There are few social constructs as dynamic and damaging as slavery. A small handful of historical remnants have the resilience that slavery possesses. Unfortunately, the effects of 19th century American slavery have resulted in social hurdles that society has failed to conquer. Slavery devolved from a physically and mentally damaging system to a modern way of thinking. Institutional racism is the evolution of that “way of thinking”. Slaves alive in pre-Civil War America often dealt with the horrors of ownership by unifying with their fellow slaves and building strong relationships. Beloved by Toni Morrison displays the consequences of slavery by pitting its destructive powers against the constructive maternal relationships found between the main character, Sethe, and her daughters Beloved and Denver.
To comprehend the motives behind Morrison’s characters, readers must recognize the links between white slave owners and black slaves. No single antagonist acts in contrast to Sethe. Rather, white slave owners and the social order they uphold represent the offending agent in the novel. The first slave owner introduced in Beloved is Mr. Garner. Mr. Garner, a benevolent slave owner, seemed to transcend the stereotype that rang true among his peers. Unlike many slaveholders, Mr. Garner acted kindly towards his property. Even Sethe, being one of the only female slaves on Mr. Garner’s plantation, regarded her owner as being positively different. “The Garners, it seemed to her, ran a special kind of slavery, treating them like paid labor, listening to what they said, teaching what they wanted to know” (Morrison, 165). Sethe and many others believed that Mr. Garner had good intentions and wished the best for them.
Instead of being slaves, Mr. Garner made them believe they were simple laborers outside of the peculiar institution. Through further analysis, Paul D saw his relationship with the slave owner as one with subtle, yet deep-set racism. At his very core Mr. Garner practiced slavery by buying and selling slaves just as other slave owners would. When describing his slaves to other slaveholders Mr. Garner states, “Now at Sweet Home, my niggers is men every one of em. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway.
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Men every one” (13). Mr. Garner simply states his slaves are above the slaves owned by others in every aspect imaginable. However, the statement raises questions about his attitude regarding the subject. Despite calling them men, Mr. Garner refers to them as “niggers” first and foremost. At the time the novel was set in, the term was common enough to be used in everyday speech. Though it does not carry the offensive weight that it does today, Mr. Garner still treats them as “niggers” before they are “men”.
According to Mr. Garner, being a good man comes after the fact that they are simple black slaves. Essentially, Mr. Garner is no better than other slave owners and does nothing to challenge slavery. In fact, Paul D continues to question his masculinity years after leaving Sweet Home. Mr. Garner treated him like a man while he still succumbed to the mental subjectivity of being owned by another human being. Mr. Garner’s rule lacked a violent touch, but the true purpose behind his actions was identical to those of his slave-owning colleagues. The destructive relationship between white slave owners and their black slaves becomes finely reflected in Mr. Garner and the Sweet Home men. Mr. Garner’s successor is none other than a man known as “Schoolteacher”.
Schoolteacher fits into the stereotypical mold of being a physically intense and mentally savage slave owner with no appreciation for black men and women. To him, slaves are on the same biological and intellectual level of animals as indicated by his lessons to the children on Sweet Home. Schoolteacher kills an escaping slave (Sixo) by burning him alive and abuses his other slaves with no regard for their humanity. Whereas Mr. Garner is used by Morrison to display the subtle mental effects of enslavement, Schoolteacher is blatantly violent and the primary source of evil in the novel.
Sethe fears every aspect of Schoolteacher. This belief eventually forces Sethe to kill her baby daughter because death in any event is more appealing than the terror known as slavery. Schoolteacher represents the physical threat of whites and their belief that black people are subhuman in the eyes of God. Morrison embodies the revolting consequences of slavery as a legal institution by placing the blame on the white men carrying out the enslavement. There is little to no good to come from slavery as readers observe the negative effects of Mr. Garner to his male slaves, and Schoolteacher to every black person encountered in Beloved.
The relationship between a slave owner and slave is built on ownership and inevitably leads to abuse. In stark contrast, love is a positive force that works directly against slavery’s abuses. The strongest form of love according to Morrison is maternal love. The love between Sethe and her daughters trumps all forms of hate. Sethe displays this particular sentiment by extending her care to both Denver and Beloved.
However, her care for Beloved follows a queer path. Sethe’s greatest fears (the power of the white man and slavery) are realized the moment Schoolteacher marches up to 124 in order to re-enslave her and her children. After living the majority of her years with the experience of the slave owner and slave relationship, Sethe realizes the potential outcome if she were captured. But more importantly, Sethe’s motherly love causes her to turn to her children first. Protecting her kin takes a priority to protecting her own life, even if it means being subjected to mental and physical abuse at the hands of Schoolteacher.
This maternal relationship is the strongest factor in Sethe’s actions as she went on to murder Beloved out of fear of enslavement. Her actions are difficult to justify, but she explains her thoughts to Paul D to clear the air by saying, “It ain’t my job to know what’s worse. It’s my job to know what is and to keep them away from what I know is terrible. I did that”” (194). What is, according to Sethe, is the introduction to a degrading slave owner and slave relationship. Slavery is quite literally “black and white” in the eyes of Sethe. White plays the role of the offender while black plays the role of victim. Within those broad roles, Sethe makes it clear that she is not afraid to love.
“Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all” (194). Her love is surely directed towards Denver and Beloved, the two people that have stuck by her side after the tragic events. Sethe believes her strong relationship with her daughters keeps them together until the very end. She cooks with them, ice skates with them, and even goes to experience a spiritual journey in a clearing with them. The daughters are by her side at nearly every moment which goes to show the level of care Sethe has for her daughters. The maternal relationship brings Sethe great happiness and hope in the face of the white man’s dangerous rule.
Denver and Sethe display the clearest form of constructive bonding found in maternal relationships. The first instance in which readers encounter the deep care between Denver and Sethe occurs during Sethe’s original escape from Sweet Home. Her first priority was to keep Denver alive at all costs while fearing that Schoolteacher could take her at any moment. “”All I know was I had to get milk to my baby girl. Nobody was going to nurse her like me… Nobody knew that but me and nobody had her milk but me”” (19).
Sethe knew Denver unlike any other man or woman could know her. The two share a bond that cannot be replicated and their relationship fights against slavery from the very beginning of Denver’s life. She is born running away from her mother’s slaveholder, a defining moment in any ex-slave’s life. Even when arguing with Paul D, Sethe repeats her love for Denver. “I’ll protect her while I’m live and I’ll protect her when I ain’t”” (54).
Sethe will protect her relationship with Denver through life and death. There is no marital relationship that could keep Sethe from Denver and there is definitely no slave owner that could tear the two apart. We finally see the extent to which Denver cares for her mother when she leaves 124 as an independent woman for the first time, all in order to save her mother from the evil that surrounds the mystical spirit of Beloved. Throughout the novel Denver is seen as a recluse that fears leaving the home and facing public scrutiny from her peers. The murder changed her life and demolished her social life, forcing her to develop a strong relationship with Sethe. The simple act of looking for help outside the confines of 124 is a courageous display for Denver. “Somebody had to be saved, but unless Denver got work, there would be no one to save, no one to come home to” (297).
Denver sees the decision as being one that walks the line between life and death. She knows she must take action and eventually does, saving her mother’s life as intended. It is unlikely that she would ever act that way for any other man or woman in her life as her strongest relationship revolves around her mother. The maternal relationship serves as the breeding ground for positivity and hope. Without it, Sethe would know nothing but the wretched relations between slave owners and slaves.
Morrison pits the strongest forces of racism and love against each other in a harrowing story to fully illustrate her point. The reader detects the mentally and physically degrading effects of the relationship between slaves and slaveholders in the form of Mr. Garner and Schoolteacher. In contrast, readers find that love between a mother and her daughter act as a stronghold against the penetrating destruction of slavery. With these strong factors acting against each other, Morrison furthers her stance against slavery by incorporating an element all readers are able to relate to: relationships. Beloved is constructed at a personal level to show the deep-set effects of slavery and the modern racism that exists as a result of it. Like the connections that couple individuals together, racism’s scars run deep.
