers how much she is still haunted by it. Unlike Sethe, however, Baby Suggs cannot overcome her past. Instead, she goes to bed, and stays in bed for years until she dies.
Hamilton also analyzes the differences between the “classic slave narrative” and Morrison’s Beloved. In novels such as Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave, the story is mainly focused on the victimization of the slave. This is because, Hamilton theorizes, during the 1840’s and 1850’s, the main goal of slave narratives was to promote the abolitionist movement. Due to this, many slave narratives were almost persuasive in a way, fighting for a specific cause. After slavery was abolished, the narratives of former slaves focused on the progress that has been made since they were liberated. Beloved, however, tells a former slave’s story in a different light by focusing on character development. It tells the story of former slaves being forced to confront their past, because they will never truly be able to escape it. It lets us know that, after becoming free, the lives of former slaves did not become easy, as classic slave narratives suggest. They were instead haunted by their past, portrayed quite literally in the novel through the baby ghost and the character of Beloved. Sethe, unlike Baby Suggs, is able to come to terms with her past. Instead of ignoring her past, Beloved forces her to come face-to-face with her past. After years of being a social outcast, after Beloved disappears, Sethe is finally able to accept that fact that murdering Beloved was wrong, and that she cannot escape her past as a slave. Beloved symbolizes the past of slavery as a whole for various characters as well. While Paul D has all of his memories locked in a “tin tobacco can” deep in his heart, he is forced to come to terms with them when he has sex with Beloved. All of his horrible and traumatic memories resurface, and he runs away at first because he cannot face them. During this time, Beloved is still with Sethe, so Paul D feels as if he cannot return. This symbolizes that, because Beloved is still there, he has not yet accepted his past. The disappearance of Beloved symbolizes that he and Sethe have finally accepted their pasts. He returns to Sethe after he has decided that he can finally move on with his life and let go of what has previously happened to him. He also helps Sethe, who is stuck in bed just like Baby Suggs was, get her life back in order so that the two of them can build a new life together.
Oprah and Danny Glover as Beloved and Paul D in the 1998 film "Beloved."
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