The Final Post

Beloved left me with one significant impression: what did I just read? The entire book was filled with interesting yet weird details. The most significant of these details that was freaky was that of death and how each character reacted (or didn't) to death. For someone like Stamp Paid, death really depended on the circumstances, with him killing his wife and all but not accepting the killing of Beloved by Sethe. For Sethe, death was necessary but awful. Her unwillingness to come to terms with Beloved and take control of what she did, and instead trying to constantly appease Beloved in her return from the after life was the major key that led to her decay.

Another concept used by Morrison is that of escape. The idea of escape is prevalent throughout the novel. Escaping from slavery, sorrow, illness. But it is the lack of actual escape that is a major theme throughout the novel. Morrison plays with the idea that the characters cannot escape from slavery, no matter how far they run. That they will always be looked down upon by society, always be kept down, and that no amount of so called "freedom" or war can change the fact that they have no ability to escape poverty and the sadness that surrounds them. For Sethe, for Baby Suggs, and for Beloved, the way to escape the constant struggle with being kept in a theoretical bondage instead of the actual that they had fled was through death. Sethe lays herself down to leave, and does not try to get healthier, ditto Baby Suggs. For Beloved, she is killed to prevent her from going into slavery, only to be resurrected and inflict suffering upon Sethe for being killed, and in turn making Sethe's life miserable before running off.

To say the least, the book is something that one cannot prepare for. It simply happens that almost every character has either killed another person, inflicted serious pain, been killed or maimed, or a combination of these possibilities. But overall, it makes for an interesting story filled with connections to the post Civil War era in the United States, regarding Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws and the constant struggle for freedom and independence for African-Americans.

Is This AP Worthy?

Without a doubt this book would be AP worthy. Compared to Song of Solomon, another Toni Morrison book, Beloved is deeper in terms of motifs, and touches on many of the same themes as Song of Solomon. The character development is not quite as profound in Beloved however, yet few books probably have as well developed characters as those of Milkman Dead and Guitar.

But this book isn't as concerned with the individuals as Song of Solomon. Morrison focuses more on the relationships between characters, characters and society, and race relations rather than developing each individual as fully as in Song of Solomon. We see Sethe as a loving, caring mother, but that never changes throughout the book. Denver remains independent from when we first meet her, and her only change is the view of Sethe. Paul D hardly changes as well, remaining someone who avoids staying in a single place and is a pretty good guy otherwise.

This book, although limited in character development, is definitely of AP merit. The creative use of motifs such as color to foreshadow death or her tying everything back to Sweet Home to show how little life has changed for Sethe towards the end show how complex the story is. Although the underlying foreshadowing might be a bit difficult to pick up on at first, as the story progresses, it shows how complex the story is from the beginning. As Sethe says right from the beginning when addressing Denver's remark that '"nothing ever dies,'" Sethe replies '"Nothing ever does'" (44).