Toni Morrison writes in four main perspectives in her novel, Beloved. By including these different perspectives, Toni Morrison gives the reader a clearer understanding of the characters in the story and their actions. The third person omniscient point of view of the narrator, Sethe’s stream of consciousness, Denver’s stream of consciousness, and Beloved’s stream of consciousness each provide a unique view of the situation that gives the reader a better understanding of the novel and its events.
The perspective for the majority of the novel is third person omniscient through the narrator. This point of view is very important to the novel as it gives an objective view that is not seen through the other characters. While the other characters have biased views on the events of the novel, the narrator has a consistently objective view on everything. This allows the reader to hear more than the biased description of an event given by another character.
Except for a heap more hair and some waiting in his eyes, he looked the way he had in Kentucky. Peachstone skin; straight-backed. For a man with an immobile face it was amazing how ready it was to smile, or blaze or be sorry with you. As though all you had to do was get his attention and right away he produced the feeling you were feeling. With less than a blink, his face seemed to change–underneath it lay the activity.
127 our experts are availableright now
In this passage, the narrator describes Paul D’s face and analyzes his facial motions. The description of Paul D is very objective as the narrator describes the physical appearance of Paul
D’s face. The difference between the subjective view of a normal person and the objective view of the narrator is that the narrator only discusses facts while the normal person will discuss the way that something made them feel. This inclusion of emotion to the analysis can cause the description to be skewed as the person can’t help being at least partially subjective. If another character had been describing Paul D’s face rather than the narrator, they would include emotion and the reader would receive a totally different perspective. The inclusion of the third person omniscient narrator contributes to the novel because it provides an objective view on the characters and events in the novel that cannot be achieved by any of the characters that are in the story.
Her name as Amy and she needed beef and pot liquor like nobody in the world. Arms like cane stalk and enough hair for four or five heads. Slow-moving eyes. She didn’t look at anything quick. Talked so much it wasn’t clear how she could breathe at the same time. And those cane-stalk arms, as it turned out, were as strong as iron.
The objective perspective of the narrator gives the reader a clear and accurate description of Amy rather than a subjective description that would be given if Amy was described by another character. Any other character would give the reader a subjective view of Amy, but the narrator allows the reader to get an objective view. This is why the perspective of the narrator in third person omniscient is important as it provides a unique view on the characters and events in the novel. Aside from providing an objective view, the narrator allows for the reader to see multiple characters’ thoughts on the same event. If written in first person perspective, the reader would only get the thoughts of one character. However, when the narrator is speaking, it is third person omniscient meaning that the narrator knows the feelings of every character at all times. Therefore the reader can know the thoughts of multiple characters at once and in turn have a better understanding of the events.
In an effort so great it made her sick to her stomach, Sethe turned onto her right side. Amy unfastened the back of her dress and said, “Come here, Jesus,” when she saw. Sethe guessed it must be bad because after that call to Jesus Amy didn’t speak for a while. In the silence of an Amy struck drumb for a change, Sethe felt the fingers of those good hands lightly touch her back. She could hear her breathing but still the whitegirl said nothing. Sethe could not move. She couldn’t lie on her stomach or her back, and to keep on her side meant pressure on her screaming feet. Amy spoke at last in her dreamwalker’s voice.
In this passage, the thoughts and feelings of both Sethe and Amy are presented to the reader by the narrator. This allows the reader to know how Sethe and Amy reacted to the situation compared to each other, providing a lot of insight on the personalities of the two characters.
The inclusion of the narrator’s third person omniscient perspective gives the reader a better understanding of the characters and events in the novel by providing an objective point of view rather than the subjective views of the characters. The use of a narrator also helps because the narrator shares the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters, providing multiple characters’ perspectives on the same event.
The next major perspective in the novel is the stream of consciousness of Sethe. Although Sethe’s feelings could be conveyed to the reader by the narrator, the use of stream of consciousness creates a much stronger effect when it is focused solely on Sethe. This is because the first person pronouns make the reader feel more connected with Sethe, making her emotions more relatable.
For example, when Sethe is thinking about her daughter, Beloved, the use of stream of consciousness is appropriate because it carries more emotion than if the narrator was to just tell the reader how Sethe feels.
I won’t never let her go. I’ll explain to her, even though I don’t have to. Why I did it. How if I hadn’t killed her she would have died and that is something I could not bear to happen to her. When I explain it she’ll under- stand, because she understands everything already. I’ll tend her as no mother ever tended a child, a daughter. Nobody will ever get my milk no more except my own children.
Sethe’s thoughts show that she wants to explain to Beloved her reasoning for killing her. However, if this had been from the perspective of the narrator, this would not be nearly as powerful because the stream of consciousness allows the reader to get inside of the head of Sethe. This is more effective in this situation because the emotions of Sethe are something that the reader must understand.
Sethe’s stream of consciousness also provides a unique insight into the personality of Sethe and the way she thinks. This is shown as she thinks about random things such as colors and the sun.
Now, in the morning, when I light the fire I mean to look out the window to see what the sun is doing to the day. Does it hit the pump handle first or the spigot? See if the grass is gray- green or brown or what. Now I know why Baby Suggs pon- dered color her last years. She never had time to see, let alone enjoy it before. Took her along time to finish with blue, then yellow, then green.
Sethe’s random thoughts show a side to her personality that could not be explained by a narrator. The perspective of Sethe’s stream of consciousness provides a unique insight into Sethe’s emotions and personality that could not be achieved as effectively through any other point of view.
The third perspective in Beloved is the stream of consciousness of Denver. Similar to Sethe’s, Denver’s stream of consciousness gives a unique view of Denver’s personality and emotions. For example, at the beginning of the stream of consciousness, the reader sees very strong emotions from Denver regarding her mother, Sethe, and the fear that has taken over Denver’s life.
All the time, I’m afraid the thing that happened that made it all right for my mother to kill my sister could happen again. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know who it is, but maybe there is something else terrible enough to make her do it again. I need to know what that thing might be, but I don’t want to. Whatever it is, it comes from outside this house, outside the yard, and it can come right on in the yard if it wants to. So I never leave this house and I watch over the yard, so it can’t happen again and my mother won’t have to kill me too.
The fear and confusion that Denver feels about Sethe could not be displayed effectively with the Toni Morrison’s use of the stream of consciousness. This is because the emotions that Denver is feeling are very complex. Without a direct explanation from Denver’s mind, it would difficult to truly understand how Denver feels about her mother. If Toni Morrison had just wrote that Denver was afraid of her mom killing her like she did to Beloved, this would not provide enough information for the reader because there is much more to it than that. Denver still loves her mother and she doesn’t want to leave, but she is constantly afraid that something might drive Sethe to kill her.
Denver’s stream of consciousness also provides the reader with Denver’s feelings regarding her father. The reader learns from the passage that Denver loved her father and thought he was perfect.
My daddy was an angel man. He could look at you and tell where you hurt and he could fix it too. He made a hang- ing thing for Grandma Baby, so she could pull herself up from the floor when she woke up in the morning, and he made a step so when she stood up she was level.
Denver’s thoughts about her father make it clear to the reader that Denver’s father was her hero. The perspective of Denver’s stream of consciousness allows the reader to learn about Denver’s emotions and personality.
The fourth and final major perspective in the novel is the stream of consciousness of Beloved. Unlike all of the other perspectives including in the book, this one is especially unique due to the fact that Beloved is a ghost. This means that Beloved lives in the spirit world and sees everything differently than the humans. The stream of consciousness of Beloved provides a view into the spirit world as well as the thoughts of Beloved.
As a ghost, Beloved has a different experience of time as she can be anywhere in history at any moment. This is seen in her stream of consciousness as she talks about watching other people crouching.
All of it is now it is always now there will never be a time when I am not crouching and watching others who are crouching too I am always crouching the man on my face is dead his face is not mine his mouth smells sweet but his eyes are locked some who eat nasty themselves I do not eat the men without skin bring us their morning water to drink we have none at night I cannot see the dead man on my face day-light comes through the cracks and I can see his locked eyes.
Beloved experiences an entirely different world than the other characters and this is seen in this stream of consciousness. She says that it is always now, meaning that time is irrelevant to her in the spirit world. The reader gets a good understanding of what the spirit world is like through the thoughts of Beloved because the reader is experiencing it through Beloved instead of simply reading a description of the spirit world.
Beloved’s stream of consciousness also shows the reader how Beloved feels about Sethe after Sethe killed her. The end of the stream of consciousness includes Sethe as Beloved tries to become a part of her.
I am not dead I sit the sun closes my eyes when I open them I see the face I lost Sethe’s is the face that left me Sethe sees me see her and I see the smile her smiling face is the place for me it is the face I lost she is my face smiling at me doing it at last a hot thing now we can join a hot thing This passage shows that Beloved is still attached to her mother after she killed her; so much so that Beloved wants to become a part of her and join a “hot thing”.
The four main perspectives used by Toni Morrison in Beloved work together to give the reader a clear understanding of the characters and events in the novel. Each point of view provides a unique insight into the emotions and thoughts of the characters. Throughout the novel, Toni Morrison writes from the perspective of a narrator in third person omniscient, Sethe’s stream of consciousness, Denver’s stream of consciousness, and Beloved’s stream of consciousness in order to make the novel have the desired effect on the reader.
